With preseason less than a month away, Paul is actively preparing for the player’s arrival and finalizing the preseason roster. The Independence squad continues to get stronger, with five draft picks and five free agents from open tryouts added to the preseason squad in the past few weeks.

To listen to the audio from Paul’s interview, click here: Paul Riley Interview

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Women’s professional soccer will return to the area about a year from now, and the people behind it hope they have learned the lessons from the last time.

The Philadelphia Charge women’s team lasted three seasons and folded in 2003 along with the league. David Halstead, president and CEO of the 2010 entry into a new league, looked long and hard at the old one:

“I would say that there was not a tested business model that brought the kids to the field and brought some of the teams into the cities. I think there was a tremendous amount of lessons learned.”

Coach Matt Driver says planning for this franchise stretches back years with nurturing of youth teams and then minor leagues to develop a feeder system for talent and prime the pump of interest. Still, it won’t be all local talent:

“We’re hoping to bring some international level here, you know, world class players.”

The name of the team, to play in Chester, will be revealed with a splash next month.

Article posted with permission from KYW 1060. The original article can be found here: kyw1060.com