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

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

Overview

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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

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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

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Bracket

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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

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Atlanta Ruckus (GA)1–1Montreal 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



The Atlanta Ruckus advance to the finals.


Semifinals 2

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


The Seattle Sounders advance to the finals.


Final

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Atlanta Ruckus (GA)1–1Seattle 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


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


The Seattle Sounders win the A-League title.

Points leaders

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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

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References

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  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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