1995 A-League
| Season | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Seattle Sounders (1st Title) |
| Premiers | Montreal Impact (1st Title) |
| 1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup | Seattle Sounders |
| Matches | 72 |
| Goals | 215 (2.99 per match) |
| Best Player |  Peter Hattrup, Seattle Sounders |
| Top goalscorer | Peter Hattrup, Seattle Sounders (11 goals) |
| Best goalkeeper | Marcus Hahnemann, Seattle Sounders |
← 1994 1996 → | |
The 1995 A-League season was the sixth A-League season and first after being renamed from the American Professional Soccer League. The A-League was the de facto highest level of U.S. soccer (officially sanctioned U.S. second division) until Major League Soccer commenced the following year.[1]
Overview
The league had ended its 1994 season with seven teams and intended to expand to ten for the 1995 season with new franchises in Detroit and Atlanta.[2] These plans were stymied when the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Los Angeles Salsa and Toronto Rockets all folded. This left the league with only four teams. The addition of the New York Centaurs and Atlanta Ruckus gave the league six teams and allowed it to compete for another season.[3]
Training camps opened in March and the season began on May 5, 1995, when the Vancouver 86ers defeated the Atlanta Ruckus. By the time the regular season ended on September 10, 1995, the Montreal Impact had topped the chart. However, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Ruckus. Seattle defeated Vancouver in the first round, then defeated Atlanta in the final to take their first championship.
The league introduced a new scoring system for the regular season. As with previous years, no games ended in a tie. If the score was tied at the end of regulation, a penalty shootout would determine a winner. A win was worth three points, a shootout win two points, a shootout loss one point and a loss zero points.
Regular season
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | SW | SL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 24 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 47 | 27 | +20 | 51 |
| 2 | Seattle Sounders | 24 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 40 | 24 | +16 | 51 |
| 3 | Vancouver 86ers | 24 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 43 | 43 | 0 | 33 |
| 4 | Atlanta Ruckus | 24 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 29 | 41 | −12 | 32 |
| 5 | Colorado Foxes | 24 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 35 | 41 | −6 | 29 |
| 6 | New York Centaurs | 24 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 21 | 39 | −18 | 20 |
Rules for classification: 3 points for win, 2 points for shootout win, 1 point for shootout loss, 0 points for normal time loss
Playoffs
Bracket
| Semifinals Best-of-3 | 1995 A-League Finals Best-of-3 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 1(1) | 3 | 0(1) | |||||||||
| 4 | Atlanta Ruckus | 1(2) | 0 | 0(3) | |||||||||
| 4 | Atlanta Ruckus | 1(3) | 0 | 1(1) | |||||||||
| 2 | Seattle Sounders | 1(1) | 3 | 1(2) | |||||||||
| 2 | Seattle Sounders | 1 | 0(3) | - | |||||||||
| 3 | Vancouver 86ers | 0 | 0(2) | - | |||||||||
Semifinals 1
| Atlanta Ruckus (GA) | 1–1 | Montreal Impact (QC) |
|---|---|---|
Tom Wurdack  43'Lenin Steenkamp  71' | Report 1 Report 2 | 70' Lloyd Barker |
| Penalties | ||
?  ? Mo Suri  Michael Araujo ? | 2–1 | ? ? ? Lloyd Barker Tom Kouzmanis |
| Montreal Impact (QC) | 3–0 | Atlanta Ruckus (GA) |
|---|---|---|
| Paulinho 31' Lloyd Barker 44'Lyndon Hooper 78' | Report 1 Report 2 |
| Montreal Impact (QC) | 0–0 | Atlanta Ruckus (GA) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | ||
| Penalties | ||
| Nick De Santis Patrick Diotte Tom Kouzmanis Lloyd Barker | 1–3 | Staale Soebye Cato Solberg Brian Moore Mo Suri John Doyle |
The Atlanta Ruckus advance to the finals.
Semifinals 2
| Vancouver 86ers (BC) | 0–1 | Seattle Sounders (WA) |
|---|---|---|
Nico Berg  62' | Report | 80' Gary Heale |
The Seattle Sounders advance to the finals.
Final
| Atlanta Ruckus (GA) | 1–1 | Seattle Sounders (WA) |
|---|---|---|
| Greg Sheen 34' Lenin Steenkamp 58'Bruce Murray 69'Michael Araujo 73' | Report 1 Report 2 | 77' Jason Dunn |
| Penalties | ||
| Staale Soebye Michael Araujo John Doyle | 3–1 | Neil Megson Peter Hattrup Shawn Medved Jason Farrell |
| Seattle Sounders (WA) | 3–0 | Atlanta Ruckus (GA) |
|---|---|---|
| Chance Fry 24:35', 85' Jason Dunn 86:55' | Report 1 Report 2 | 41' Michael Araujo |
The Seattle Sounders win the A-League title.
Points leaders
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Hattrup | Seattle Sounders | 11 | 8 | 30 |
| 2 | Paul Dougherty | Montreal Impact | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| 3 | Lloyd Barker | Montreal Impact | 10 | 6 | 26 |
| 4 | Chance Fry | Seattle Sounders | 9 | 4 | 22 |
| 5 | Paul Dailly | Vancouver 86ers | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| 6 | Giuliano Oliviero | Vancouver 86ers | 9 | 1 | 19 |
| 7 | Geoff Aunger | Vancouver 86ers | 6 | 6 | 18 |
| 8 | Staale Soebye | Atlanta Ruckus | 7 | 3 | 17 |
| 9 | Martin Nash | Vancouver 86ers | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| Lenin Steenkamp | Atlanta Ruckus | 8 | 0 | 16 | |
| Jason Dunn | Seattle Sounders | 5 | 6 | 16 | |
| 12 | Grant Needham | Montreal Impact | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| Paulinho | Montreal Impact | 6 | 3 | 15 | |
| 14 | Jeff Hooker | Colorado Foxes | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| 15 | Shawn Medved | Seattle Sounders | 6 | 1 | 13 |
Honors
- MVP: Peter Hattrup
- Leading goal scorer: Peter Hattrup
- Leading goalkeeper: Marcus Hahnemann
- Rookie of the Year: Giuliano Oliviero
- Coach of the Year: Lothar Osiander
- Defender of the Year: John Doyle
- Official of the Year: Esfandiar Baharmast
- First Team All League
- Goalkeeper: Marcus Hahnemann
- Defenders: Robin Fraser, John Doyle, Steve Trittschuh
- Midfielders: Dan Calichman, Paul Dougherty, Geoff Aunger, Peter Hattrup, Giuliano Oliviero
- Forwards: Lloyd Barker, Staale Soebye
References
- ^ "USL restructures Pro Divisions". Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
- ^ Dauber, Bill (July 24, 1994). "Salsa to kick off home schedule". Orange County Register. p. C18.
- ^ "For The Record – Soccer". The Seattle Times. January 16, 1995. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
- ^ Stickney, Ron. "1996 Sounders Schedule and Results". seattlepitch.tripod.com. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
External links
- The Year in American Soccer – 1995
- USA – A-League (American Professional Soccer League) (RSSSF)
