1995 A-League

A-League
Season	1995
Champions	Seattle Sounders ; (1st title)
Premiers	Montreal Impact ; (1st title)
1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup	Seattle Sounders
Top goalscorer	Peter 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

September 14, 1995
7:30 PM EST

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

Adams Stadium Atlanta

Attendance: 2,114

September 17, 1995
1:30 PM EST

Montreal Impact (QC)	3–0	Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Paulinho 31' Lloyd Barker 44' Lyndon Hooper 78'	Report 1 Report 2

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Canada

Attendance: 2,648

September 20, 1995
7:30 PM EST

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

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Canada

The Atlanta Ruckus advance to the finals.

Semifinals 2

September 15, 1995
7:30 PM PST

Vancouver 86ers (BC)	0–1	Seattle Sounders (WA)
Nico Berg 62'	Report	80' Gary Heale

Swangard Stadium Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 4,036

September 17, 1995
4:05 PM PST

Seattle Sounders (WA)	0–0	Vancouver 86ers (BC)
Dominic Kinnear 39' Neil Megson 53'	Report	32' Geoff Aunger
Penalties
Peter Hattrup Neil Megson Shawn Medved Marco Rizi Gary Heale David Hoggan Jason Dunn Billy Crook	3–2	Geoff Aunger Sipho Sibiya Carl Valentine Steve MacDonald Paul Dailly Martin Nash Doug McKinty Nico Berg

Memorial Stadium Seattle

Attendance: 4,339

The Seattle Sounders advance to the finals.

Final

October 1, 1995
4:00 PM EST

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

Adams Stadium Atlanta

Attendance: 4,312

Referee: Zimmerman Boulos

October 8, 1995
7:05 PM PST

Seattle Sounders (WA)	3–0	Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Chance Fry 24:35', 85' Jason Dunn 86:55'	Report 1 Report 2	41' Michael Araujo

Memorial Stadium Seattle

Attendance: 4,626

Referee: Esse Baharmast

October 12, 1995
7:05 PM PST

Seattle Sounders (WA)	1–1	Atlanta Ruckus (GA)
Jason Farrell 81'	Report	3' Staale Soebye
Penalties
David Hoggan Peter Hattrup Neil Megson Dominic Kinnear	2–1	Staale Soebye Brian Moore Mo Suri John Doyle 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
12	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

[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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1995 A-League

Overview

Regular season

Playoffs

Bracket

Semifinals 1

Semifinals 2

Final

Points leaders

Honors

References

External links

Information related to 1995 A-League

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