1996 USISL Select League

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.

USISL Select League

Season	1996
Champions	California Jaguars
Premiers	Carolina Dynamo
Matches played	189
Goals scored	611 (3.23 per match)
Best Player	Dan Stebbins
Top goalscorer	Dan Stebbins (21 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Scott Garlick
← First 1997 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^[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

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: Carolina Dynamo (43 points, 14–3–1 record)
• Playoff Winners: California Jaguars (beat Richmond Kickers 2–1)

Regular season

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

Eastern Conference

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[a]
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[b]
6	New York/New Jersey Stallions	18	2	0	16	19	52	−33	6

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
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: ^{[citation needed]}

Western Conference

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: ^{[citation needed]}

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: ^{[citation needed]}

Playoffs

First round

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

August 14, 1996
7:30 PM EST

New Britain Stadium, New Britain, Connecticut

Attendance: 1,206

South Carolina Shamrocks (SC)	2–2	Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)
Pearse Tormey 15' (pen.) David Minihan 89'		38' Paul Cann 79' Dustin Swinehart
Penalties
	0–1	Nate Houser

August 14, 1996

Eugene E. Stone III Stadium, Greenville, South Carolina

Attendance: 1,000

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

August 14, 1996

National Sports Center, Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 2,359

Sacramento Scorpions (CA)	2–1 OT	El Paso Patriots (TX)
Tony Sutton John Jones 100'		Dave Stewart

August 14, 1996
7:30 PM PST

Woodcreek High School, Roseville, California

Attendance: 1,521

Second round

Minnesota Thunder vs Milwaukee Rampage

Minnesota Thunder (MN)	3–1	Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Don Gramenz 71' Todd Dusosky 83' Gerard Lagos 87'		51' Mike Gentile

August 17, 1996

Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota

Attendance: 3,210

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	2–0	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Travis Roy 36' Jason Willan 86'

August 18, 1996

Uihlein Soccer Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 3,659

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	0–1	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
		20' Aaron Leventhal

August 18, 1996

Uihlein Soccer Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 3,659

Hampton Roads Mariners vs Carolina Dynamos

Carolina Dynamo (NC)	0–1 OT	Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)
David Moxon  35' Yari Allnutt  65'	Report	93' Dustin Swinehart

August 17, 1996

Simeon Stadium, High Point, North Carolina

Attendance: 2,187 or 1,787

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

August 20, 1996

Old Dominion Soccer Complex, Norfolk, Virginia

Attendance: 2,409

Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)	1–0	Carolina Dynamo (NC)
Nate Houser 25'

August 20, 1996
10:00 PM EST

Old Dominion Soccer Complex, Norfolk, Virginia

Attendance: 2,409

California Jaguars vs Sacramento Scorpions

Sacramento Scorpions (CA)	0–2	California Jaguars (CA)
		Ryshiem Henderson

August 17, 1996
7:30 PM PST

Woodcreek High School, Roseville, California

Attendance: 2,229

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

August 18, 1996
4:00 PM PST

Cabrillo College, Aptos, California

Attendance: 100

Long Island Rough Riders vs Delaware Wizards

Long Island Rough Riders (NY)	2–0	Delaware Wizards (DE)
Jim Rooney 7' Mike Masters 38'	Report

August 23–24, 1996
7:30 PM EST

Mitchel Athletic Complex, Uniondale, New York

• 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: ^{[citation needed]}

Richmond Kickers (VA)	6–1	Charleston Battery (SC)
Robert Ukrop 52' Stuart Fitzsimmons Steve Kinsey Ward		64' Patrick Olalere

August 27, 1996
7:30 PM EST

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

California Jaguars (CA)	3–1	Charleston Battery (SC)
Richie Louis 15' Ralph Robertson 49' Ryshiem Henderson 61'	Report	65' Patrick Olalere

August 28, 1996
7:30 PM EST

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 150

Richmond Kickers (VA)	0–1	California Jaguars (CA)
	Report	58' Ryshiem Henderson

August 29, 1996
7:30 PM EST

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 800

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: ^{[citation needed]}

Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)	2–3	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Sterling Wescott 74:04' Stilian Stishkov 76:50'	Report 1 Report 2	Don Gramenz 23:22' (pen.) Gerard Lagos 60:04', 67:55'

August 27, 1996
7:30 PM EST

Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Attendance: 1,287

Long Island Rough Riders (NY)	1–0	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Travis Rinker 66:23'

August 28, 1996
7:30 PM EST

Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)	2–3	Long Island Rough Riders (NY)
87'	Report	Jim Rooney 15', 84' 89:53' Flávio Ferri

August 29, 1996
7:30 PM EST

Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Attendance: 2,672

Semifinals

California Jaguars vs Minnesota Thunder

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

August 31, 1996

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Richmond Kickers vs Long Island Rough Riders

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

August 31, 1996

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 1,100

Final

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

September 1, 1996
8:00 PM EST

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 2,500

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

• MVP: Dan Stebbins (Milwaukee Rampage)
• Points leader: Dan Stebbins (Milwaukee Rampage)
• Defender of the Year: Ezra Hendrickson
• Goalkeeper of the Year: Scott Garlick (Greensboro Dynamo)
• Rookie of the Year: Luis Marillo
• Coach of the Year: Alan Dicks
• Organization of the Year: Minnesota Thunder
• All-League
  • Goalkeeper: Carmine Isacco
  • Defenders: Ezra Hendrickson, Derick Crownell, Stuart Fitzsimmons
  • Midfielders: Amos Magee, Travis Rinker, Oswaldo Ortiz, Yari Allnutt
  • Forwards: Dan Stebbins, John Jones, Paul Young

External links

• United Soccer Leagues (RSSSF)