USISL Select League
Season1996
ChampionsCalifornia Jaguars
PremiersCarolina Dynamo
Top goalscorerDan Stebbins
(21 goals)
← First

The 1996 USISL Select League season was the first season of a professional men's soccer league which featured teams from the United States. The league shared Division II status in the American soccer pyramid with the A-League, before the two leagues merged in 1997 as the USISL A-League.

History

The league had its origins in the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL), which was the de facto second tier of American soccer during the early 1990s, and until 1995 confined itself to organising regional leagues.

The USISL Pro League, which had been at the third tier of the pyramid in 1995, split into two leagues in 1996; the best teams joined the new USISL Select League, while the remainder (plus expansion teams) remained in the USISL Pro League, which retained its Division III status. Both the A-League and the new USISL Select League had Division II status in 1996.

In an attempt to counteract the fact that a number of top A-League players had left to join MLS in 1995 and 1996[1] six of the seven remaining A-League teams – Montreal Impact, Colorado Foxes, Seattle Sounders, Rochester Raging Rhinos, Vancouver 86ers and Atlanta Ruckus, plus two planned A-League expansion teams (Toronto Lynx and Hershey Wildcats) merged with the USISL Select League to form a consolidated Division II league before the 1997 season. The resulting merged league retained the A-League name,[2] and the USISL Select League name was abandoned.

USISL Select League teams

Champions

Regular season

Eastern Conference

North Atlantic Division

Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 Long Island Rough Riders 18 11 0 7 39 31 +8 33
2 Richmond Kickers 18 10 0 8 34 24 +10 28[a]
3 Connecticut Wolves 18 7 4 7 37 37 0 25
4 Delaware Wizards 18 5 1 12 20 29 −9 16
5 Cape Cod Crusaders 18 4 1 13 13 24 −11 9[b]
6 New York/New Jersey Stallions 18 2 0 16 19 52 −33 6
Source:[citation needed]
Notes:
  1. ^ -2?
  2. ^ -4?

South Atlantic Division

Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 Carolina Dynamo 18 14 1 3 37 15 +22 43
2 South Carolina Shamrocks 18 11 1 6 42 31 +11 34
3 Hampton Roads Mariners 18 9 4 5 32 15 +17 31
4 Tampa Bay Cyclones 18 9 1 8 40 32 +8 28
5 Raleigh Flyers 18 7 0 11 25 26 −1 21
Source:[citation needed]

Western Conference

Central Division

Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 Milwaukee Rampage 18 9 6 3 36 19 +17 33
2 Minnesota Thunder 18 10 0 8 31 16 +15 30
3 New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers 18 7 2 9 31 36 −5 23
4 Ohio Xoggz 18 5 1 12 26 34 −8 16
5 Chicago Stingers 18 4 1 13 29 41 −12 13
Source:[citation needed]

Pacific Division

Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 California Jaguars 18 11 1 6 30 21 +9 34
2 Sacramento Scorpions 18 9 2 7 23 22 +1 29
3 El Paso Patriots 18 9 1 8 30 23 +7 28
4 New Mexico Chiles 18 9 0 9 24 24 0 27
5 Reno Rattlers 18 1 5 12 13 33 −20 8
Source:[citation needed]

Playoffs

First round

Connecticut Wolves (CT)2–3Delaware Wizards (DE)
Ian Hennessy 60'
Mike Saunders 69' (pen.)		 Report 41' George Petou
47' Andy Logar
73' George Petou
New Britain Stadium, New Britain, Connecticut
Attendance: 1,206


South Carolina Shamrocks (SC)2–2Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)
Pearse Tormey 15' (pen.)
David Minihan 89'		 38' Paul Cann
79' Dustin Swinehart
Penalties
soccer ball with red X
soccer ball with red X
soccer ball with red X		 0–1 soccer ball with red X
soccer ball with check mark Nate Houser
soccer ball with red X
Greenville, South Carolina
Attendance: 1,000


Minnesota Thunder (MN)5–1New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers (LA)
Todd Dusosky
Don Gramenz
Tim Foster
Gerard Lagos
Sergei Gotsmanov 		89' Ezra Hendrickson
National Sports Center, Blaine, Minnesota
Attendance: 2,359


Sacramento Scorpions (CA)2–1 OTEl Paso Patriots (TX)
Tony Sutton
John Jones 100'		 Dave Stewart
Woodcreek High School, Roseville, California
Attendance: 1,521

Second round

Minnesota Thunder vs Milwaukee Rampage

Minnesota Thunder (MN)3–1Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Don Gramenz
Todd Dusosky
Gerard Lagos 		51' Mike Gentile
Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 3,210


Milwaukee Rampage (WI)2–0Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Travis Roy 36'
Jason Willan 86'
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance: 3,659


Milwaukee Rampage (WI)0–1Minnesota Thunder (MN)
20' Aaron Leventhal
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance: 3,659

Hampton Roads Mariners vs Carolina Dynamos

Carolina Dynamo (NC)0–1 OTHampton Roads Mariners (VA)
David Moxon Red card 35'
Yari Allnutt Red card 65'		 93' Dustin Swinehart
High Point, North Carolina
Attendance: 2,187


Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)0–4Carolina Dynamo (NC)
34' Chugger Adair
, Kevin Sloan
Alan Prampin
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Attendance: 2,409


Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)1–0Carolina Dynamo (NC)
Nate Houser 25'
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Attendance: 2,409

California Jaguars vs Sacramento Scorpions

Sacramento Scorpions (CA)0–2California Jaguars (CA)
Ryshiem Henderson
Woodcreek High School, Roseville, California
Attendance: 2,229


California Jaguars (CA)2–1Sacramento Scorpions (CA)
Luis Gomez
Chris Afarian 		40' Brandon Cavitt
Red card 47' Scott Hileman
Cabrillo College, Aptos, California
Attendance: 100

Long Island Rough Riders vs Delaware Wizards

Long Island Rough Riders (NY)2–0Delaware Wizards (DE)
Jim Rooney 7'
Mike Masters 38'		 Report
Mitchel Athletic Complex, Uniondale, New York

Select Six Tournament

The Select Six Tournament consisted of six teams. The Richmond Kickers participated as hosts. The Charleston Battery entered as the champion of the 1996 USISL Professional League. The other four teams came from the winners of the second round playoff games.

Group A

Pos Team W L GF GA GD
1 California Jaguars 2 0 4 1 +3
2 Richmond Kickers 1 1 6 2 +4
3 Charleston Battery 0 2 2 9 −7
Source:[citation needed]
Richmond Kickers (VA)6–1Charleston Battery (NC)
Robert Ukrop
City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia
California Jaguars (CA)3–1Charleston Battery (NC)
City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia
Richmond Kickers (VA)0–1California Jaguars (CA)
City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Group B

Pos Team W L GF GA GD
1 Long Island Rough Riders 2 0 4 2 +2
2 Minnesota Thunder 1 1 3 3 0
3 Hampton Roads Mariners 0 2 4 6 −2
Source:[citation needed]
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)2–3Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Gerard Lagos ,
Don Gramenz (pen.)
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
Long Island Rough Riders (NY)1–0Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)2–3Long Island Rough Riders (NY)
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Semifinals

California Jaguars vs Minnesota Thunder

California Jaguars (CA)4–2Minnesota Thunder (MN)
City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Richmond Kickers vs Long Island Rough Riders

Richmond Kickers (VA)1–0Long Island Rough Riders (NY)
Robert Ukrop
City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Final

Richmond Kickers (VA)1–1California Jaguars (CA)
Robert Ukrop 11' 54' Adrian Gonzalez
Penalties
soccer ball with check mark
Ben Crawley soccer ball with red X
Brandon Ward soccer ball with red X
Robert Ukrop soccer ball with red X		 1–2 soccer ball with red X
soccer ball with red X
soccer ball with check mark Randy Mann
soccer ball with check mark Ryan Collins
City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Points leaders

Rank Scorer Club Goals Assists Points
1 Dan Stebbins Milwaukee Rampage 21 8 50
2 Jamie Wellington New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers 18 6 42
3 Luis Murillo Tampa Bay Cyclones 16 5 37
4 Mike Gailey Carolina Dynamo 14 8 36
5 Ron Murphy Cape Cod Crusaders 13 6 32
6 Yari Allnut Carolina Dynamo 14 3 31
Mike Saunders Connecticut Wolves 15 1 31
8 Chugger Adair Carolina Dynamo 13 4 30
9 Chad Carrithers Sacramento Scorpions 13 3 29

Honors

External links

References

  1. ^ "The Year in American Soccer – 1995". Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  2. ^ "The Year in American Soccer – 1996". Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
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