Prior to the MPS Portland Phoenix PDL Franchise making its way to Maine, the club were once under the guise of the Cape Cod Crusaders. 

The Crusaders were one of the most successful minor-league soccer teams in the United States, having been national PDL champions twice, in 2002 and 2003. The team was also one of the most long-lasting teams, having played in four different leagues, at two different levels, over the course of more than a decade. In the mid 2000s the Crusaders became part of the Massachusetts Premier Soccer (MPS) organization, which is a sister company of Maine Premier Soccer. 

In 2007, Crusaders striker Ricardo Pierre-Louis was part of the Haiti squad which took part in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Pierre-Louis was the only PDL player to take part in the tournament, coming on as a substitute in the 1-1 draw with Costa Rica, and playing a full 90 minutes in the 2-0 defeat to Canada. 

Here are a number of the Crusaders players who went onto the professional ranks of world soccer:

To relive some of the Crusader days here are a few video’s of current club captain Jason Massie & Head Coach Paul Baber.