2007 United Soccer Leagues
Football league season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2007 season was the 21st edition of the United Soccer Leagues, an American club soccer organization with several divisions.
The season kicked off on Friday, April 13 when the 2006 league runners-up Rochester Raging Rhinos traveled to the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón to take on the Puerto Rico Islanders.
General
- Two new teams join the First Division: the California Victory (San Francisco, CA), and the Carolina RailHawks (Cary, NC).
- The Virginia Beach Mariners franchise was terminated by the league.
- The Toronto Lynx depart the First Division for the Premier Development League (PDL).
- Three new teams join the Second Division: the Bermuda Hogges (Hamilton, Bermuda), the Cleveland City Stars, and Crystal Palace Baltimore.
- The Long Island Rough Riders depart the Second Division for the PDL.
- The Pittsburgh Riverhounds will be on hiatus during 2007 to reorganize.
- Many new teams join the PDL, for a complete list see here.
Honors
| Competition | Champion | Runner-up | Regular season champion/Best USL team |
|---|---|---|---|
| USL First Division | Seattle Sounders | Atlanta Silverbacks | Seattle Sounders |
| USL Second Division | Harrisburg City Islanders | Richmond Kickers | Richmond Kickers |
| USL PDL | Laredo Heat | Michigan Bucks | Hampton Roads Piranhas |
| U.S. Open Cup | New England Revolution (MLS) | FC Dallas (MLS) | Carolina Railhawks/Seattle Sounders |
| Voyageurs Cup | Montreal Impact | Vancouver Whitecaps | n/a |
Standings
| Season | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Seattle Sounders (2nd Title) |
| Regular Season title | Seattle Sounders (1st Title) |
| Matches | 168 |
| Goals | 378 (2.25 per match) |
| Best Player |  Sebastien Le Toux, Seattle Sounders |
| Top goalscorer |  Charles Gbeke, Montreal Impact Sebastien Le Toux, Seattle Sounders (10 goals each) |
| Best goalkeeper |  Josh Wicks, Portland Timbers |
← 2006 2008 → | |
First Division
The schedule was not a balanced home and away affair; to make up the four extra games to total 28, each team played their four geographically closest competitors. The playoff format was changed to qualify eight instead of six teams; therefore the first and second league champions obtained seeding to determine home field advantage instead of a first round bye as in previous seasons. The previous bidding to host between the two playoff finalists for the one game cup final was discontinued for this season.[1]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Sounders (C, X) | 28 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 37 | 23 | +14 | 54 | Quarterfinal round of playoffs |
| 2 | Portland Timbers | 28 | 14 | 5 | 9 | 32 | 18 | +14 | 51 | |
| 3 | Montreal Impact | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 32 | 21 | +11 | 50 | Quarterfinal round of playoffs and CONCACAF Champions League[a] |
| 4 | Atlanta Silverbacks | 28 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 43 | Quarterfinal round of playoffs |
| 5 | Rochester Raging Rhinos | 28 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 39 | 36 | +3 | 42 | |
| 6 | Puerto Rico Islanders | 28 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 35 | 34 | +1 | 40 | |
| 7 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 28 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 27 | 24 | +3 | 39 | |
| 8 | Carolina RailHawks | 28 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 24 | 34 | −10 | 32 | |
| 9 | Miami FC | 28 | 9 | 15 | 4 | 31 | 41 | −10 | 31 | |
| 10 | Charleston Battery | 28 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 32 | 39 | −7 | 30 | |
| 11 | Minnesota Thunder | 28 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 32 | 35 | −3 | 26 | |
| 12 | California Victory | 28 | 4 | 17 | 7 | 17 | 43 | −26 | 19 |
- As 2008 Canadian Championship winner
Playoffs
| Quarterfinals September 14/16 | Semifinals September 21/23 | Final September 29 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Seattle Sounders | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 8 | Carolina RailHawks | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Seattle Sounders (p) | 2 | 1 | 3 (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | Puerto Rico Islanders | 1 | 2 | 3 (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Montreal Impact | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | Puerto Rico Islanders | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Seattle Sounders | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Atlanta Silverbacks | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Atlanta Silverbacks | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Rochester Raging Rhinos | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Atlanta Silverbacks (p) | 1 | 0 | 1 (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Portland Timbers | 1 | 0 | 1 (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Portland Timbers | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
Quarterfinals
Puerto Rico Islanders won 5–3 on Aggregate.
| Seattle Sounders | 1–0 | Carolina Railhawks |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Seattle Sounders won 3–0 on Aggregate.
| Rochester Raging Rhinos | 1–1 | Atlanta Silverbacks |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Atlanta Silverbacks won 3–2 on Aggregate.
Portland Timbers won 3–1 on Aggregate.
Semifinals
| Puerto Rico Islanders | 1–2 | Seattle Sounders |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Seattle Sounders won 4–2 on penalties after tying 3–3 on Aggregate.
Atlanta Silverbacks won 3–1 on penalties after tying 1–1 on Aggregate.
Final
| Seattle Sounders | 4–0 | Atlanta Silverbacks |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Awards and All-League Teams
First Team
F: Dan Antoniuk (Atlanta Silverbacks); Hamed Diallo (Rochester Raging Rhinos); Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle Sounders) (MVP & Co-Leading Goalscorer)
M: Stephen Armstrong (Charleston Battery); Andrew Gregor (Portland Timbers); Martin Nash (Vancouver Whitecaps); Zinho (Miami FC)
D: Gabriel Gervais (Montreal Impact); David Hayes (Atlanta Silverbacks) (Defender of the Year); Cameron Knowles (Portland Timbers)
G: Josh Wicks (Portland Timbers) (Goalkeeper of the Year)
Coach: Gavin Wilkinson (Portland Timbers) (Coach of the Year)
Second Team
F: Charles Gbeke (Montreal Impact) (Co-Leading Goalscorer); Roger Levesque (Seattle Sounders)
M: Leonardo Di Lorenzo (Montreal Impact); Brian Farber (Minnesota Thunder); Kupono Low (Carolina RailHawks); Johnny Menyongar (Rochester Raging Rhinos)
D: Taylor Graham (Seattle Sounders); Steve Klein (Vancouver Whitecaps); Scot Thompson (Portland Timbers); Marco Velez (Puerto Rico Islanders)
G: Matt Jordan (Montreal Impact)
Second Division
| Season | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Harrisburg City Islanders (1st Title) |
| Regular Season title | Richmond Kickers (3rd Title) |
| Matches | 100 |
| Goals | 269 (2.69 per match) |
| Best Player | Mike Burke, Richmond Kickers |
| Top goalscorer | Jacob Coggins, Charlotte Eagles (12 goals) |
| Best goalkeeper | Ronnie Pascale, Richmond Kickers |
← 2006 2008 → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond Kickers | 20 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 37 | 15 | +22 | 41 | Regular season champion |
| 2 | Cleveland City Stars | 20 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 31 | 14 | +17 | 39 | Playoff berth clinched |
| 3 | Harrisburg City Islanders (C) | 20 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 15 | +11 | 38 | |
| 4 | Charlotte Eagles | 20 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 29 | +11 | 35 | |
| 5 | Crystal Palace Baltimore | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 27 | 20 | +7 | 32 | |
| 6 | Western Mass Pioneers | 20 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 26 | −1 | 27 | |
| 7 | Wilmington Hammerheads | 20 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 30 | −8 | 19 | |
| 8 | Cincinnati Kings | 20 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 29 | 41 | −12 | 17 | |
| 9 | New Hampshire Phantoms | 20 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 16 | 34 | −18 | 13[a] | |
| 10 | Bermuda Hogges | 20 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 16 | 45 | −29 | 12 |
- New Hampshire was penalized 1 point for circumstances not released by the USL.
Playoffs
| Semifinals August 18, 7:00 EDT | Final August 25, 8:00 EDT | ||||||||
| 1 | Richmond Kickers (a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||
| 4 | Charlotte Eagles | 1 | |||||||
| 1 | Richmond Kickers | 1 (7) | |||||||
| 3 | Harrisburg City Islanders (p) | 1 (8) | |||||||
| 2 | Cleveland City Stars | 0 | |||||||
| 3 | Harrisburg City Islanders (a.e.t.) | 1 | |||||||
Semifinals
| Cleveland City Stars | 0–1 (a.e.t.) | Harrisburg City Islanders |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Richmond Kickers | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Charlotte Eagles |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Final
Premier Development League
- See 2007 PDL Season