A-League
Season1995
ChampionsSeattle Sounders
(1st title)
PremiersMontreal Impact
(1st title)
1996 CONCACAF Champions' CupSeattle Sounders
Top goalscorerPeter Hattrup
(11 goals)
← 1994
1996 →

The 1995 A-League season was the sixth A-League season and first after being renamed from the American Professional Soccer League.

Overview

In 1995, the American Professional Soccer League, which was the de facto highest level of U.S. soccer (officially sanctioned U.S. second division) until MLS commenced, changed its name to the A-League.[1] 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. No games ended in a tie. If the score was tied at the end of regulation, every game went to a shootout. A win gained a team 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
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) 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)1–1Montreal Impact (QC)
Tom Wurdack Red card 43'
Lenin Steenkamp 71'		 Report 1
Report 2		 70' Lloyd Barker
Penalties
? soccer ball with red X
? soccer ball with red X
Mo Suri soccer ball with check mark
Michael Araujo soccer ball with check mark
? soccer ball with red X		 2–1 soccer ball with red X ?
soccer ball with red X ?
soccer ball with red X ?
soccer ball with check mark Lloyd Barker
soccer ball with red X Tom Kouzmanis
Adams Stadium Atlanta
Attendance: 2,114


Montreal Impact (QC)3–0Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Paulinho 31'
Lloyd Barker 44'
Lyndon Hooper 78'		 Report 1
Report 2
Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Canada
Attendance: 2,648


Montreal Impact (QC)0–0Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Report
Penalties
Nick De Santis soccer ball with red X
Patrick Diotte soccer ball with red X
Tom Kouzmanis soccer ball with check mark
Lloyd Barker soccer ball with red X		 1–3 soccer ball with check mark Staale Soebye
soccer ball with red X Cato Solberg
soccer ball with check mark Brian Moore
soccer ball with red X Mo Suri
soccer ball with check mark John Doyle
Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Canada

The Atlanta Ruckus advance to the finals.

Semifinals 2

Vancouver 86ers (BC)0–1Seattle Sounders (WA)
Nico Berg Yellow card 62' Report 80' Gary Heale
Swangard Stadium Burnaby, British Columbia
Attendance: 4,036


Seattle Sounders (WA)0–0Vancouver 86ers (BC)
Dominic Kinnear Yellow card 39'
Neil Megson Yellow card 53'		 Report Yellow card 32' Geoff Aunger
Penalties
Peter Hattrup soccer ball with check mark
Neil Megson soccer ball with red X
Shawn Medved soccer ball with red X
Marco Rizi soccer ball with red X
Gary Heale soccer ball with check mark
David Hoggan soccer ball with red X
Jason Dunn soccer ball with red X
Billy Crook soccer ball with check mark		 3–2 soccer ball with check mark Geoff Aunger
soccer ball with red X Sipho Sibiya
soccer ball with red X Carl Valentine
soccer ball with red X Steve MacDonald
soccer ball with check mark Paul Dailly
soccer ball with red X Martin Nash
soccer ball with red X Doug McKinty
soccer ball with red X Nico Berg
Memorial Stadium Seattle
Attendance: 4,339

The Seattle Sounders advance to the finals.

Final

Atlanta Ruckus (GA)1–1Seattle Sounders (WA)
Greg Sheen Yellow card 34'
Lenin Steenkamp 58'
Bruce Murray Yellow card 69'
Michael Araujo Yellow card 73'		 Report 1
Report 2		 77' Jason Dunn
Penalties
Staale Soebye soccer ball with check mark
Michael Araujo soccer ball with check mark
John Doyle soccer ball with check mark		 3–1 soccer ball with check mark Neil Megson
soccer ball with red X Peter Hattrup
soccer ball with red X Shawn Medved
soccer ball with red X Jason Farrell
Adams Stadium Atlanta
Attendance: 4,312
Referee: Zimmerman Boulos


Seattle Sounders (WA)3–0Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Chance Fry 24:35', 85'
Jason Dunn 86:55'		 Report 1
Report 2		 Red card 41' Michael Araujo
Memorial Stadium Seattle
Attendance: 4,626
Referee: Esse Baharmast


Seattle Sounders (WA)1–1Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Jason Farrell 81' Report 3' Staale Soebye
Penalties
David Hoggan soccer ball with red X
Peter Hattrup soccer ball with red X
Neil Megson soccer ball with check mark
Dominic Kinnear soccer ball with check mark		 2–1 soccer ball with red X Staale Soebye
soccer ball with red X Brian Moore
soccer ball with red X Mo Suri
soccer ball with check mark John Doyle
soccer ball with red X Lenin Steenkamp
Memorial Stadium Seattle
Attendance: 5,115

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

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.

External links

American Professional Soccer League
United States Soccer – Division 2 seasons
Canadian Soccer – Division 2 seasons (CSA & USSF)
Categories