Tombstone
Born: June 30, 1998 – USL A-League expansion franchise1Kelly, Dennis. “Minor league soccer team kicking off”. The Morning Call (Allentown, PA). June 30, 1998
Folded: December 8, 19992Davis, Tom. “USL takes the Steam out of Lehigh Valley”. The Morning Call (Allentown, PA). December 9, 1999
First Game: April 30, 1999 (W 2-1 @ Boston Bulldogs)
Last Game: September 10, 1999 (L 2-1 @ Rochester Raging Rhinos)
USL A-League Championships: None
Stadia
1999: Mahoney Stadium (Phillipsburg, NJ)
1999: Lackawanna County Stadium
Opened: 1989
1999: Bangor Memorial Park
Marketing
Team Colors: Green & White31999 United Soccer Leagues Media Guide
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners: Thomas X. Flaherty, et al.
MLS Affiliation: Chicago Fire & MetroStars41999 United Soccer Leagues Media Guide
Background
This doomed 2nd division men’s club was part of the disastrous Lehigh Valley Multi-Purpose Stadium project, intended to bring minor league baseball and pro soccer to the Easton/Allentown region of Pennsylvania during the late 1990’s.
Lehigh Valley Professional Sports Clubs Inc. was formed with the intention of building a $15 million ballpark in Williams Township that would host both the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds of baseball’s Atlantic League and the Steam of the A-League. The A-League was the 2nd division of men’s pro soccer in the States at the time. The Steam formed developmental affiliations with the Chicago Fire and the MetroStars (New York/New Jersey) of Major League Soccer.
The Steam would be the region’s first outdoor pro soccer team since the Pennsylvania Stoners, who played out of Allentown and Bethlehem, folded in 1984.
The only problem was the stadium financing never came into place. Both the baseball and soccer teams began play in 1999 but construction of the stadium ground to a permanent halt that July. The Steam never had a true home field. Instead they team cobbled together a partial “home” schedule using various facilities as far afield as New Jersey and including the triple-A minor league baseball stadium of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.
In Competition
Playing the first two months of the season on the road, the Steam got off to a poor start. But the team got hot in the second half under coach Daryl Shore and reeled off 11 victories in 16 matches. An overtime loss on the final day of the regular season – worth a single point in the A-League standings format – was enough for Lehigh Valley to squeeze into the playoffs with the 8th and final seed in their conference.
The top-seeded Rochester Raging Rhinos eliminated them in a single-leg opening round match on September 10th, 1999 bringing the Steam’s season and existence to a conclusion.
Demise
In December 1999 the United Soccer Leagues, umbrella organization of the A-League, revoked the Steam’s membership for failure to meet various financial and stadium commitments.
The Lehigh Valley Multi-Purpose Stadium project soon fell into bankruptcy and lawsuits. The construction site in Williams Township sat abandoned and unfinished until its demolition in 2005.
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