2000 USL A-League

The 2000 USL A-League was an American Division II league run by the United Soccer League during the summer of 2000.

USL A-League
-2000 Season-

Season	2000
Champions	Rochester Rhinos (2nd title)
Premiers	Minnesota Thunder (1st title)
Top goalscorer	Paul Conway, Greg Howes, Johnny Menyongar (17 goals)
← 1999 2001 →

League standings

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Long Island Rough Riders	28	16	9	3	54	36	+18	9	76
2	Rochester Raging Rhinos	28	17	9	2	42	25	+17	5	75
3	Toronto Lynx	28	13	11	4	35	30	+5	3	59
4	Montreal Impact	28	12	13	3	34	41	−7	3	54
5	Boston Bulldogs	28	9	16	3	32	41	−9	3	42
6	Connecticut Wolves	28	1	19	8	22	57	−35	1	13

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Atlantic Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Charleston Battery	28	18	8	2	59	36	+23	13	87
2	Richmond Kickers	28	20	7	1	42	25	+17	3	84
3	Hershey Wildcats	28	15	10	3	49	30	+19	7	70
4	Hampton Roads Mariners	28	14	12	2	44	38	+6	4	62
5	Raleigh Capital Express	28	12	12	4	48	52	−4	6	58
6	Atlanta Silverbacks	28	11	14	3	51	42	+9	8	55
7	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	28	10	14	4	41	43	−2	5	49

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Western Conference

Central Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Minnesota Thunder	28	20	4	4	74	30	+44	15	99
2	Milwaukee Rampage	28	18	9	1	69	47	+22	16	89
3	Indiana Blast	28	9	15	4	40	57	−17	5	45
4	MLS Project 40	28	8	19	1	35	60	−25	3	36
5	Tennessee Rhythm	28	6	22	0	36	103	−67	1	25
6	Cincinnati Riverhawks	28	2	23	3	25	80	−55	2	13

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pacific Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Seattle Sounders	28	18	7	3	56	38	+18	10	85
2	San Diego Flash	28	16	9	3	54	32	+22	8	75
3	Vancouver 86ers	28	14	11	3	62	41	+21	11	70
4	El Paso Patriots	28	12	14	2	48	50	−2	7	57
5	Bay Area Seals	28	12	13	3	42	53	−11	5	56
6	Orange County Waves	28	12	15	1	44	52	−8	6	55

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Conference Quarterfinals

Eastern Conference

Long Island Rough Riders (NY)	1–2	Toronto Lynx (ON)
Dahir Mohammed 78'	Report	5' Brian Ashton 43' Juan Pablo Arango

September 8, 2000
7:30 PM (EST)

Mitchel Athletic Complex Uniondale, New York

Attendance: 758

Charleston Battery (SC)	1–0	Raleigh Capital Express (NC)
Paul Conway 24' Gilbert Jean-Baptiste	Report	Ihor Dotsenko

September 9, 2000
7:30 PM (EST)

Blackbaud Stadium Charleston, South Carolina

Attendance: 3,091

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	4–2	Hershey Wildcats (PA)
Mali Walton 47:38',  59' Yari Allnutt 51:28' Dan Stebbins  57', 85' Martin Nash  62' Onandi Lowe  71', 78' Scott Schweitzer  90'	Report	40:52' Greg Simmonds  32' Mike Williams  36' Mike Henning  59' Ze Roberto 90' Timothy Leonard

September 9, 2000
7:35 PM (EST)

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 10,456

Richmond Kickers (VA)	2–1 (OT)	Hampton Roads Mariners (VA)
Paul Lekics 90' Rob Ukrop 113'		41' Jakob Fenger

September 9, 2000

UR Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 3,927

Western Conference

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	3–2	El Paso Patriots (TX)
Digital Takawira 5', 94' Igor Soso 85'		41' Mark Rowland 63' Kirk Wilson

September 9, 2000
7:30 PM EST

Uihlein Soccer Park Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 3,122

Minnesota Thunder (MN)	7–0	Indiana Blast (IN)
Brian Winters 2', 61' Chugger Adair 27' Morgan Zeba 47', 63' Johnny Menyongar 53' Paul Schneider 80'	Report

September 9, 2000
7:35 PM (CDT)

National Sports Center Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 2,957

Referee: Kelly Ross (USA)

Seattle Sounders (WA)	2–1	Bay Area Seals (CA)
Craig Waibel 26',  57' Viet Nguyen 45' Scott Jenkins  48' Tim Steidten  79'	Report	5' Marquis White  44' Jeremy Sweet  55' Kevin Jeffrey

September 9, 2000

Memorial Stadium, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 3,239

Referee: Cory Dean (USA)

San Diego Flash (CA)	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Vancouver 86ers (BC)
Anthony Farace  21' Carlos Farias 53' Leighton O'Brien  77' Raul Calderon  103'	Report	2' Chris Franks  38' Carmen D'Onofrio 43' Paul Dailly
Penalties
Carlos Farias Carlos Calderson Emmanuel Ayim Jerome Watson Brian O'Connor	3–4	Darren Tilley Domenic Mobilio Steve Kindel Chris Franks Rick Titus

September 12, 1998
7:35 PM (PDT)

Douglas Stadium, San Diego, California

Attendance: 3,877

Referee: Nathan Lacy (USA)

Conference semifinals

Eastern semifinal 1

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	2–0	Charleston Battery (SC)
Onandi Lowe 8',  42' Yari Allnutt 10'	Report	2' Darren Warham  56'  76' Brent Sancho

September 15, 2000
7:30 PM (EDT)

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 7,531

Charleston Battery (SC)	0–1	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
	Report	28' Dan Stebbins  82' Scott Vallow

September 16, 2000
7:30 PM (EDT)

Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, South Carolina

Attendance: 2,806

The Rochester Rhinos advanced 3–0 on aggregate.

Eastern semifinal 2

Toronto Lynx (ON)	1–0	Richmond Kickers (VA)
Milan Kojić  32' Nikola Vignjević 36' (pen.)	Report

September 15, 2000
7:30 PM (EDT)

Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Ontario

Attendance: 1,989

Referee: Manuel Orellano (Canada)

Richmond Kickers (VA)	0–1	Toronto Lynx (ON)
	Report	39' Milan Kojić

September 17, 2000
7:00 PM (EDT)

City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 4,027

Toronto Lynx advanced 2–0 on aggregate.

Western semifinal 1

Vancouver 86ers (BC)	3–0	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Alfredo Valente 30' John Sulentic 69', 90'	Report	69' John Sylvester  72' John Coughlin

September 13, 2000
7:30 PM (PDT)

Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 5,127

Referee: Rene Parra (Canada)

Minnesota Thunder (MN)	4–0 (OT)	Vancouver 86ers (BC)
Don Gramenz  30' Mike Gentile 35' Chugger Adair 45' Brian Winters 86' Morgan Zeba 94'	Report	13' Darren Tilley  90' Joe Scigliano  90' Domenic Mobilio

September 16, 2000
7:35 PM (CDT)

National Sports Center, Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 3,005

Referee: Michael Kennedy (USA)

The Minnesota Thunder advanced 4–3 on aggregate.

Western semifinal 2

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	2–1	Seattle Sounders (WA)
Digital Takawira 1' Jason Willan 33' Steve Bernal  60'	Report	20', 90' Andrew Gregor  75' Ali John Utush  90' Craig Tomlinson

September 13, 2000
5:30 PM (CDT)

Uihlein Soccer Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 2,558

Referee: Ricardo Salazar (USA)

Seattle Sounders (WA)	1–2	Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Greg Howes 10' Ali John Utush  39' Craig Waibel  57'	Report	34' Yuri Lavrinenko  54' Todd Dusosky  82' Jake Provan 90' Brian Loftin  90' Dan Popik

September 17, 2000
7:00 PM (PDT)

Memorial Stadium, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 1,952

Referee: Kari Seitz (USA)

Milwaukee Rampage advanced 4–2 on aggregate.

Conference finals

Eastern Conference

Toronto Lynx (ON)	1–1	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Brian Ashton  20' Francisco Dos Santos 63',  66'	Report	41' Onandi Lowe 75' Dan Stebbins

September 22, 2000
7:30 PM EST

Varsity Stadium Toronto, Ontario

Attendance: 2,811

Referee: Jerry Proctor (Canada)

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	1–0	Toronto Lynx (ON)
Tim Hardy  33' Craig Demmin 80'	Report	11' Brian Ashton

September 24, 2000
7:30 PM EST

Frontier Field Rochester, New York

Attendance: 8,058

Western Conference

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	3–4	Minnesota Thunder (MI)
Todd Dusosky 23',  90' Yuri Lavrinenko 51' David Marshall 90' Jason Willan  90' Jon Cantwell  90'		9', 41' Morgan Zeba 57' Johnny Menyongar 64' John Coughlin

September 21, 2000
7:30 PM EST

Uihlein Soccer Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 1,187

Minnesota Thunder (MI)	5–0	Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Johnny Menyongar 15', 89',  67' Chugger Adair 45', 62' Stoian Mladenov 74'	Report	18' Brian Loftin  51' Nate Houser

September 23, 2000
7:30 PM EST

National Sports Center, Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 3,414

Referee: Terry Vaughan (USA)

Final

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	3–1	Minnesota Thunder (MI)
Dan Stebbins 13:55' Carlos Zavala  15' Yari Allnutt 38:00' Martin Nash  77' Onandi Lowe 77:10'	Report	63' John Coughlin  76' Morgan Zeba 78:12' Chugger Adair  81' Don Gramenz

September 30, 2000

Frontier Field Rochester, New York

Attendance: 14,276

Referee: Ricardo Salazar (USA)

Points leaders

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Digital Takawira	Milwaukee Rampage	21	16	10	42
	Paul Conway	Charleston Battery	26	17	8	42
3	Greg Howes	Seattle Sounders	27	17	7	41
	Darren Sawatzky	Seattle Sounders	28	16	9	41
5	Johnny Menyongar	Minnesota Thunder	28	17	3	39
6	Saul Martínez	Hampton Road Mariners	26	16	5	37
	Gregory Simmonds	Hershey Wildcats	25	16	5	37
8	Dwayne DeRosario	Richmond Kickers	23	15	5	35
9	Paul Schneider	Minnesota Thunder	23	15	4	34
10	Patrick Beech	Atlanta Silverbacks	22	14	5	33
	Ignace Moleka	Atlanta Silverbacks	28	14	5	33
12	Ihor Dotsenko	Raleigh Capital Express	28	15	2	32
	Darren Tilley	Vancouver 86ers	13	12	6	30
14	Seamus Donnelly	Hampton Roads Mariners	28	14	1	29
	Jason Boyce	Orange County Zodiac	24	11	7	29
15	Jamel Mitchell	Hershey Wildcats	28	13	2	28
16	Kevin Jeffrey	Bay Area Seals	24	12	3	27
	Mac Cozier	Charleston Battery	24	11	5	27
18	Edson Buddle	Long Island Rough Riders	26	11	4	26
	David Flavius	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	25	11	4	26

Honors

• MVP: Digital Takawira
• Goals Leaders (tied): Paul Conway, Greg Howes, Johnny Menyongar
• Goalkeeper of the Year: Scott Vallow
• Defender of the Year: Scott Cannon
• Rookie of the Year: Greg Howes
• Coach of the Year: Neil Megson
• First Team All A-League
  • Goalkeeper: Scott Vallow
  • Defenders: Chris Fox, Craig Demmin, Scott Cannon, Scott Schweitzer
  • Midfielders: Brian Loftin, Yari Allnutt, Stoian Mladenov
  • Forwards: Paul Conway, Darren Sawatzky, Digital Takawira
• Second Team All A-League
  • Goalkeeper: Theo Zagar
  • Defenders: Gilbert Jean-Baptiste, Adrian Serioux, David Banks, Rick Titus
  • Midfielders: Lenin Steenkamp, Gerry Lucey, Martin Nash
  • Forwards: Dwayne DeRosario, Johnny Menyongar, Greg Howes

External links

• The Year in American Soccer - 2000
• A-League playoff results