UPDATED - January 30, 2007
A-League
2001 Season
NORTHERN CONFERENCE
Connecticut Wolves - Hershey Wildcats - Long Island Rough Riders
Montreal Impact - Pittsburgh Riverhounds - Rochester Raging Rhinos - Toronto Lynx
CENTRAL CONFERENCE
Atlanta Silverbacks - Charleston Battery - Charlotte Eagles
Cincinnati Riverhawks - Indiana Blast - Nashville Metros - Richmond Kickers
WESTERN CONFERENCE
El Paso Patriots - Milwaukee Rampage - Minnesota Thunder -
Portland Timbers - San Diego Flash - Seattle Sounders - Vancouver Whitecaps
2001 Home - 2001 Results - 2001 Stats
2001 FINAL STANDINGS
Charlotte was promoted from the D3Pro
League.
Tennessee became Nashville. Portland was added.
Vancouver
became the Whitecaps.
Northern
Conference
GP W T L GF GA
BP Pts
Hershey Wildcats
26 16 3 7 45 20
8 75
Rochester Raging Rhinos 26 16 4
6 43 27 6 74
Pittsburgh Riverhounds 26 10
4 12 39 39 6 50
Montreal Impact
26 10 2 14 29 37 3
45
Connecticut Wolves 26
9 6 11 30 37 1 43
Long Island Rough Riders 26 8 4
16 31 50 5 *33
Toronto Lynx
26 7 3 16 20 41
1 32
Central Conference
GP W T L GF GA
BP Pts
Richmond Kickers
26 16 3 7 47 34
9 76
Charleston Battery 26
16 1 9 51 34 8
73
Charlotte Eagles
26 14 2 10 50 41 8
66
Nashville Metros
26 14 2 10 47 48 5
63
Atlanta Silverbacks 26
13 1 12 48 39 6 59
Indiana Blast
26 8 0 18 38 55
3 35
Cincinnati Riverhawks 26 6
0 20 39 80 3 27
Western Conference
GP W T L GF GA
BP Pts
Vancouver Whitecaps 26
16 2 8 44 33 8
74
San Diego Flash F. C. 26 14
1 11 55 42 11 68
Milwaukee Rampage
26 14 2 10 45 40 5
63
Portland Timbers
26 13 3 10 41 38 7
62
Seattle Sounders
26 13 1 12 40 39 4
57
Minnesota Thunder
26 9 2 15 29 34
3 41
El Paso Patriots
26 8 4 14 39 42
4 40
Win-4pts, Draw-1pt, 1
bonus point for scoring three goals in a game
*-3 pt deduction for use of illegal players
After the season, San Diego and Hershey folded.
Nashville withdrew for 1 year.
Connecticut and Long Island were relegated to the D3Pro League.
2001 PLAYOFFS
*-after extra time First Round (Two-leg aggregate) Richmond, Rochester, Vancouver and Hershey receive byes 9/20/01 Charleston 1-2 Pittsburgh 9/22/01 Pittsburgh 3-1 Charleston Pittsburgh advance on 5-2 aggregate
9/19/01 San Diego 2-0 Atlanta 9/23/01 Atlanta 2-2 San Diego San Diego advance on 4-2 aggregate
9/20/01 Portland 2-0 Charlotte 9/22/01 Charlotte 2-3 Portland Portland advance on 5-2 aggregate
9/19/01 Nashville 2-3 Milwaukee 9/22/01 Milwaukee 0-1* Nashville Aggregate drawn 3-3 Milwaukee advance on penalty kicks, 4-2
Second Round (Two-legs aggregate) 9/28/01 Milwaukee 2-2 Richmond 9/30/01 Richmond 2-1* Milwaukee Toronto advance on 4-3 aggregate after extra time
9/26/01 Pittsburgh 2-1 Rochester 9/29/01 Rochester 3-0 Pittsburgh Rochester advance on 4-2 aggregate
9/27/01 Portland 0-2 Hershey 9/29/01 Hershey 1-0 Portland Hershey advance on 3-0 aggregate
9/26/01 San Diego 2-0 Vancouver 9/29/01 Vancouver 4-1 San Diego Vancouver advance on 4-3 aggregate
Semifinals (Two-legs aggregate) 10/3/01 Vancouver 0-4 Hershey 10/6/01 Hershey 0-1 Vancouver Hershey advance on 4-1 aggregate
10/4/01 Milwaukee 2-3 Rochester 10/6/01 Rochester 1-0 Milwaukee Rochester advance on 4-2 aggregate
A-League Championship 10/13/01 Rochester 2-0 Hershey |
Leading Goalscorers Paul Conway, Charleston 22 Dustin Swinehart, Charlotte 18 Jakob Fenger, Nashville 14 Jeff Houser, Nashville 14 Digital Takawira, Milwaukee 13 Mark Baena, Portland 13 Iggy Moleka, Atlanta 12 Luis Macias, El Paso 12 Kevin Jeffrey, Richmond 11 Leighton O'Brien, Seattle 11 Rodrigo Costa, Indiana 11
Goalkeeping Leaders GAA Jon Busch, Hershey 0.60 Scott Vallow, Rochester 0.97 Didar Sandhu, Vancouver 1.09 John Swallen, Minnesota 1.14 Dusty Hudock, Charleston 1.20 Miek McGinty, Richmond 1.21 Randy Dedini, Pittsburgh 1.30 Greg Sutton, Montreal 1.30 Bill Andracki, Rochester/Atlanta 1.30 Matt Napolean, Portland 1.31
Most Valuable Player: Paul Conway, Charleston Battery Goalkeeper of the Year: Jon Busch, Hershey Wildcats Defender of the Year: Rick Titus, Vancouver Whitecaps Rookie of the Year: Robbie Aristidemo, Toronto Lynx Coach of the Year: Dale Mitchell, Vancouver Whitecaps 2001 A-League First XI
G - Scott Vallow,
Rochester Raging Rhinos Home Attendance G Total Avg. Rochester 16 172,480 10,780 Portland 15 89,612 5,974 Vancouver 13 72,050 5,542 Minnesota 15 52,675 3,512 Pittsburgh 15 48,390 3,226 Charleston 15 46,248 3,083 El Paso 15 45,269 3,018 Hershey 15 43,658 2,911 Toronto 13 36,340 2,795 Milwaukee 15 40,234 2,682 Richmond 15 36,542 2,436 Montreal 13 27,340 2,103 Connecticut 15 29,784 1,986 Atlanta 14 27,167 1,941 Indiana 15 28,967 1,931 Seattle 15 28,271 1,885 Charlotte 15 22,646 1,510 Tennessee 14 20,261 1,447 Long Island 13 14,268 1,098 Cincinnati 15 13,138 876 San Diego 15 8,698 580 LEAGUE 306 904,038 2,954 |
Overview of the 2001 A-League Season - From the American Soccer History Archives The A-League started the year with more memories of the NASL being evoked. Vancouver was bought in August 2000 by financier David Stadnyk of Starlight Sports, who revived the old NASL team name, Whitecaps. Meanwhile, the expansion Portland Timbers made a successful debut, and the three-way rivalry between these cities and Seattle was on again.In Late February, indoor and NASL legend Kai Haaskivi was appointed general manager and head coach of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. John Dugan took the helm at Atlanta, bringing four former Raleigh players with him, meanwhile, Cincinnati signed Luis Labastida from Minnesota, 5th in scoring last year, as well as Nigerian forward Abel Salami. Vancouver signed 31 year old Junior Busby, goalkeeper from Crystal Palace. and Charleston tabbed Dan Calichmen who was waived by MLS. Richmond acquired Jamaican International Clifton Waugh and Rochester signed former MLS midfielder Carlos Parra. San Diego continued its roller coaster ride; despite some great finishes and large crowds, the team's financial situation remained as the league was forced to run the franchise for the entire season. The 2001 season was one of the tightest in A-League history, with the top five teams separated by only three points in the standings. Richmond took top honors, taking the central division, while Hershey bested Rochester by one point in the East and Vancouver won the West by a comfortable margin. The playoffs were delayed a week as a result of September 11, and the top teams received first round byes, as they watched the remainder of the playoff pool battle through the first round. This year, Charleston and Pittsburgh followed Rochester's lead by stocking up on high quality talent. Rochester lost three of their top players, Yari Allnutt, Craig Denningand Onandi Lowe to MLS, but compensated by bringing back veteran goalkeeper Pat Onstad, a key part of their 1998 championship team, and other major signings. But cash alone was not necessarily the way to success. Hershey beat out both Rochester and Pittsburgh for top spot in the East. In the Central, high-spending Charleston lost a close divisional race to the ever successful Richmond Kickers in a close race. Vancouver maintained their dominance of the west, with a comfortable margin over San Diego and Milwaukee. The new kid on the block, Portland, finished 4th in the west, with a respectable record, but more importantly, the fans took to the Timbers with great enthusiasm, with consistently large crowds. Pittsburgh, San Diego, Milwaukee and Portland easily swept through the first round to the quarterfinals. But there, the three division winners had their way, joining Milwaukee in the semifinals. Rochester was matched against their nemesis Milwaukee, but took two straight, sweeping into the championship with 3-2 and 1-0 victories. Hershey meanwhile swamped Vancouver 4-0 in the opener. They lost the nightcap 0-1, but goal differential took them into the final match against Rochester, who reclaimed their winning style, by shutting out the Wildcats for a 2-0 victory, and yet another league title. At the end of the season, franchise problems cropped up. San Diego folded after a series of financial woes, and Nashville was forced to withdraw for a year because of stadium problems, a fate that threatened the Indiana Blast. A major worry for club owners was the increasing salary expenses; it was imperative to increase fan support, although the league did register double digit growth in average attendance over the past two seasons. The league averaged 2,954 fans per game in 2001, for a total attendance of 904,038. With Calgary moving in and three two-drawing teams being relegated, chances looked good for the league to break the 3,000 average attendance mark in 2002. A painful reminder of the challenges remaining was the Hershey Wildcats folding less than a week after playing in the league title match. |
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