1996 USISL Select League

The USISL Select League was a professional men's soccer league which featured teams from the United States, which existed for just one year in 1996. During its single season in 1996 it shared Division II status in the American soccer pyramid with the A-League, before the two leagues merged in 1997.

USISL Select League
SportSoccer
Founded1996
Ceased1996
No. of teams21
Country United States
Last
champion(s)		California Jaguars
1996 USISL Select League season
Season1996
ChampionsCalifornia Jaguars
PremiersCarolina Dynamo
Top goalscorerDan Stebbins
(21 goals)
← First

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[1] 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,[2] and the USISL Select League name was abandoned.

USISL Select League teams

Champions

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

North Atlantic Division
Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 Long Island Rough Riders 18 11 0 7 39 31 +8 33
2 Richmond Kickers 18 10 0 8 34 24 +10 28[lower-alpha 1]
3 Connecticut Wolves 18 7 4 7 37 37 0 25
4 Delaware Wizards 18 5 1 12 20 29 −9 16
5 Cape Cod Crusaders 18 4 1 13 13 24 −11 9[lower-alpha 2]
6 New York/New Jersey Stallions 18 2 0 16 19 52 −33 6
Source:
Notes:
  1. -2?
  2. -4?

South Atlantic Division
Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 Carolina Dynamo 18 14 1 3 37 15 +22 43
2 South Carolina Shamrocks 18 11 1 6 42 31 +11 34
3 Hampton Roads Mariners 18 9 4 5 32 15 +17 31
4 Tampa Bay Cyclones 18 9 1 8 40 32 +8 28
5 Raleigh Flyers 18 7 0 11 25 26 −1 21
Source:

Central Division
Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 Milwaukee Rampage 18 9 6 3 36 19 +17 33
2 Minnesota Thunder 18 10 0 8 31 16 +15 30
3 New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers 18 7 2 9 31 36 −5 23
4 Ohio Xoggz 18 5 1 12 26 34 −8 16
5 Chicago Stingers 18 4 1 13 29 41 −12 13
Source:

Pacific Division
Pos Team Pld W SW L GF GA GD Pts
1 California Jaguars 18 11 1 6 30 21 +9 34
2 Sacramento Scorpions 18 9 2 7 23 22 +1 29
3 El Paso Patriots 18 9 1 8 30 23 +7 28
4 New Mexico Chiles 18 9 0 9 24 24 0 27
5 Reno Rattlers 18 1 5 12 13 33 −20 8
Source:

Playoffs

First round
Connecticut Wolves (CT)2–3Delaware Wizards (DE)
Ian Hennessy  60'
Mike Saunders  69' (pen.)		 Report  41' George Petou
 47' Andy Logar
 73' George Petou
Attendance: 1,206


South Carolina Shamrocks (SC)2–2Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)
Pearse Tormey  15' (pen.)
David Minihan  89'		  38' Paul Cann
 79' Dustin Swinehart
Penalties


 0–1
Nate Houser
Attendance: 1,000


Minnesota Thunder (MN)5–1New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers (LA)
Todd Dusosky
Don Gramenz
Tim Foster
Gerard Lagos
Sergei Gotsmanov 		 89' Ezra Hendrickson
Attendance: 2,359


Sacramento Scorpions (CA)2–1 OTEl Paso Patriots (TX)
Tony Sutton
John Jones  100'		 Dave Stewart
Attendance: 1,521

Minnesota Thunder vs Milwaukee Rampage
Minnesota Thunder (MN)3–1Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Don Gramenz
Todd Dusosky
Gerard Lagos 		 51' Mike Gentile
Attendance: 3,210


Milwaukee Rampage (WI)2–0Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Travis Roy  36'
Jason Willan  86'
Attendance: 3,659


Milwaukee Rampage (WI)0–1Minnesota Thunder (MN)
 20' Aaron Leventhal
Attendance: 3,659

Hampton Roads Mariners vs Carolina Dynamos
Carolina Dynamo (NC)0–1 OTHampton Roads Mariners (VA)
David Moxon  35'
Yari Allnutt  65'		  93' Dustin Swinehart
Attendance: 2,187


Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)0–4Carolina Dynamo (NC)
 34' Chugger Adair
, Kevin Sloan
Alan Prampin
Attendance: 2,409


Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)1–0Carolina Dynamo (NC)
Nate Houser  25'
Attendance: 2,409

California Jaguars vs Sacramento Scorpions
Sacramento Scorpions (CA)0–2California Jaguars (CA)
Ryshiem Henderson
Attendance: 2,229


California Jaguars (CA)2–1Sacramento Scorpions (CA)
Luis Gomez
Chris Afarian 		 40' Brandon Cavitt
 47' Scott Hileman
Attendance: 100

Long Island Rough Riders vs Delaware Wizards
Long Island Rough Riders (NY)2–0Delaware Wizards (DE)
Jim Rooney  7'
Mike Masters  38'		 Report
  • 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
Pos Team W L GF GA GD
1 California Jaguars 2 0 4 1 +3
2 Richmond Kickers 1 1 6 2 +4
3 Charleston Battery 0 2 2 9 −7
Source:
Richmond Kickers (VA)6–1Charleston Battery (NC)
Robert Ukrop
California Jaguars (CA)3–1Charleston Battery (NC)
Richmond Kickers (VA)0–1California Jaguars (CA)

Group B
Pos Team W L GF GA GD
1 Long Island Rough Riders 2 0 4 2 +2
2 Minnesota Thunder 1 1 3 3 0
3 Hampton Roads Mariners 0 2 4 6 −2
Source:
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)2–3Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Gerard Lagos ,
Don Gramenz  (pen.)
Long Island Rough Riders (NY)1–0Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)2–3Long Island Rough Riders (NY)

California Jaguars vs Minnesota Thunder
California Jaguars (CA)4–2Minnesota Thunder (MN)

Richmond Kickers vs Long Island Rough Riders
Richmond Kickers (VA)1–0Long Island Rough Riders (NY)
Robert Ukrop

Final
Richmond Kickers (VA)1–1California Jaguars (CA)
Robert Ukrop  11'  54' Adrian Gonzalez
Penalties

Ben Crawley
Brandon Ward
Robert Ukrop 		1–2

Randy Mann
Ryan Collins

Points leaders
Rank Scorer Club Goals Assists Points
1 Dan Stebbins Milwaukee Rampage 21 8 50
2 Jamie Wellington New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers 18 6 42
3 Luis Murillo Tampa Bay Cyclones 16 5 37
4 Mike Gailey Carolina Dynamo 14 8 36
5 Ron Murphy Cape Cod Crusaders 13 6 32
6 Yari Allnut Carolina Dynamo 14 3 31
Mike Saunders Connecticut Wolves 15 1 31
8 Chugger Adair Carolina Dynamo 13 4 30
9 Chad Carrithers Sacramento Scorpions 13 3 29

Honors

References
  1. "The Year in American Soccer – 1995". Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  2. "The Year in American Soccer – 1996". Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
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