2003 USL A-League

The 2003 USL A-League was an American Division II league run by the United Soccer League during the summer of 2003.

USL A-League
-2003 Season-

Season	2003
Teams	19
Champions	Charleston Battery (1st Title)
Premiers	Milwaukee Wave United (1st Title)
Matches	266
Goals	754 (2.83 per match)
Best Player	Thiago Martins, Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Top goalscorer	Thiago Martins, Pittsburgh Riverhounds (22 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Greg Sutton, Montreal Impact
← 2002 2004 →

League standings

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Montreal Impact	28	16	6	6	40	21	+19	54
2	Rochester Raging Rhinos	28	15	6	7	55	36	+19	51
3	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	28	15	4	9	50	41	+9	49
4	Syracuse Salty Dogs	28	11	5	12	42	38	+4	38
5	Toronto Lynx	28	11	4	13	29	38	−9	37

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Southeast Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Charleston Battery	28	15	7	6	41	27	+14	52
2	Virginia Beach Mariners	28	14	5	9	51	34	+17	47
3	Richmond Kickers	30	12	9	9	41	32	+9	43[a]
4	Charlotte Eagles	28	6	7	15	29	59	−30	25
5	Atlanta Silverbacks	28	4	7	17	27	48	−21	19

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. 2 points deducted?

Western Conference

Central Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Milwaukee Wave United	28	18	0	10	61	32	+29	54
2	Minnesota Thunder	28	17	2	9	44	28	+16	53
3	El Paso Patriots	28	9	3	16	33	48	−15	30
4	Cincinnati Riverhawks	28	9	0	19	38	62	−24	24[a]
5	Indiana Blast	28	3	2	23	28	67	−39	11

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. 3 points deducted?

Pacific Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Seattle Sounders	28	16	5	7	45	24	+21	53
2	Vancouver Whitecaps	28	15	7	6	45	24	+21	52
3	Portland Timbers	28	15	2	11	39	33	+6	47
4	Calgary Storm	28	4	3	21	16	62	−46	15

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Playoffs

Bracket

	Division finals							Conference finals							Final
	S1	Charleston Battery	0	4	4
	S2	Virginia Beach Mariners	1	1	2
								Charleston Battery		0	1	1
	Eastern Conference
								Rochester Rhinos		0	0	0
	N1	Montreal Impact	1	0	1
	N2	Rochester Raging Rhinos	2	0	2
															Charleston Battery		3
															Minnesota Thunder		0
	C2	Minnesota Thunder (a.e.t.)	0	2	3
	C1	Milwaukee Wave United	1	0	1
								Minnesota Thunder		1	1	2
	Western Conference
								Seattle Sounders		0	0	0
	P2	Vancouver Whitecaps	0	1	1 (5)
	P1	Seattle Sounders (p)	0	1	1 (6)

Division finals

Northeast Division

September 5, 2003
7:35 PM (EDT)

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	2–1	Montreal Impact (SC)
Ian Fuller  6' Stoian Mladenov 8' (pen.) Doug Miller 50' Kirk Wilson  90'	Report	6' Nevio Pizzolitto 84' Zé Roberto

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 8,339

Referee: Ken Heller (USA)

September 7, 2003
4:00 PM (EDT)

Montreal Impact (SC)	0–0	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Zé Roberto  4' Martin Nash  63'  90' Abraham Francois  89'	Report	15' Scott Schweitzer  65' Yuri Lavrinenko  72' Kirk Wilson  81' David Hayes

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 8,445

Referee: Silviu Petrescu (Canada)

The Rochester Rhinos advance 2 – 1 on aggregate.

---

Southeast Division

September 5, 2003

Virginia Beach Mariners (VA)	1–0	Charleston Battery (SC)
Roy Lassiter 18' Stephen Danbusky  75'	Report

Virginia Beach Sportsplex, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Attendance: 3,200

Referee: Dan Stead (USA)

September 7, 2003
6:00 PM (EDT)

Charleston Battery (SC)	4–1	Virginia Beach Mariners (VA)
Chris Goos 3' Josh Henderson 14', 71' Russell Hutchison 17' (o.g.)	Report	10' Hamisi Amani-Dove  37' Roland Vargas-Aguilera  58' Stephen Danbusky

Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, South Carolina

Attendance: 2,031

Referee: Todd Perry (USA)

The Charleston Battery advance 4 – 2 on aggregate.

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Central Division

September 5, 2003

Milwaukee Wave United (WI)	1–0	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Greg Howes 14' (pen.) Chris Morman  78'	Report	54' Steve Shak

Uihlein Soccer Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 1,927

Referee: Cien Asoera (USA)

September 7, 2003
5:30 PM (CDT)

Minnesota Thunder (MN)	2–0 (OT)	Milwaukee Wave United (WI)
Johnny Torres 62', 92'	Report	84' Todd Dusosky

National Sports Center, Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 2,649

Referee: Brent Sorg (USA)

The Minnesota Thunder advance 2 – 1 on aggregate.

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Pacific Division

September 5, 2003
7:00 (PDT)

Seattle Sounders (WA)	0–0	Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)
Marco Vélez  14' Scott Jenkins  15' Ryan Edwards  34'	Report	35' Carlo Corazzin  87' Ollie Heald  90' Paul Dailly

Seahawks Stadium, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 2,178

Referee: Cory Dean (Canada)

September 7, 2001
3:00 PM (PDT)

Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Seattle Sounders (WA)
Jean Piette  11' Dave Morris 90' Steve Kindel  117'	Report	2' Roger Levesque  4' Chad Brown  18' Andrew Gregor  77' Zach Scott  78' Darren Sawatzky
Penalties
Ollie Heald Tiarnan King Chris Franks Carlo Corazzin Dave Morris Jeff Clarke	5–6	Kyle Smith Chad Brown Darren Sawatzky Herculez Gomez Andrew Gregor Viet Nguyen

Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 5,175

Referee: Hu Lui (USA)

The Seattle Sounders advance 1 – 0 on aggregate.

Conference finals

Eastern Conference final

September 12, 2003
8:00 PM (EDT)

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	0–0	Charleston Battery (SC)
	Report

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 10,017

Referee: Andrew Chapin (USA)

September 14, 2003
6:00 PM (EDT)

Charleston Battery (SC)	1–0	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Josh Henderson 41'	Report	41' Ian Fuller

Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, South Carolina

Attendance: 2,571

Referee: Brian D'Amato (USA)

The Charleston Battery advance 1 – 0 on aggregate.

Western Conference final

September 12, 2003
7:00 PM (PDT)

Seattle Sounders (WA)	0–1	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Andrew Gregor  9' Zach Scott  53' Scott Jenkins  57' Chad Brown  59'	Report	79' Steve Shak

Seahawks Stadium, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 3,190

Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela (USA)

September 14, 2003
6:00 PM (CDT)

Minnesota Thunder (MN)	1–0	Seattle Sounders (WA)
Johnny Torres 59' Duncan Tarley  90'	Report	8' Viet Nguyen  23' Ryan Edwards  85' Craig Tomlinson

National Sports Center, Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 2,612

Referee: Terry Vaughn (USA)

The Minnesota Thunder advance 2 – 0 on aggregate.

Final

September 20, 2003
7:00 PM (EDT)

Charleston Battery (SC)	3–0	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Ted Chronopoulos 13' Terry Phelan  15' Paul Conway 21' John Wilson  32' Steve Klein 37'	[1]

Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, South Carolina

Attendance: 5,711

Referee: Jair Marrufo (USA)

Points leaders

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Thiago Martins	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	25	22	7	51
2	Doug Miller	Rochester Rhinos	28	17	4	38
3	Dante Washington	Virginia Beach Mariners	26	18	1	37
4	Greg Howes	Milwaukee Wave United	28	11	12	34
5	Todd Dusosky	Milwaukee Wave United	26	11	7	29
	Roland Vargas-Aguilera	Virginia Beach Mariners	26	10	9	29
	Kevin Jeffrey	Richmond Kickers	27	10	9	29
8	Josh Henderson	Charleston Battery	20	10	5	25
	Byron Alvarez	Portland Timbers	21	12	1	25
	McKinley Tennyson	Portland Timbers	27	11	3	25
11	Lourenço Andrade	El Paso Patriots	20	9	4	22
	Dino Delevski	Milwaukee Wave United	23	8	6	22

Awards and All A-League Teams

All A-League First Team^[2]
F: Thiago Martins (Pittsburgh Riverhounds) (MVP & Leading Goalscorer); Doug Miller (Rochester Raging Rhinos); Dante Washington (Virginia Beach Mariners)
M: Roland Aguilera (Virginia Beach Mariners); Marco Ferruzzi (Minnesota Thunder); Andrew Gregor (Seattle Sounders); Ricardo Villar (Pittsburgh Riverhounds)
D: Gabriel Gervais (Montreal Impact) (Defender of the Year); Danny Jackson (Seattle Sounders); John Wilson (Charleston Battery)
G: Greg Sutton (Montreal Impact) (Goalkeeper of the Year)
Coach: Bob Lilley, Montreal Impact) (Coach of the Year)

All A-League Second Team
F: Byron Alvarez (Portland Timbers); Greg Howes (Milwaukee Wave United); Kevin Jeffrey (Richmond Kickers)
M: Ted Chronopoulos (Charleston Battery); Ollie Heald (Vancouver Whitecaps); Zé Roberto (Montreal Impact); David Testo (Richmond Kickers)
D: Scott Schweitzer (Rochester Raging Rhinos); Steve Shak (Minnesota Thunder); Alan Woods (Atlanta Silverbacks)
G: Rich Cullen (Seattle Sounders)