2004 USL A-League
Football league season
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The 2004 USL A-League was an American Division II league run by the United Soccer League during the summer of 2004.
| Season | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 16 |
| Champions | Montreal Impact (2nd Title) |
| Premiers | Portland Timbers (1st Title) |
| Matches | 224 |
| Goals | 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 | |
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 |
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 |
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
| 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 |
| 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 |
The Syracuse Salty Dogs advance, 5–4, on penalty kicks after the series ended tied 2–2 on aggregate.
Rochester Rhinos vs Montreal Impact
| Rochester Rhinos (NY) | 0–1 | Montreal Impact (QC) |
|---|---|---|
| Shaun Tsakiris 56' Chris Carrieri 80' |
Report | 53' Eduardo Sebrango |
| 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 |
The Montreal Impact advance 2–0 on aggregate.
Western Conference semifinals
Portland Timbers vs Seattle Sounders
| 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 |
| 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 |
The Seattle Sounders advance 3–2 on aggregate.
Vancouver Whitecaps vs Minnesota Thunder
| Vancouver Whitecaps (BC) | 2–0 | Minnesota Thunder (MN) |
|---|---|---|
| Carlo Corazzin 6', 90' Davide Xausa 47'Steve Kindel 58' |
Report | 90' Godfrey Tenoff |
| Minnesota Thunder (MN) | 0–1 | Vancouver Whitecaps (BC) |
|---|---|---|
| Freddy Juarez 18' David Castellanos 33'Dustin Branan 53' |
Report | 66' Ive Sulentic 75' David Morris |
The Vancouver Whitecaps advance 3–0 on aggregate.
Eastern Conference final
| 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 |
| 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 |
The Montreal Impact advanced 3–1 on aggregate.
Western Conference finals
| Seattle Sounders (WA) | 1–0 | Vancouver Whitecaps (BC) |
|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Bolaños 57', 57' Chad Brown 90' |
Report | 32' Geordie Lyall 41' Justin Thompson |
| 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 |
The Seattle Sounders advance 2–1 on aggregate.
Final
| 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 |
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)