A-League 1999 Season

Atlanta Silverbacks - Boston Bulldogs - Charleston Battery - Connecticut Wolves

Hampton Roads Mariners - Hershey Wildcats - Jacksonville Cyclones - Lehigh Valley Steam

Long Island Rough Riders - Maryland Mania - Pittsburgh Riverhounds - Raleigh Capital Express

Richmond Kickers - Rochester Raging Rhinos - Staten Island Vipers - Toronto Lynx

Cincinnati Riverhawks - El Paso Patriots - Indiana Blast - Milwaukee Rampage

Minnesota Thunder - New Orleans Storm - Orange County Zodiac - Sacramento Geckos

San Diego Flash - San Francisco Bay Seals - Seattle Sounders - Tennessee Rhythm

Indiana was promoted from the D3-Pro League.
Albuquerque moved to Sacramento. Raleigh became the Express.
Worcester moved to Boston.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Northeast Division          GP   W   L    SO   GF GA BP Pts
Rochester Rhinos            28 22   6   2-1   47 20   7   92
Staten Island Vipers        28 19   9   2-1   53 31   9   82
Long Island Rough Riders    28 18 10   3-0   57 44   8   74
Pittsburgh Riverdogs        28 16 12   1-1   63 43   9   72
Lehigh Valley Steam         28 15 13   2-1   42 44   6   63
Boston Bulldogs             28 12 16   0-6   49 36   8   61
Toronto Lynx                28 12 16   0-5   49 36   8   51
Connecticut Wolves          28   7 21   0-1   32 68   5   34

Atlantic Division           GP   W   L    SO   GF GA BP Pts
Hershey Wildcats            28 17 11   2-1   54 33 10   75
Richmond Kickers            28 17 11   3-1   51 44   6   69
Charleston Battery          28 15 13   3-2   43 39   6   62
Jacksonville Cyclones       28 13 15   1-1   51 61   9   59
Atlanta Silverbacks         28 15 13   1-1   51 61   9   59
Hampton Roads Mariners      28 15 13   5-2   45 41   5   57
Raleigh Express             28 11 17   2-2   32 50   5   47
Maryland Mania              28   3 25   1-1   16 85   2   13

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central Division            GP   W   L    SO   GF GA BP Pts
Minnesota Thunder           28 22   6   4-4   57 17   6   88
US Project 40 Select        28 17 11   2-0   44 46   4   66
New Orleans Storm           28 14 14   0-0   56 61 11   66
Indiana Blast               28 13 15   2-2   43 51   5   55
Milwaukee Rampage           28 13 15   2-1   44 49   5   54
Tennessee Rhythm            28 11 17   2-3   44 52   6   49
Cincinnati Riverhawks       28   7 21   2-3   45 71   7   34

Pacific Division            GP   W   L    SO   GF GA BP Pts
San Diego Flash             28 20   8   2-3   65 30 11   90
Vancouver 86ers             28 19   9   2-2   77 31 10   84
Seattle Sounders            28 19   9   3-1   56 36 10   81
Orange County Zodiac        28 17 11   4-3   59 49 10   73
El Paso Patriots            28 12 16   0-2   49 59   6   55
San Francisco Bay Seals     28   9 19   2-4   37 54   4   40
Sacramento Geckos           28   0 28   0-1   16 91   0    1

After the season, Maryland and Staten Island folded and Jacksonville
withdrew for 1 year. The Seals became the Bay Area Seals.

Overview of the 1999 A-League Season - From the American Soccer History Archives

The A-league expanded to 30 teams, adding Pittsburgh, Maryland and Lehigh Valley. The Nashville Metros returned as the Tennessee Rhythym and Indiana Blast were promoted from D3Pro. The Riverhounds were Pittsburgh's first outdoor team since 1975, and the Maryland Mania returned Baltimore to outdoor soccer. Meanwhile, the Lehigh Valley Steam was situated in the historical soccer area of Bethlehem/Allentown, home of the fabled Bethlehem Steel team of the early 29th century. Pittsburgh was an enormous success, while Lehigh Valley, despite healthy crowds foundered with unpaid bills, and the Mania folded after a poor performance on and off the field. The league had to make do without Montreal whose franchise was revoked because of failure to adhere to league requirements. They continued indoors in the NPSL. The Worcester Wildfire moved to Boston, as the Bulldogs and made an impressive debut before slacking off during the season. Attendance in 1999 was up significantly, totaling 1,310,988 (3,013 per game).

An era came to an end as Vancouver's player-coach, Carl Valentine, retired from the field. Carl had traced his professional career back to the final years of the NASL and was one of the game's last active links to that famous league. Project 40 continued to expand, while the US Pro 40 team improved considerably upon its first year performance, finishing 17-11 this season good enough for 2nd place in its new division, the Central. As in previous years, the A-League continued to lose several top players to MLS, but this showed the success of its mission as a farm system for the top league. More players were selected than previously in the annual MLS Supplemental draft. Many new names figured prominently among the top scorers and goalkeepers this season.

In the regular season, we began to see some stability and the development of mini-dynasties as Rochester won the Eastern division by a large margin, while Staten island moved up a notch to take the place held by departed Montreal, once again followed by Long Island. The expansion Pittsburgh Riverdogs finished a respectable 4th. In the Atlantic, Hershey and Richmond switched the top two places, with Hershey regaining the title after winning a close race, with the margin coming from shootout wins. Atlanta, now known as the Silverbacks, under new ownership showed major gains on the field and at the box office, coming in 5th as one of the better drawing teams in the league. In the Central, the Minnesota Thunder marched off to victory by a long shot, while Project 40 Select tied with the New Orleans Storm for 2nd. In the Pacific, the San Diego Flash repeated as division champs, beating the vastly improved Vancouver 86ers. The league set a new record for futility as the Sacramento geckos lost all 28 games while being outscored 91-16.

In the playoffs, the biggest upset was Pittsburgh over Long Island 4-3, otherwise the favored teams generally won, including Project 40 which emerged from their first playoff game victorious. In the quarterfinals, Hershey defeated Staten Island 2-0, 2-0, Rochester defeated Pittsburgh 6-2, Minnesota defeated US Project 40 1-0, 2-0, and San Diego shut out Seattle 6-0. In the semifinals, Rochester defeated Hershey 3-1 and Minnesota defeated San Diego 2-1. The championship game was a rematch of 1998, but this time Minnesota defeated Rochester 2-1 to exact their revenge. This ruined Rochester's chances to become the first A-league team to win the "double", as Rochester would win the US Open Cup by upsetting the MLS Colorado Rapids.

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