El Paso, TX (January 30, 2009)-The El Paso Patriots are proud to announce their schedule for the 2009 season.  In their 18th season of play, the El Paso Patriots are the oldest existing team under the same owner playing for United Soccer Leagues.  The El Paso Patriots will open their season on Friday, May 2, 2009 vs the West Texas United Sockers at Patriot Stadium.  The El Paso Patriots will have 8 regular season home games inlcuding teams from Houston, Dallas, Austin, Laredo and the newest members to USL the West Texas United Sockers and the Rio Grande Valley Bravos.  All home games will be played at Patriot Stadium with a new kick off time at 8pm.  As always at Patriot Stadium there will be food, drinks, cheerleaders, give aways, and lots of prizes to all the loyal fans.   

Each team plays a 16-game schedule.  Four of the 16 matches for the clubs based in the United States will also count for qualification into the Lamar Hunt US Open cup.  The format and dates for the tournament will be announced at a later time by the US Soccer Federation.

The season wraps up July 19 with the playoffs beginning the following weekend with the return of the Divisional Championship playoff   (July 24-26) for the first time since 1998 with each division seeing three teams advance to the postseason.  The second seed will face the third seed in the first round with the winner advancing to face the top seed from the regular season in the championship. The eight division champions will advance to the PDL Elite Eight Weekend (July 31-August 2), where the PDL Quarterfinals and Semifinals will be held.  The divisional winners from Eastern and Central Conference will be grouped in one half of the bracket in one location while the Southern and Western winners comprise the other half at another locale.  The PDL Quarterfinals will pit the top seed versus the fourth seed in the bracket, and two versus three.  The winners of the PDL Semifinals will square off in the PDL Championship Saturday, August 8 on Fox Soccer Channel.