The 1996 USISL Select League season was the first season of a professional men's soccer league which featured teams from the United States. The league shared Division II status in the American soccer pyramid with the A-League, before the two leagues merged in 1997 as the USISL A-League.

History

The league had its origins in the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL), which was the de facto second tier of American soccer during the early 1990s, and until 1995 confined itself to organising regional leagues.

The USISL Pro League, which had been at the third tier of the pyramid in 1995, split into two leagues in 1996; the best teams joined the new USISL Select League, while the remainder (plus expansion teams) remained in the USISL Pro League, which retained its Division III status. Both the A-League and the new USISL Select League had Division II status in 1996.

In an attempt to counteract the fact that a number of top A-League players had left to join MLS in 1995 and 1996 six of the seven remaining A-League teams – Montreal Impact, Colorado Foxes, Seattle Sounders, Rochester Raging Rhinos, Vancouver 86ers and Atlanta Ruckus, plus two planned A-League expansion teams (Toronto Lynx and Hershey Wildcats) merged with the USISL Select League to form a consolidated Division II league before the 1997 season. The resulting merged league retained the A-League name, and the USISL Select League name was abandoned.

USISL Select League teams

California Jaguars Cape Cod Crusaders (now in PDL) Carolina Dynamo (joined A-League in 1997; now in PDL) Chicago Stingers Connecticut Wolves (joined A-League in 1997) Delaware Wizards El Paso Patriots (now in PDL) Hampton Roads Mariners Long Island Rough Riders (joined A-League in 1997; now in PDL) Milwaukee Rampage (joined A-League in 1997) Minnesota Thunder (joined A-League in 1997)New Mexico Chiles New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers (joined A-League in 1997) New York/New Jersey Stallions Ohio Xoggz Raleigh Flyers (joined A-League in 1997) Reno Rattlers Richmond Kickers (joined A-League in 1997; now in USL Pro) Sacramento Scorpions South Carolina Shamrocks Tampa Bay Cyclones (became Jacksonville Cyclones and joined A-League in 1997)

Champions

Regular season

  • Regulation win = 3 points
  • Shootout win (SW) = 1 point
  • Loss (regulation or shootout) = 0 points

Eastern Conference

North Atlantic Division

PosTeamPldWSWLGFGAGDPts
1Long Island Rough Riders1811073931+833
2Richmond Kickers1810083424+1028
3Connecticut Wolves187473737025
4Delaware Wizards1851122029−916
5Cape Cod Crusaders1841131324−119
6New York/New Jersey Stallions1820161952−336

South Atlantic Division

PosTeamPldWSWLGFGAGDPts
1Carolina Dynamo1814133715+2243
2South Carolina Shamrocks1811164231+1134
3Hampton Roads Mariners189453215+1731
4Tampa Bay Cyclones189184032+828
5Raleigh Flyers1870112526−121

Western Conference

Central Division

PosTeamPldWSWLGFGAGDPts
1Milwaukee Rampage189633619+1733
2Minnesota Thunder1810083116+1530
3New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers187293136−523
4Ohio Xoggz1851122634−816
5Chicago Stingers1841132941−1213

Pacific Division

PosTeamPldWSWLGFGAGDPts
1California Jaguars1811163021+934
2Sacramento Scorpions189272322+129
3El Paso Patriots189183023+728
4New Mexico Chiles189092424027
5Reno Rattlers1815121333−208

Playoffs

First round

Connecticut Wolves (CT)2–3Delaware Wizards (DE)
Ian Hennessy 60' Mike Saunders 69' (pen.)41', 73' George Petou 47' Andy Logar
South Carolina Shamrocks (SC)2–2Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)
Pearse Tormey 15' (pen.) David Minihan 89'38' Paul Cann 79' Dustin Swinehart
Penalties
0–1Nate Houser
Minnesota Thunder (MN)5–1New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers (LA)
Todd Dusosky Don Gramenz Tim Foster Gerard Lagos Sergei Gotsmanov89' Ezra Hendrickson
Sacramento Scorpions (CA)2–1 OTEl Paso Patriots (TX)
Tony Sutton John Jones 100'Dave Stewart

Second round

Minnesota Thunder vs Milwaukee Rampage

Minnesota Thunder (MN)3–1Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Don Gramenz 71' Todd Dusosky 83' Gerard Lagos 87'51' Mike Gentile
Milwaukee Rampage (WI)2–0Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Travis Roy 36' Jason Willan 86'
Milwaukee Rampage (WI)0–1Minnesota Thunder (MN)
20' Aaron Leventhal

Hampton Roads Mariners vs Carolina Dynamos

Carolina Dynamo (NC)0–1 OTHampton Roads Mariners (VA)
David Moxon 35' Yari Allnutt 65'93' Dustin Swinehart
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)0–4Carolina Dynamo (NC)
34' Chugger Adair , Kevin Sloan Alan Prampin
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)1–0Carolina Dynamo (NC)
Nate Houser 25'

California Jaguars vs Sacramento Scorpions

Sacramento Scorpions (CA)0–2California Jaguars (CA)
Ryshiem Henderson
California Jaguars (CA)2–1Sacramento Scorpions (CA)
Luis Gomez Chris Afarian40' Brandon Cavitt 47' Scott Hileman

Long Island Rough Riders vs Delaware Wizards

Long Island Rough Riders (NY)2–0Delaware Wizards (DE)
Jim Rooney 7' Mike Masters 38'
  • The game was suspended in the 39th minute due to lightning. Play resumed on August 24, 1996, at 2:00 PM.

Select Six Tournament

The Select Six Tournament consisted of six teams. The Richmond Kickers participated as hosts. The Charleston Battery entered as the champion of the 1996 USISL Professional League. The other four teams came from the winners of the second round playoff games.

Group A

PosTeamWLGFGAGD
1California Jaguars2041+3
2Richmond Kickers1162+4
3Charleston Battery0229−7
Richmond Kickers (VA)6–1Charleston Battery (SC)
Robert Ukrop 52' Stuart Fitzsimmons Steve Kinsey Ward64' Patrick Olalere
California Jaguars (CA)3–1Charleston Battery (SC)
Richie Louis 15' Ralph Robertson 49' Ryshiem Henderson 61'65' Patrick Olalere
Richmond Kickers (VA)0–1California Jaguars (CA)
58' Ryshiem Henderson

Group B

PosTeamWLGFGAGD
1Long Island Rough Riders2042+2
2Minnesota Thunder11330
3Hampton Roads Mariners0246−2
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)2–3Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Sterling Wescott 74:04' Stilian Stishkov 76:50'Don Gramenz 23:22' (pen.) Gerard Lagos 60:04', 67:55'
Long Island Rough Riders (NY)1–0Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Travis Rinker 66:23'
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)2–3Long Island Rough Riders (NY)
87'Jim Rooney 15', 84' 89:53' Flávio Ferri

Semifinals

California Jaguars vs Minnesota Thunder

California Jaguars (CA)4–2Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Ralph Robertson 47', 77' Adrian Gonzalez 52' Luis Gomez 83'5' Amos Magee 73' Mark Abboud 78' Todd Dusosky 90+3' William Alvarado

Richmond Kickers vs Long Island Rough Riders

Richmond Kickers (VA)1–0Long Island Rough Riders (NY)
Ruben Espinoza 45' Robert Ukrop 82'41' Jim Rooney 72' Daniel Leon 85' Paul Riley 87' Travis Rinker

Final

Richmond Kickers (VA)1–1California Jaguars (CA)
Robert Ukrop 11' 22'20' Ryshiem Henderson 48' Niels Bruckner 54' Adrian Gonzalez
Penalties
Ben Crawley Leigh Cowlishaw Brandon Ward Neil Ryan Robert Ukrop1–2Randy Mann Ryan Collins Derick Brownell Richie Louis Nathan King

Points leaders

RankScorerClubGoalsAssistsPoints
1Dan StebbinsMilwaukee Rampage21850
2Jamie WellingtonNew Orleans Riverboat Gamblers18642
3Luis MurilloTampa Bay Cyclones16537
4Mike GaileyCarolina Dynamo14836
5Ron MurphyCape Cod Crusaders13632
6Yari AllnutCarolina Dynamo14331
Mike SaundersConnecticut Wolves15131
8Chugger AdairCarolina Dynamo13430
9Chad CarrithersSacramento Scorpions13329

Honors

External links