1995 A-League

Last updated

A-League
Season1995
Champions Seattle Sounders
(1st Title)
Premiers Montreal Impact
(1st Title)
1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup Seattle Sounders
Matches played72
Goals scored215 (2.99 per match)
Best Player Flag of the United States.svg Peter Hattrup Seattle Sounders
Top goalscorer Flag of the United States.svg Peter Hattrup Seattle Sounders
(11 goals)
Best goalkeeper Flag of the United States.svg 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]

Contents

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

PosTeamPldWSWSLLGFGAGDPts
1 Montreal Impact 24161164727+2051
2 Seattle Sounders 24135244024+1651
3 Vancouver 86ers 241003114343033
4 Atlanta Ruckus 24581102941−1232
5 Colorado Foxes 24716103541−629
6 New York Centaurs 24513152139−1820
Source: [4]
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)30(1)
4 Atlanta Ruckus 1(2)0 0(3)
4 Atlanta Ruckus 1(3)0 1(1)
2 Seattle Sounders 1(1)31(2)
2 Seattle Sounders 10(3)-
3 Vancouver 86ers 0 0(2)-

Semifinals 1

Atlanta Ruckus (GA)1–1 Montreal Impact (QC)
Tom Wurdack Red card.svg 43'
Lenin Steenkamp Soccerball shade.svg71'		 Report 1
Report 2 		Soccerball shade.svg70' Lloyd Barker
Penalties
? Soccerball shade cross.svg
? Soccerball shade cross.svg
Mo Suri Soccerball shad check.svg
Michael Araujo Soccerball shad check.svg
? Soccerball shade cross.svg		2–1Soccerball shade cross.svg ?
Soccerball shade cross.svg ?
Soccerball shade cross.svg ?
Soccerball shad check.svg Lloyd Barker
Soccerball shade cross.svg Tom Kouzmanis
Adams Stadium Atlanta
Attendance: 2,114



The Atlanta Ruckus advance to the finals.

Semifinals 2

Vancouver 86ers (BC)0–1 Seattle Sounders (WA)
Nico Berg Yellow card.svg 62' Report Soccerball shade.svg80' Gary Heale
Swangard Stadium Burnaby, British Columbia
Attendance: 4,036


The Seattle Sounders advance to the finals.

Final

Atlanta Ruckus (GA)1–1 Seattle Sounders (WA)
Greg Sheen Yellow card.svg 34'
Lenin Steenkamp Soccerball shade.svg58'
Bruce Murray Yellow card.svg 69'
Michael Araujo Yellow card.svg 73'		 Report 1
Report 2 		Soccerball shade.svg77' Jason Dunn
Penalties
Staale Soebye Soccerball shad check.svg
Michael Araujo Soccerball shad check.svg
John Doyle Soccerball shad check.svg		3–1Soccerball shad check.svg Neil Megson
Soccerball shade cross.svg Peter Hattrup
Soccerball shade cross.svg Shawn Medved
Soccerball shade cross.svg Jason Farrell
Adams Stadium Atlanta
Attendance: 4,312
Referee: Zimmerman Boulos


Seattle Sounders (WA)3–0 Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Chance Fry Soccerball shade.svg24:35', 85'
Jason Dunn Soccerball shade.svg86:55'		 Report 1
Report 2 		Red card.svg 41' Michael Araujo
Memorial Stadium Seattle
Attendance: 4,626
Referee: Esse Baharmast


The Seattle Sounders win the A-League title.

Points leaders

RankScorerClubGoalsAssistsPoints
1 Peter Hattrup Seattle Sounders 11830
2 Paul Dougherty Montreal Impact 10828
3 Lloyd Barker Montreal Impact 10626
4 Chance Fry Seattle Sounders 9422
5 Paul Dailly Vancouver 86ers 7721
6 Giuliano Oliviero Vancouver 86ers 9119
7 Geoff Aunger Vancouver 86ers 6618
8 Staale Soebye Atlanta Ruckus 7317
9 Martin Nash Vancouver 86ers 5616
Lenin Steenkamp Atlanta Ruckus 8016
Jason Dunn Seattle Sounders 5616
12 Grant Needham Montreal Impact 5515
Paulinho Montreal Impact 6315
14 Jeff Hooker Colorado Foxes 7014
15 Shawn Medved Seattle Sounders 6113

Honors

References

  1. ↑ "USL restructures Pro Divisions". Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  2. ↑ Dauber, Bill (July 24, 1994). "Salsa to kick off home schedule". Orange County Register . p. C18.
  3. ↑ "For The Record – Soccer". The Seattle Times. January 16, 1995. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ Stickney, Ron. "1996 Sounders Schedule and Results". seattlepitch.tripod.com. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
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