Utah Salt Ratz were an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team founded in 2003 that was a member of the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

(NPSL), the fourth tier of the

American soccer pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur association football, soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are no ...

. The team folded in 2004, when the then-new

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

franchise joined the first division,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. They played their home games at

Juan Diego Catholic High School Juan Diego Catholic High School (JDCHS) is a private, Catholic high school located in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper, Utah, operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. History American Stores's Chief Executive Officer Leona ...

and Rice-Eccles Stadium in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, and were hugely successful in their brief history, finishing first overall in the NPSL regular season in 2003 and winning the NPSL Championship title in 2004.

History

The Utah Salt Ratz were founded in

in 2003 to compete in the

(NPSL), considered the fourth tier of the

and roughly equivalent to the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

(PDL). The team was owned by Ralph Hansen, who started the club with money he had embezzled from Intermountain Health Care in Sandy, Utah. and played their homes games out of

Draper, Utah Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. state of Utah, about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. As of the 2020 census, the population is 51,017, up from 7,143 in 1990. Draper is part of two metropolitan area ...

. The club would start strong in their inaugural season in 2003, finishing first overall in the league with a 12–3–0 (W-L-D) season. They would go on to defeat the Northern Nevada Aces 9–0 in the playoff semi-final, but would lose out to rivals

Arizona Sahuaros Sporting Arizona FC is an American developmental soccer team based in Arizona that was founded in 1989. They compete in the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) Premier Division. History The club originally started in 1989 as the Phoenix Hearts ...

2–1 in the Championship final. Following their promising debut, the Salt Ratz would finish fourth in the regular season in 2004 with an 11–5–0 record, but go on to triumph in the playoffs, defeating Chico Rooks 1–0 in the semi-finals and claiming revenge over Arizona in the Championship final, defeating the Sahuaros 4–2. The team would fold following their championship victory in 2004, in part to make way for the newly debuted first division professional club,

, which would begin play in

(MLS) in 2005. This decision would mimic that of the Utah Blitzz, the neighboring third division USL Pro Select League team, that would fold in the same year to make way for the new MLS club.

Year-by-year

Head coaches

* Bob Martin (2003–2004) * Mike Hickman Sr. (2004)

Honors

* MPSL Champions 2004 * MPSL Regular Season Champions 2003

References

National Premier Soccer League teams Defunct soccer clubs in Utah Soccer clubs in Salt Lake City 2003 establishments in Utah 2004 disestablishments in Utah Association football clubs established in 2003 Association football clubs disestablished in 2004 {{Utah-footyclub-stub

History

Year-by-year

Head coaches

Honors

See also

References