1976 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

• George Strawbridge, Jr., owner
• Beau Rogers, general manager
• Eddie Firmani, head coach
• Chas Serednesky, business manager
• Francisco Marcos, director of public relations
• Mike Dolan and Stan Taylor, trainers
• John Kauzlarich, team physician
• Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager

• NASL Indoor Tournament: Champions
• NASL Indoor, Eastern Regional: Regional champions
• International Cup: Champions (friendly)

• Tournament MVP: Clyde Best (Tournament totals: 4 games, 7 goals, 4 assists)
• All-Tournament Team: Clyde Best, Stewart Scullion, Derek Smethurst
• Regional MVP: Stewart Scullion (Regional totals: 2 games, 3 goals, 1 assist)
• All-Regional Team: Stewart Scullion, Rodney Marsh, Arsene Auguste

Billed in media reports as an International Challenge Cup Match,[4] Tampa Bay’s first game was a pre-tournament international friendly versus Santos F.C. of Jamaica, and played on March 6 at the Bayfront Center. The Rowdies easily defeated their guests, who were playing indoor soccer for the very first time, by the score of 11–4.[5]

The winner of the Eastern Regional would gain an automatic place in the Final Four. In their first tournament game the Rowdies battled back from a 4–1 deficit midway through the second period, to score eight straight goals and defeat Washington, 9–5.[6] The following evening Tampa Bay had a much easier time in defeating the Boston Minutemen, 5–3, as they dictated play until the final minutes, when Boston scored two meaningless late goals. Those two victories left the Rowdies as the only undefeated team in the group, and therefore champions of their region for the second straight year.[7] Stewart Scullion was named Regional MVP, with Rodney Marsh and Arsene Auguste joining him on the All-Regional squad.

In the semifinal Tampa Bay held a slim, one-goal lead in the third period over the Dallas Tornado. With less than three minutes remaining the Rowdies broke open the match the by scoring three straight goals in a span of 81 seconds to defeated Dallas, 6–2, and earn their second straight trip to the indoor finals.[8]

On March 27, 1976, the Tampa Bay Rowdies played in their third championship final out of three total competitions in their brief history. This time they would face surprise finalists Rochester Lancers. Unfortunately for Rochester, goalkeeper Jim May was severely injured late in their semi-final upset win over San Jose, and could not play in the final. The Rowdies were without Rodney Marsh for the contest, as he suffered a head injury in the semi-final. In a closely fought match Tampa Bay prevailed, 6–4, on three goals by Derek Smethurst, two by Clyde Best, and one by Mark Lindsay. Smethurst’s game winning, third goal came with 3:18 left in the match. Best was named tournament MVP, with Smethurst and Stewart Scullion joining him on the All-Tournament squad.[9]

GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses