1995 USISL Premier League season

The 1995 USISL Premier League season was the 1st season of the new "fourth level" of American soccer following the re-organization of the old United States Interregional Soccer League at the end of 1994. The season began in April 1995 and ended in August 1995.

USISL Premier League

Season	1995
Champions	Richmond Kickers (1st Title)
Regular Season Champions	San Francisco All-Blacks United (1st Title)
Matches played	243
Best Player	Gabe Jones Austin Lone Stars
Top goalscorer	Jeff Dresser Grand Rapids Explosion, Gabe Jones Austin Lone Stars (20 Goals Each)
Best goalkeeper	Alfredo Estrada Birmingham Grasshoppers
1996 →

Richmond Kickers finished the season as national champions, beating Cocoa Expos 3–1 in the USISL Premier League Championship game. San Francisco All-Blacks United finished with the best regular season record in the league, winning 17 out of their 18 games, suffering just one loss, and finishing with a +42 goal difference.

The USISL Premier League format in 1995 was notable for not having tied games; instead, teams competed in a penalty shoot-out to decide a winner, with bonus points awarded as appropriate.

Teams

27 teams started the league this year. They all played in the USISL the year before, with the exception of six new teams.

Team Name	Metro Area	Location	Notes
Ann Arbor Elites	Detroit Metro area	Ann Arbor, MI	expansion team
Arizona Cotton	Phoenix area	Glendale, AZ
Arkansas A's	Little Rock area	Sherwood, AR
Austin Lone Stars	Austin, Texas	Austin, TX
Birmingham Grasshoppers	Birmingham area	Birmingham, AL
Cocoa Expos	Space Coast area	Cocoa, FL
Colorado Springs Stampede	Colorado Springs area	Colorado Springs, CO	expansion team
Columbia Heat	Columbia area	Columbia, SC
Des Moines Menace	Des Moines area	Des Moines, IA
Grand Rapids Explosion	Grand Rapids area	Grand Rapids, MI	expansion team
Inland Empire Panteras	Inland Empire area	San Bernardino, CA	expansion team
Jackson Chargers	Jackson area	Jackson, MS	expansion team
Montclair Standard Falcons	Inland Empire area	Montclair, CA
Nashville Metros	Nashville area	Nashville, TN
North Bay Breakers	North Bay area	Santa Rosa, CA
Oklahoma City Slickers	Oklahoma City area	Oklahoma City, OK
Orlando Lions	Central Florida area	Orlando, FL
Puget Sound Hammers	Puget Sound area	Tacoma, WA	expansion team
Richmond Kickers	Richmond area	Richmond, VA
Roanoke River Dawgs	Roanoke area	Roanoke, VA
San Francisco All-Blacks United	San Francisco area	San Francisco, CA
Shasta Scorchers	Sacramento Valley area	Redding, CA
Sioux City Breeze	Sioux City area	Sioux City, IA
South Florida Future	Gold Coast area	Boca Raton, FL	previously the South Florida Flamingos
Tucson Amigos	Tucson area	Tucson, AZ
Washington Mustangs	National Capital area	Washington, DC
Wichita Blue	Wichita area	Wichita, KS

Standings

Eastern Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Cocoa Expos	18	16	2	62	20	+42	42	138	Division champion
2	Richmond Kickers	18	15	3	47	21	+26	38	128	Qualified for playoff berth
3	Nashville Metros	18	12	6	47	34	+13	41	113
4	Jackson Chargers	18	13	5	43	26	+17	31	109
5	Birmingham Grasshoppers	18	10	8	45	46	−1	37	97
6	Washington Mustangs	18	7	11	30	42	−12	31	73
7	Roanoke River Dawgs	18	5	13	40	51	−11	29	59
8	Orlando Lions	18	4	14	31	63	−32	27	51
9	Columbia Heat	18	4	14	30	47	−17	21	45
10	South Florida Future	16	3	13	15	44	−29	16	34

Source: rsssf.com

Central Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Sioux City Breeze	18	11	7	55	37	+18	35	101	Division champion
2	Austin Lone Stars	18	10	8	57	30	+27	38	98	Qualified for playoff berth
3	Des Moines Menace	18	10	8	53	37	+16	37	97
4	Oklahoma City Slickers	18	7	11	28	51	−23	25	67
5	Wichita Blue	18	6	12	32	63	−31	29	65
6	Grand Rapids Explosion	18	3	15	30	71	−41	27	45
7	Ann Arbor Elites	18	4	14	22	54	−32	18	42
8	Arkansas A's	18	2	16	17	67	−50	17	29

Source: rsssf.com

Western Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	San Francisco All-Blacks United	18	17	1	46	24	+22	40	142	Division champion
2	Tucson Amigos	18	12	6	38	26	+12	30	102	Qualified for playoff berth
3	Colorado Springs Stampede	18	11	7	49	28	+21	36	102
4	North Bay Breakers	18	10	8	40	40	0	36	96
5	Puget Sound Hammers	18	10	8	35	28	+7	30	90
6	Arizona Cotton	18	7	11	35	50	−15	28	70
7	Montclair Falcons	18	6	12	29	42	−13	22	58
8	Inland Empire Panteras	18	5	13	24	56	−32	23	53
9	Shasta Scorchers	18	1	17	21	73	−52	20	26

Source: rsssf.com

Playoffs

	Eastern Semifinals					Eastern Finals
	E1	Cocoa Expos	3
	E4	Jackson Chargers	1
						E1	Cocoa Expos	3
						E3	Birmingham Grasshoppers	1
	E2	Nashville Metros	2
	E3	Birmingham Grasshoppers	3

Eastern Division Playoffs

August 4, 1995

6:00 PM

Semifinals

Cocoa Expos	3–1	Jackson Chargers
Ian Gill Eddie Enders Keiran Breslin	Report	Joel Carver

Birmingham–Southern Soccer Complex
Birmingham, Alabama

August 4, 1995

8:00 PM

Semifinals

Birmingham Grasshoppers	3–2 (OT) (a.e.t.)	Nashville Metros
Holger Schneidt

Birmingham–Southern Soccer Complex
Birmingham, Alabama

---

August 5, 1995

6:00 PM

Third Place Game

Nashville Metros	4–3 (a.e.t.)	Jackson Chargers

Birmingham–Southern Soccer Complex
Birmingham, Alabama

August 5, 1995

8:00 PM

Division Final

Birmingham Grasshoppers	1–3	Cocoa Expos
Mike Bryson 52'	Report	48' Scott Armstrong 49' Robin Chan 56' Kirk Mackey

Birmingham–Southern Soccer Complex
Birmingham, Alabama

	Central Semifinals					Central Finals
	C1	Sioux City Breeze	7
	C4	Oklahoma City Slickers	0
						C1	Sioux City Breeze	0
						C3	Des Moines Menace	1
	C2	Austin Lone Stars	2
	C3	Des Moines Menace	3

Central Division Playoffs

August 4, 1995

6:00 PM

Semifinals

Sioux City Breeze	7–0	Oklahoma City Slickers
Richard "Salty" Markham 0:19', 7:49', 52:11' Brian Adams 6', 29:15', 52:23' Jake Neiroda 52:35'	Report

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa

August 4, 1995

8:00 PM

Semifinals

Des Moines Menace	3–2 OT (a.e.t.)	Austin Lone Stars
Aaron Leventhal 8:24' Vinnie Darnell 49:51' Josh Bahr 61'	Report	24:10' Matt Presley 59:38' Darin Talley

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa

---

August 5, 1995

6:00 PM

Third Place Game

Austin Lone Stars	4–1	Oklahoma City Slickers
	Report

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa

August 5, 1995

8:00 PM

Division Final

Des Moines Menace	1–0	Sioux City Breeze
Roel Crauer 17:18'	Report

Cara McGrane Memorial Stadium
Des Moines, Iowa

Attendance: 669

	Western Semifinals					Western Finals
	W1	San Francisco All-Blacks United	6
	W2	Tucson Amigos	2
						W1	San Francisco All-Blacks United	1
						W3	Colorado Springs Stampede	0
	W3	Colorado Springs Stampede	2
	W4	North Bay Breakers	0

Western Division Playoffs

August 5, 1995

Semifinals

Colorado Springs Stampede	2–0	North Bay Breakers
35' 55'

Negoesco Stadium
San Francisco, California

August 5, 1995

7:00 PM

Semifinals

San Francisco All-Blacks United	6–2	Tucson Amigos

Negoesco Stadium
San Francisco, California

---

August 6, 1995

Division Final

San Francisco All-Blacks United	1–0	Colorado Springs Stampede

Negoesco Stadium
San Francisco, California

	PDL Semifinals					PDL Finals
	W1	San Francisco All-Blacks United	0
	H	Richmond Kickers	1
						H	Richmond Kickers	3
						E1	Cocoa Expos	1
	E1	Cocoa Expos	3
	C3	Des Moines Menace	1

Sizzlin' Four

Semifinals

August 9, 1995

Richmond Kickers (VA)	0–0	San Francisco United All Blacks (CA)
	(Report)
Penalties
Kevin Scott Robert Ukrop Brian Kamler Khary Stockton	3–2	Mike Carlson Albertin Montoya Mike Black

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

August 9, 1995

Cocoa Expos (FL)	3–1	Des Moines Menace (IA)
Dave Mackey Robin Chan Dylan Lewis		Chad Candrell

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Runner-up

August 11, 1995

San Francisco United All Blacks (CA)	4–1	Des Moines Menace (IA)
Albertin Montoya	(Report)	Roel Crauler

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Final

August 11, 1995

Richmond Kickers (VA)	3–1	Cocoa Expos (FL)
Brian Kamler 11:40', 16' Robert Ukrop 57:44'	(Report) Report 2	48:44' Mark Phillips

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 5,231^[1]

• MVP: Brian Kamler

Points leaders

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Gabe Jones	Austin Lone Stars	15	20	8	48
2	Holger Schneidt	Birmingham Grasshoppers	15	17	9	43
3	Jeff Dresser	Grand Rapids Explosion	16	20	2	42
4	Brian Adams	Sioux City Breeze	16	18	4	40
	Eddie Enders	Cocoa Expos	18	15	8	38
6	Toni Siikala	Nashville Metros	15	15	4	34
7	Richard Sharpe	Cocoa Expos	6	14	2	30
	Adrian Gonzalez	North Bay Breakers	16	13	0	26
8	Aaron Leventhal	Des Moines Menace	15	10	4	24
9	Robert Ukrop	Richmond Kickers	15	10	4	24
10	Sean Gibson	Birmingham Grasshoppers	?	11	2	24

Honors

• Most Valuable Player: Robert Ukrop, Richmond Kickers
• Points leader: Gabe Jones, Austin Lone Stars (48 points)
• Goals leader: Gabe Jones, Austin Lone Stars (20 goals)
• Rookie of the Year: Eduardo Yoldi
• Assist Leader: Holger Schneidt, Birmingham Grasshoppers (9 assists)
• Goalkeeper of the Year: Alfredo Estrada
• Coach of the Year: Blair Reed and Doug Mello
• Organization of the Year: Richmond Kickers