UPDATED - February 24, 20007
A-League
2000 Season
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlanta Silverbacks - Boston Bulldogs - Charleston Battery - Connecticut Wolves
Hampton Roads Mariners - Hershey Wildcats - Long Island Rough Riders - Montreal Impact -
Pittsburgh Riverhounds - Raleigh Capital Express - Richmond Kickers - Rochester Raging Rhinos - Toronto Lynx -
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Bay Area Seals - Cincinnati Riverhawks - El Paso Patriots - Indiana Blast
Milwaukee Rampage - Minnesota Thunder - Orange County Waves - San Diego Flash
Seattle Sounders - Tennessee Rhythm - US Pro-40 - Vancouver 86ers
2000 Home - 2000 Results - 2000 Stats
2000 FINAL STANDINGS
Before the season, Orange County
became the Waves.
Montreal rejoined the League.
San Francisco became the Bay Area Seals.
EASTERN
CONFERENCE
Northeast Division
GP W T L GF GA BP Pts
Long Island Rough Riders 28 16 4 9
54 36 9 76
Rochester Raging Rhinos 28 20 1
7 42 25 3 75
Toronto Lynx
28 13 4 11 35 30 3 59
Montreal Impact
28 12 3 13 34 41 3 54
Boston Bulldogs
28 9 3 16 32 41 3 *39
Connecticut Wolves 28
1 8 19 22 57 1 13
Atlantic Division
GP W T L GF GA BP Pts
Charleston Battery 28
18 2 8 59 36 13 87
Richmond Kickers
28 20 1 7 42 25 3
84
Hershey Wildcats
28 15 3 10 49 30 7 70
Hampton Roads Mariners 28 14 2
12 44 38 4 62
Raleigh Capital Express 28 12 4 12
48 52 6 58
Atlanta Silverbacks 28
11 3 14 51 42 8 55
Pittsburgh Riverhounds 28 10 4
14 41 43 5 49
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central Division
GP W T L GF GA BP Pts
Minnesota Thunder
28 20 4 4 74 30 15 99
Milwaukee Rampage
28 18 1 9 69 47 16 89
Indiana Blast
28 9 4 15 40 57 5
45
US Project 40
28 8 1 19 35 60 3 *33
Tennessee Rhythm
28 6 0 22 36 103 1 25
Cincinnati Riverhawks 28 2
3 23 25 80 2 13
Pacific Division
GP W T L GF GA BP Pts
Seattle Sounders
28 18 3 7 56 38 10 85
San Diego Flash
28 16 3 9 54 32 8
75
Vancouver 86ers
28 14 3 11 62 41 11 70
El Paso Patriots
28 12 2 14 48 50 7 57
Bay Area Seals
28 12 3 13 42 53 5 56
Orange County Waves 28
12 1 15 44 52 6 55
Win-3pts, Draw-1pt
*-3 pt deduction for use of illegal players
After the season, US Project 40 left
the league.
Boston was relegated to the D3Pro League.
Bay Area, and Orange County were relegated to the
D3Pro League but
folded before the season began.
Raleigh folded. Hampton Roads went on hiatus.
2000 PLAYOFFS *-after extra time Conference Quarterfinals (Single Game) Eastern 9/8/00 Long Island 1-2 Toronto 9/9/00 Richmond 2-1* Hampton Roads 9/9/00 Charleston 1-0 Raleigh 9/9/00 Rochester 4-2 Hershey Western 9/9/00 Milwaukee 3-2* El Paso 9/9/00 Minnesota 7-0 Indiana 9/9/00 San Diego 1-1* Vancovuer Vancouver advance on penalty kicks, 5-4 9/10/00 Seattle 2-1 Bay Area
Conference Semifinals (2 leg, total goals) Eastern 9/15/00 Toronto 1-0 Richmond 9/17/00 Richmond 1-0 Toronto Toronto advance on 2-0 aggregate
9/15/00 Rochester 2-0 Charleston 9/16/00 Charleston 0-1 Rochester Rochester advance on 3-0 aggregate
Western 9/13/00 Vancouver 3-0 Minnesota 9/16/00 Minnesota 4-0* Vancouver Minnesota advance on 4-3 aggregate after extra time
9/15/00 Milwaukee 2-1 Seattle 9/17/00 Seattle 1-2 Milwaukee Milwaukee advance on 4-2 aggregate
Conference Finals (Best of Three) 9/22/00 Toronto 1-1 Rochester 9/24/00 Rochester 1-0 Toronto Rochester advance on 2-1 aggregate
9/21/00 Milwaukee 3-4 Minnesota 9/23/00 Minnesota 5-0 Milwaukee Minnesota advance on 9-3 aggregate
A-League Championship 9/30/00 Rochester 3-1 Minnesota |
Leading Goalscorers Paul Conway, Charleston 17 Gregory Howes, Seattle 17 Johnny Menyongar, Minnesota 17 Digital Takawira, Milwaukee 16 Darren Sawatzky, Seattle 16 Saul Martinez, Hampton Roads 16 Greg Simmonds, Hershey 16 Paul Schneider, Minnesota 15 Dwayne DeRosario, Richmond 15 Ihor Dotsenko, Raleigh 15 Patrick Beech, Atlanta 14 Iggy Moleka, Atlanta 14 Seamus Donnelly, Hampton Roads 14
Goalkeeping Leaders GAA Scott Vallow, Rochester 0.83 Michael McGinty, Richmond 0.91 Thomas Tate, San Diego 1.00 Theo Zagar, Toronto 1.06 John Swallen, Minnesota 1.07 Dusty Hudock, Charleston 1.19 PauL Grafer, Long Island 1.29 Randy Dedini, Pittsburgh 1.29 Bill May, Seattle 1.31 Jim Larkin, Montreal 1.36
Most Valuable Player: Digital Takawira, Milwaukee Rampage Goalkeeper of the Year: Scott Vallow, Rochester Ragin' Rhinos Defender of the Year: Scott Cannon, Richmond Kickers Rookie of the Year: Greg Howes, Seattle Sounders Coach of the Year: Neil Megson, Seattle Sounders 2000 A-League First XI
G - Scott Vallow,
Rochester Raging Rhinos
Home Attendance G Total Avg. Rochester 15 174,426 11,628 Vancouver 15 59,378 3,959 Pittsburgh 14 53,308 3,808 Milwaukee 15 54,816 3,654 Minnesota 15 53,813 3,588 Charleston 14 48,795 3,485 Atlanta 12 39,925 3,327 El Paso 15 49,230 3,282 San Diego 15 41,802 2,787 Toronto 14 36,681 2,620 Hampton Roads 14 35,749 2,554 Montreal 15 35,069 2,338 Hershey 15 33,211 2,214 Richmond 15 32,874 2,192 Seattle 14 29,997 2,143 Long Island 13 25,648 1,973 Indiana 14 25,147 1,796 Connecticut 14 18,555 1,325 Orange County 13 13,777 1,060 Bay Area 15 14,687 979 Raleigh 14 11,872 848 Tennessee 14 10,896 778 Boston 14 9,269 662 Cincinnati 13 6,321 486 LEAGUE 341 915,246 2,684
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Overview of the 2000 A-League Season - From the American Soccer History Archives The A-League retrenched slightly this year, although in retrospective this actually brought the circuit down to a more manageable size, while shaking off some of its weakest franchises. Staten Island and Maryland folded after disastrous seasons, as did Lehigh Valley and Sacramento. The loss of Lehigh Valley was disappointing; although they drew well, and were based in the Bethlehem, PA area, a region rich in soccer history, they never were able to play in a permanent stadium; unpaid bills, and delinquency fines led to the franchise's revocation. Sacramento, Jacksonville and New Orleans went on hiatus this season, to give them time to reorganize and obtain financing. Sadly, none of these teams would return for 2001.On a positive note, the Montreal Impact, one of the league's most successful teams, returned to the league. The Bay Area Seals survived a scare when it appeared they might fold, but new financing saved the team. The Seals troubles were worrisome, as the local youth leagues were strong; why the support didn't extend to the Seals was a true mystery. Concerned about these changes, Commissioner Francisco Marcos raised the annual letter of credit required of teams to $100,000. This would allow the league to take over a team and run it for the rest of the season. Hershey Wildcats revamped their lineup in their quest to finally pull past Rochester, to whom they lost in the semifinals the past two seasons. Gone was long time scoring maven Gino DeFlorio, but much of the core remained, including six NPSL players (after their indoor seasons end). In a major shift, Project 40 withdrew from the A-League after the conclusion of the season. The developmental team had struggled the past two seasons with a depleted lineup due to players being frequently called up to MLS. With the constantly changing lineup, it was impossible for the team to gel and provide suitable playing experience. In a sense this was a reflection of Project 40's success, as it was sending up increasing numbers of successful players. Project 40 would continue as a developmental team, playing exhibitions against domestic and foreign teams. The A-League saw a major infusion of talent from MLS, led by players such as Digital Takawira (Milwaukee), Kris Kelderman (Milwaukee), Matt Kmosko (Charleston), Marquis White and Tim Weaver (Bay Area), and Paulos dos Santos and Jair. Some of these clearly hoped to eventually return to MLS, others were satisfied to finish out their careers at this level. Long Island Rough Riders returned to the top of the Northeast Division, edging out 1999 finalist Rochester, despite only having 16 wins. Their title came thanks to 9 bonus points earned for scoring 3 or more goals in a game. Rochester, who had four more wins, would undoubtedly look to boost scoring for next season. The same story in the Atlantic Division, where the Charleston Battery edged out the Richmond Kickers who out-won them 20 victories to 18. Charleston had racked up 13 bonus points for their scoring prowess. The Midwest division saw defending champion Minnesota Thunder and Milwaukee Rampage finish well ahead of the back, with Minnesota winning a close title run. Us Project 40 fell to a disappointing 8-19, struck by frequent player losses. The Seattle Sounders took top spot in the West, beating out San Diego and Vancouver in a close race. In the playoffs, the conference quarterfinals generally went to the favored teams, the major exception being Vancouver 86ers's penalty-kick victory over the San Diego Flash. The Semifinals and finals were now two game series with based on aggregate goals. Rochester cruised easily, defeating Charleston, but Minnesota needed a comeback squeaker to beat Vancouver, losing the first game 3-0, while needing overtime to beat the 86ers 4-3 in the 2nd leg. Milwaukee ousted Seattle by identical 2-1 scores in a battle of divisional champs. Toronto had a major upset by knocking out Richmond, who led the league in wins. The goals aggregate figured in the first conference final, as Rochester tied Toronto 1-1, and then beat them 1-0 to advance on goals. Minnesota was a little more decisive, beating Milwaukee in their famed rivalry, 4-3 and 5-0. Rochester Raging Rhinos had revenge on the Thunder, paying them back for last year's championship result, by defeating the Thunder 3-1. The Rhinos dominated throughout, delighting the crowd of 14,276 at Frontier Field. They jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Yari Alnutt and Dan Stebbins. The 2nd half was more even, and Minnesota nearly scored in the 74th minute when Chugger Adair's 10 yard shot with the goalkeeper out of position hit the post. Adding insult to injury, Onandi Lowe scored four minutes later for Rochester, giving them a 3-0 lead. Adair scored in the 79th minute, but it was too late to mount a comeback, and Rochester finally had their championship after three tries. The Seattle Sounders furthered a plan to become a European style club, with developmental and youth teams. They established the Sounders Select in the PDL and U-14, U-16, and U-18 teams for the USL's Super Y-League and a new team for the W-League. This put the sounders at the top f a pyramid and gave them their own developmental base. In the other direction, the Sounders affiliated themselves with Werder Bremen to establish a player training exchange program. On a positive note, attendance was up this season, to 2,684 fans per game (up from 2,374 in 1999). Total attendance declined slightly due to the decrease in number of teams. It felt to 915,246 (from 999,563 in 1999). As a sign if increasing memory of the NASL, Vancouver announced that they would change their name to the Whitecaps for the 2001 season. |
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