The Maryland Bobcats Football Club announced Monday that the it has submitted an application to join the National Independent Soccer Association.

The club is tentatively slated to play home games at Maureen Hendricks Field at the SoccerPlex in Boyds, Maryland.

“The Maryland Bobcats are a quality organization, headed by a fantastic ownership group. I look forward to working with them through the approval process and welcoming them to the NISA family” NISA commissioner John Prutch said in a statement.

Maryland was scheduled to host the NISA Independent Cup for the Atlantic Region, but that has been postponed, depending on the possibility of finding another venue within the state in which to play.

“We at Maryland Bobcats FC are grateful for the opportunity we have been given,” Bobcats FC president Jide Saba said. “This organization didn’t start today. It has been a plan for the past 10 years to bring professional soccer to Maryland. To finally be able to give the people of Maryland a team they can actually call their own is fantastic. We are blessed to be able to also give the children of this great state a path to professional soccer. We know we have a lot of work to do, but we are ready to get down to it and get the community involved.”

Maryland will continue to compete in the UPSL until kicking off in NISA, and then will field a reserve team in the UPSL while a first team plays in NISA.

NISA clubs include the Cosmos, New Amsterdam FC, California United Strikers FC, Chattanooga FC, Detroit City FC, Oakland Roots, Michigan Stars, Los Angeles Force and others.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.