Richmond Kickers earn three league awards for 2008 season

The Richmond Kickers collected three awards at this year’s United Soccer Leagues Annual General Meeting in Tampa, Florida including the USL Second Division Fair Play Award, Communications Award and Key Grip Award.  The awards were presented Friday night at the USL Hall of Fame and Awards dinner as USL recognized outstanding performances by its member teams and executives for the season along with the 2008 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
 
Awarded to the team with the least number of disciplinary points at the end of the season, this year marks the second season that the Kickers have received the Fair Play Award.  The Kickers first took the honor in 2004 as a member of the USL First Division.  The Communications award recognizes the USL Second Division team who most effectively communications with both local and national media and its fans.  A first time honor for the Kickers pro team, the Richmond Kickers Destiny garnered the award in the W-League in 2007. 
 
Additionally, Richmond Kickers Director of Operations, Micah Pigott, claimed this year’s USL-2 Key Grip award, bestowed upon one team executive from the league who excels at his or her duties behind the scenes to make the organization operate at its highest potential.  A 2004 summa cum laude graduate of the College of William & Mary, Pigott joined the Kickers front office in January 2007.      
 
Over the past 15 seasons, Richmond has qualified for post-season play 13 times, including six league (seven overall) Championship appearances.  The Kickers reached the league title match in 2007 for the fourth time in the past six seasons, narrowly missing their second consecutive league title after nine rounds of penalty kicks.  Richmond’s previous Championship appearances (1995, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2006) include winning the “Double” with the Premier League title and US Open Cup title in 1995, a shoot-out loss to Seattle in the USL First Division final in 2005 and taking the USL Second Division crown in 2006.  In 2008, the Kickers fell short of another Championship berth after falling 1-0 in overtime to the eventual champions, Cleveland City Stars.
 
Club Highlights:
USL Premier League National Champions 1995
U.S. Open Cup Champions 1995
USL Franchise of the Year 1995
USL Second Division Finalists 1996
USL First Division Atlantic Division Champions 1998
USL First Division Progress Award 1998
USL First Division Organization of the Year Award 2000
USL First Division Regular Season Champions 2001
USL First Division Eastern Conference Champions 2002
USL First Division Finalists 2002
USL 10+ Club 2002
USL First Division Fair Play Award 2004
USL First Division Finalists 2005
USL Second Division Regular Season Champions 2006
USL Second Division Champions 2006
USL Second Division Organization of the Year 2006
USL W-League Communications Award 2007
USL Second Division Regular Season Champions 2007
USL Second Division Finalists 2007
USL Second Division Organization of the Year 2007
USL Second Division Fair Play Award 2008
USL Second Division Communications Award 2008
USL Second Division Key Grip Award 2008