2004 USL A-League

The 2004 USL A-League was an American Division II league run by the United Soccer League during the summer of 2004.

USL A-League

Season	2004
Champions	Montreal Impact (2nd Title)
Premiers	Portland Timbers (1st Title)
Matches played	224
Goals scored	592 (2.64 per match)
Best Player	Greg Sutton, Montreal Impact
Top goalscorer	Dante Washington, Virginia Beach Mariners, Alan Gordon, Portland Timbers (17 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Greg Sutton, Montreal Impact
← 2003 2005 USL-1 →

Standings

Western Conference

  Conference Semifinal round of playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Portland Timbers	28	18	7	3	58	30	+28	57
2	Vancouver Whitecaps	28	14	9	5	38	29	+9	47
3	Minnesota Thunder	28	13	9	6	33	23	+10	45
4	Seattle Sounders	28	13	11	4	40	34	+6	43
5	Milwaukee Wave United	28	12	12	4	44	48	−4	40
6	Calgary Mustangs	28	4	18	6	30	51	−21	18
7	Edmonton F.C.	28	4	18	6	19	56	−37	18

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Eastern Conference

  Conference Semifinal round of playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Montreal Impact (C)	28	17	6	5	36	15	+21	56
2	Richmond Kickers	28	17	8	3	44	29	+15	54
3	Syracuse Salty Dogs	28	15	8	5	40	29	+11	50
4	Rochester Raging Rhinos	28	15	10	3	36	32	+4	48
5	Atlanta Silverbacks	28	14	11	3	41	48	−7	45
6	Virginia Beach Mariners	28	11	14	3	43	41	+2	36
7	Toronto Lynx	28	10	16	2	38	50	−12	32
8	Charleston Battery	28	7	15	6	30	39	−9	27
9	Puerto Rico Islanders	28	5	17	6	22	48	−26	21

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions

Playoffs

	Conference Semifinals							Conference Finals							Final
	1	Montreal Impact	1	1	2
	8	Rochester Raging Rhinos	0	0	0
								Montreal Impact		2	1	3
								Syracuse Salty Dogs		0	1	1
	4	Syracuse Salty Dogs (aet) (p)	1	1	2 (5)
	5	Richmond Kickers	0	2	2 (4)
															Montreal Impact		2
															Seattle Sounders		0
	2	Minnesota Thunder	0	0	0
	7	Vancouver Whitecaps	2	1	3
								Vancouver Whitecaps		0	1	1
								Seattle Sounders		1	1	2
	3	Seattle Sounders (aet)	1	2	3
	6	Portland Timbers	2	0	2

Eastern Conference

Richmond Kickers vs Syracuse Salty Dogs

September 3, 2004
7:00 PM (EST)

Richmond Kickers (VA)	0–1	Syracuse Salty Dogs (NY)
Tim Brown  76' Mike Burke  78'	Report	18' Temoc Suarez  53' Rene Rivas 63' Lars Lyssand  81' Ian Woan

University of Richmond Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 2,776

Referee: Abbas Piran

September 5, 2004
5:00 PM (EST)

Syracuse Salty Dogs (NY)	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Richmond Kickers (VA)
Ian Woan 41' Rene Rivas  43' Jonny Steele  60'	Report	6' Tim Brown  35' Richie Williams  77' Peter Luzak 90' Kevin Knight
Penalties
Scott Schweitzer David Lara Ian Woan Timothy O'Neill Mauro Carabajal Byron Foss	5–4	Robert Ukrop Paul Lekics Dustin Swinehart Kevin Jeffrey David Hayes Chris Fox

SUNY Cortland Stadium, Cortland, New York

Attendance: 2,564

Referee: Ronnie Canales

The Syracuse Salty Dogs advance, 5–4, on penalty kicks after the series ended tied 2–2 on aggregate.

Rochester Rhinos vs Montreal Impact

September 3, 2004
7:35 PM (EST)

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	0–1	Montreal Impact (QC)
Shaun Tsakiris  56' Chris Carrieri  80'	Report	53' Eduardo Sebrango

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 7,124

Referee: Roni Canales, United States

September 5, 2004
7:00 PM (EST)

Montreal Impact (QC)	1–0	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Eduardo Sebrango 32',  32' Mauro Biello  71'	Report	34'  74' Kirk Wilson  51' David Wright  72' Ian Fuller  80' Jefferson Dargout

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 10,201

Referee: Silviu Petrescu, Canada

The Montreal Impact advance 2–0 on aggregate.

Western Conference semifinals

Portland Timbers vs Seattle Sounders

September 1, 2004
7:05 (PST)

Portland Timbers (OR)	2–1	Seattle Sounders (WA)
Brian Winters  47' Byron Alvarez 52' Andrew Gregor 81' (pen.)	Report	17' Roger Levesque  28' Jonathan Bolaños  38' Billy Sleeth  45' Preston Burpo  79' Marco Vélez  87' Zach Scott

PGE Park, Portland, Oregon

Attendance: 4,863

Referee: Nathan Lacy

September 5, 2004

Seattle Sounders (WA)	2–0 (OT)	Portland Timbers (OR)
Welton Melo 5' 100' Billy Sleeth  20' Ryan Edwards  69' Zach Scott  82'	Report	59' Byron Alvarez

Qwest Field, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 3,490

Referee: Jair Marrufo

The Seattle Sounders advance 3–2 on aggregate.

Vancouver Whitecaps vs Minnesota Thunder

September 3, 2004
10:00 PM (EST)

Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)	2–0	Minnesota Thunder (MN)
Carlo Corazzin 6',  90' Davide Xausa 47' Steve Kindel  58'	Report	90' Godfrey Tenoff

Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 4,135

Referee: Dave Gantar, Canada

September 5, 2004
7:00 PM (EST)

Minnesota Thunder (MN)	0–1	Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)
Freddy Juarez  18' David Castellanos  33' Dustin Branan  53'	Report	66' Ive Sulentic 75' David Morris

James Griffin Stadium, St. Paul, Minnesota

Attendance: 589

Referee: Brian D'Amato, United States

The Vancouver Whitecaps advance 3–0 on aggregate.

Eastern Conference final

September 10, 2004
7:30 PM (EST)

Syracuse Salty Dogs (NY)	0–2	Montreal Impact (QC)
Temoc Suarez  26'  49' René Rivas  79'  90'	Report	43' Ze Roberto  50' Joel Bailey 70' Frederick Commodore 73' Mauro Biello

P&C Stadium, Syracuse, New York

Attendance: 6,345

Referee: Andrew Chapin, United States

September 12, 2004
4:00 PM (EST)

Montreal Impact (QC)	1–1	Syracuse Salty Dogs (NY)
Patrick Leduc 20' (pen.) António Ribeiro  85'	Report	32' Lars Lyssand  16', 39' Kupono Low  22' Frank Sanfilippo

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 8,539

Referee: Jose Farias, Canada

The Montreal Impact advanced 3–1 on aggregate.

Western Conference finals

September 10, 2004
11:00 PM (EST)

Seattle Sounders (WA)	1–0	Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)
Jonathan Bolaños 57',  57' Chad Brown  90'	Report	32' Geordie Lyall  41' Justin Thompson

Qwest Field, Seattle

Attendance: 2,496

Referee: Baldomero Toledo, United States

September 12, 2004
10:00 PM (EST)

Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)	1–1	Seattle Sounders (WA)
Jason Jordan 18' Steve Kindel  58'	Report	37' Roger Levesque 44' Jason Farrell  69'  72' Welton Melo  86' Chad Brown

Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 5,286

Referee: Tiger Liu, Canada

The Seattle Sounders advance 2–1 on aggregate.

Final

September 18, 2004
7:00 PM (EDT)

Montreal Impact (QC)	2–0	Seattle Sounders (WA)
Mauricio Vincello  12', 33' Ze Roberto  14' Nevio Pizzolito  61' Frederick Commodore 78'	Report	17' Darren Sawatzky  43' Billy Sleeth

Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 13,648

Referee: Mauricio Navarro (Canada)

MVP: Mauricio Vincello

USL A-League 2004 Champions
Montreal Impact First title

Points leaders

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Dante Washington	Virginia Beach Mariners	27	17	6	40
2	Byron Alvarez	Portland Timber	25	16	4	36
3	Alan Gordon	Portland Timbers	27	17	1	35
4	Ali Gerba	Toronto Lynx	25	15	4	34
5	Johnny Torres	Milwaukee Wave United	26	11	7	29
6	Mac Cozier	Atlanta Silverbacks	28	12	4	28
7	Greg Howes	Milwaukee Wave United	24	9	8	26
8	Todd Dusosky	Milwaukee Wave United	23	10	4	24
	McColm Cephas	Richmond Kickers	26	10	4	24
	Chris Carrieri	Rochester Rhinos	27	8	8	24
11	Mauricio Salles	Puerto Rico Islanders	25	11	1	23
12	Jason Jordan	Vancouver Whitecaps	19	7	7	21
13	Welton Melo	Seattle Sounders	23	5	10	20
	Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar	Portland Timber	26	5	10	20
	Matthew Delicâte	Richmond Kickers	26	7	6	20

Awards and All A-League Teams

All A-League First Team
F: Byron Alvarez (Portland Timbers); Alan Gordon (Portland Timbers) (Co-Leading Goalscorer); Dante Washington (Virginia Beach Mariners) (Co-Leading Goalscorer)
M: Mauro Biello (Montreal Impact); Sandro Grande (Montreal Impact); Alex Pineda Chacón (Atlanta Silverbacks); Johnny Torres (Milwaukee Wave United)
D: Gabriel Gervais (Montreal Impact) (Defender of the Year); Dustin Branan (Minnesota Thunder); Peter Luzak (Richmond Kickers)
G: Greg Sutton (Montreal Impact) (MVP & Goalkeeper of the Year)
Coach: Bobby Howe, Portland Timbers) (Coach of the Year)

All A-League Second Team
F: Mac Cozier (Atlanta Silverbacks); Ali Gerba (Toronto Lynx); Greg Howes (Milwaukee Wave United)
M: Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Portland Timbers); Justin Evans (Charleston Battery); Alfredo Valente (Vancouver Whitecaps); Richie Williams (Richmond Kickers)
D: Craig Demmin (Rochester Raging Rhinos); Nevio Pizzolitto (Montreal Impact); Mark Watson (Charleston Battery)
G: Joe Warren (Minnesota Thunder)