1996 USISL Select League

1996 USISL Select League
Sport soccer
Founded 1996
Ceased 1996
No. of teams 21
Country  United States
Last champion(s) California Jaguars

The USISL Select League was a professional men's soccer league which featured teams from the United States, which existed for just one year in 1996. During its single season in 1996 it shared Division II status in the American soccer pyramid with the A-League, before the two leagues merged in 1997.

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 second 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

Place Team GP W L SW GF GA GD Points
1 Long Island Rough Riders 18 11 7 0 39 31 +8 33
2 Richmond Kickers 18 10 8 0 34 24 +10 28
3 Connecticut Wolves 18 7 7 4 37 37 +6 25
4 Delaware Wizards 18 5 12 1 20 29 −9 16
5 Cape Cod Crusaders 18 4 13 1 13 24 −11 9
6 New York/New Jersey Stallions 18 2 16 0 19 52 −33 6

South Atlantic Division

Place Team GP W L SW GF GA GD Points
1 Carolina Dynamo 18 14 3 1 37 15 +22 43
2 South Carolina Shamrocks 18 12 6 1 42 31 +11 34
3 Hampton Roads Mariners 18 9 5 4 32 15 +17 31
4 Tampa Bay Cyclones 18 9 8 1 40 32 +8 28
5 Raleigh Flyers 18 7 11 0 25 26 −1 21

Western Conference

Central Division

Place Team GP W L SW GF GA GD Points
1 Milwaukee Rampage 18 8 3 5 36 19 +17 33
2 Minnesota Thunder 18 10 8 0 31 16 +15 30
3 New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers 18 7 9 2 31 36 −5 23
4 Ohio Xoggz 18 5 12 1 26 34 −8 16
5 Chicago Stingers 18 4 13 1 29 41 −12 13

Pacific Division

Place Team GP W L SW GF GA GD Points
1 California Jaguars 18 11 6 1 30 21 +9 34
2 Sacramento Scorpions 18 9 7 2 23 22 +1 29
3 El Paso Patriots 18 9 8 1 30 23 +7 28
4 New Mexico Chiles 18 9 9 0 24 24 0 27
5 Reno Rattlers 18 1 12 5 13 33 −20 8

Playoffs

First round

August 14, 1996
7:30 PM EST
Connecticut Wolves (CT) 2–3 Delaware Wizards (DE)
Ian Hennessy  60'
Mike Saunders  69' PK 		(Report)  41' George Petou
 47' Andy Logar
 73' George Petou


August 14, 1996
South Carolina Shamrocks (SC) 2–2 Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)
Pearse Tormey  15' PK
David Minihan  89' 		 38' Paul Cann
 79' Dustin Swinehart
  Penalties  


 0–1
Nate Houser



Second round

Minnesota Thunder vs Milwaukee Rampage



Hampton Roads Mariners vs Carolina Dynamos



California Jaguars vs Sacramento Scorpions


August 18, 1996
4:00 PM PST
California Jaguars (CA) 2–1 Sacramento Scorpions (CA)
Luis Gomez
Chris Afarian 		 40' Brandon Cavitt
Red card 47' Scott Hileman

Long Island Rough Riders vs Delaware Wizards

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

Place 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



Group B

Place 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



Semifinals

California Jaguars vs Minnesota Thunder

Richmond Kickers vs Long Island Rough Riders

Final

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
  2. ↑ The Year in American Soccer – 1996

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