UPDATED - April 1, 2007

A-League Archives Home

USL First Division

2005 Season

Atlanta Silverbacks - Charleston Battery - Minnesota Thunder - Montreal Impact

Portland Timbers - Puerto Rico Islanders - Richmond Kickers - Rochester Raging Rhinos

Seattle Sounders - Toronto Lynx - Vancouver Whitecaps - Virginia Beach Mariners

 

2005 Home - 2005 Results - 2005 Stats

 

2005 FINAL STANDINGS

                            GP   W   T   L   GF  GA  Pts
Montreal Impact             28  17   7   3   37  15   61

Rochester Raging Rhinos     28  15   6   7   45  27   51

Vancouver Whitecaps         28  12   9   7   37  21   45

Seattle Sounders            28  11  11   6   33  25   44

Portland Timbers            28  10   9   9   40  42   39

Richmond Kickers            28  10   9   9   28  30   39

Puerto Rico Islanders       28  10   8  10   46  43   38

Atlanta Silverbacks         28  10   3  15   40  52   33

Charleston Battery          28   9   5  14   27  36   32

Minnesota Thunder           28   7  10  11   37  42   31

Virginia Beach Mariners     28   7   7  14   26  39   28

Toronto Lynx                28   3   8  17   26  50   17
 

After the season, Richmond moved to the USL Second Division

2005 PLAYOFFS

*-after extra time

First Round

Montreal and Rochester receive a bye

Sept. 16 Richmond   0-0  Vancouver

Sept. 18 Vancouver  0-0* Richmiond

Aggregate drawn 0-0

Richmond advance on PK's, 5-4

 

Sept. 16 Portland   0-1  Seattle

Sept. 18 Seattle    2-0  Portland

Seattle advance on 3-0 aggregate

 

Semifinals

Sept. 23 Richmond   3-1  Rochester

Sept. 25 Rochester  1-1  Richmond

Richmond advance on 4-2 aggregate

 

Sept. 23 Seattle    2-2  Montreal

Sept. 25 Montreal   2-1  Seattle

Seattle advance on 4-3 aggregate

 

USL First Division Championship

Oct. 1   Seattle    1-1* Richmond

Seattle win on PK's, 4-3

 

 

2005 Leading Goalscorers

Jason Jordan, Vancouver            17

Fabian Dawkins, Atlanta            15

Mauricio Salles, Puerto Rico       14

Dan Antoniuk, Portland             13

Kirk Wilson, Rochester              9

Byron Alvarez, Portland             9

Corey Woolfolk, Puerto Rico         9

Mauro Biello, Montreal              9

Matthew Delicate, Richmond          8

Johnny Menyongar, Minnesota         8

 

Goalkeeping Leaders                GAA

Greg Sutton, Montreal              0.46

Preston Burpo, Seattle             0.85

Michael Franks, Vancouver          0.88

Scott Vallow, Rochester            0.92

Ronnie Pascale, Richmond           1.02

Matthew Nelson, Virginia Beach     1.38

Christopher Doyle, Charleston      1.39

Josh Saunders, Portland            1.50

Dan Kennedy, Puerto Rico           1.54

Joe Warren, Minnesota              1.58

 

2005 USL First Division Award Winners

Most Valuable Player:  Jason Jordan, Vancouver Whitecaps
Goalkeeper of the Year:  Greg Sutton, Montreal Impact
Defender of the Year:  Taylor Graham, Seattle Sounders
Rookie of the Year:  Dan Kennedy, Puerto Rico Islanders
Coach of the Year: Nick DeSantis, Montreal Impact

 

2005 USL First Division First XI

GK – Greg Sutton, Montreal Impact
D – Gabe Gervais, Montreal Impact
D – Taylor Graham, Seattle Sounders
D – Scot Thompson, Portland Timbers
M – Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Portland Timbers
M – Mauro Biello, Montreal Impact
M – Steve Klein, Vancouver Whitecaps
M – Kirk Wilson, Rochester Raging Rhinos
F – Fabian Dawkins, Atlanta Silverbacks
F – Jason Jordan, Vancouver Whitecaps
F – Mauricio Salles, Puerto Rico Islanders
 

Home Attendance     G    Total    Avg.

Montreal           14  156,458  11,176

Rochester          14  133,973   9,570

Portland           14   77,738   5,553

Puerto Rico        14   71,544   5,110

Vancouver          14   71,202   5,086

Charleston         14   51,080   3,649

Minnesota          14   43,886   3,135

Seattle            14   40,392   2,885

Richmond           14   37,155   2,654

Toronto            14   34,552   2,468

Atlanta            14   25,274   1,805

Virginia Beach     14   17,363   1,240

LEAGUE            168   760,617  4,527

Overview of the 2005 A-League Season -

From the American Soccer History Archives

The A-League was rechristened as the USL Division 1, and consolidated down to 12 teams. Out were Calgary and Edmonton who had suffered disasterous seasons both on and off the field. Also exiting were Milwaukee and Syracuse. Both had performed reasonably well in 2004 but had severe financial problems. On a more positive note, the Minnesota Thunder were sold to Saeed Kadkhodian, the owner of several successful Soccer ZUSA stores, who aimed to involve the team closely with the soccer camp and event business.

The Men's National Team held held a camp comprising USL players during the Player's Association strike. The roster was an impressive one, led by 15 former and current all-stars. The strike ended before any of the players had an opportunity to play, but Richmond's Clyde Simms was invited to remain at the camp, eventually seeing action for the USA before being called up by DC United of MLS. In July, the newly promoted English Premiership club Sunderland toured the northwest, playing Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, losing to Vancouver 3-0, beating Seattle 1-0 and drawing 0-0 with Portland.

The defending champions, the Montreal Impact, returned the core of their squad including League MVP Greg Sutton, and all-league selections Nevio Pizzolito, Gabe Gervais, Sandro Grande and Mauro Biello. To this formidable lineup they added striker Sita-Taty Matondo, back from a year in Sweden. The Rochester Rhinos looked forward to the opening of their new soccer-specific stadium later in the season. Looking to improve on their 2nd place finish, they replaced coach Pat Ercoli with Laurie Calloway and signed MLS veterans Scott Vallow, Tenywa Bonseu and Rey Angel Martinez.

With the new one-division format, there was only one regular season standings race to worry about, and Montreal finished the season with a comfortable lead ahead of Rochester, with Vancouver and Seattle taking 3rd and 4th. Although finishing fourth, Seattle made an impressive showing in the playoffs, shutting out Portland 1-0 and 2-0 to cruise into the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Richmond and Vancouver battled to scoreless draws before the Whitecaps finally pulled out the victory in penalty kicks 5-4. The semifinals were a tougher road for the Sounders, who battled Montreal to a 2-2 draw before winning the 2nd leg 2-1. Richmond upset Rochester 3-1 in the first match and only had to hold onto a 1-1 draw in the second leg to advance.

The final match between two underdogs saw Richmond take an early led thanks to a Sascha Gomes goal, but Galindo provided a later equalizer for the Sounders forcing overtime and ultimately, penalty kicks. The first round ended 2-2 forcing sudden death. After another pair of kicks, defender Scott Jackson saw his shot deflected over the net, giving the Sounders the league title.

Attendance was up significantly for 2005, totalling 760,617, with the average per game rising substantially to 4,527 from last year's 3,879. Jason Jordan was both the league's leading scorer (17 goals, 37 points) and most valuable player. After the season, Richmond, having already suffered a heartbreaking loss in the championship, were demoted to the 2nd Division.

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