2001 USL A-League

USL A-League
Season	2001
Champions	Rochester Rhinos ; (3rd title)
Regular season	Richmond Kickers ; (1st title)
Top goalscorer	Paul Conway ; (22 goals)
	← 2000 2002 →

The 2001 USL A-League was an American Division II league run by the United Soccer Leagues during the summer of 2001.

Summary

The addition of the Portland Timbers saw the renewal of a Pacific Northwest rivalry between them, the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps which dated back to the North American Soccer League. Although Vancouver was not new to the league, this was the first season they competed in under the Whitecaps name, replacing the 86ers name used since 1986.

An ownership change in August 2000 brought a revival of the old Whitecaps name for the 2001 season. At the end of the regular season, the Richmond Kickers topped the league with seventy-six points. The playoffs were scheduled to begin on September 12, but those matches were postponed by a week due to the September 11 attacks.^[1]^[2] Midfielder Mickey Trotman, a starter for the Rochester Rhinos, was killed in an automobile accident two days before the team's first semifinal match with the Milwaukee Rampage.^[3] The Rhinos defeated the Hershey Wildcats to take its third league title in four seasons.^[4]

League standings

Northern Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Hershey Wildcats	26	16	3	7	45	20	+25	8	75
2	Rochester Raging Rhinos	26	16	4	6	43	27	+16	6	74
3	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	26	10	4	12	39	39	0	6	50
4	Montreal Impact	26	10	2	14	29	37	−8	3	45
5	Connecticut Wolves	26	9	6	11	30	37	−7	1	43
6	Long Island Rough Riders	26	6	4	16	31	50	−19	5	33
7	Toronto Lynx	26	7	3	16	20	41	−21	1	32

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Central Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Richmond Kickers	26	16	3	7	47	34	+13	9	76
2	Charleston Battery	26	16	1	9	51	34	+17	8	73
3	Charlotte Eagles	26	14	2	10	50	41	+9	8	66
4	Nashville Metros	26	14	2	10	47	48	−1	5	63
5	Atlanta Silverbacks	26	13	1	12	48	39	+9	6	59
6	Indiana Blast	26	8	0	18	38	55	−17	3	35
7	Cincinnati Riverhawks	26	6	0	20	39	80	−41	3	27

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Western Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts
1	Vancouver Whitecaps	26	16	2	8	44	33	+11	8	74
2	San Diego Flash	26	14	1	11	55	42	+13	11	68
3	Milwaukee Rampage	26	14	2	10	45	40	+5	5	63
4	Portland Timbers	26	13	3	10	41	38	+3	7	62
5	Seattle Sounders	26	13	1	12	40	39	+1	4	57
6	Minnesota Thunder	26	9	2	15	29	34	−5	3	41
7	El Paso Patriots	26	8	4	14	39	42	−3	4	40

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Playoffs

Bracket

First Round					Quarterfinals					Semifinals				Final

					1	Hershey Wildcats	2	1	3
8	Charlotte Eagles	0	2	2		Portland Timbers	0	0	0
9	Portland Timbers	2	3	5						Hershey Wildcats	4	0	4
										Vancouver Whitecaps	0	1	1
					4	Vancouver Whitecaps	0	4	4
5	San Diego F.C.	2	2	4		San Diego F.C.	2	1	3
12	Atlanta Silverbacks	0	2	2										Hershey Wildcats	0
														Rochester Raging Rhinos	2
					2	Rochester Raging Rhinos	1	3	4
7	Charleston Battery	1	1	2		Pittsburgh Riverhounds	2	0	2
10	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	2	3	5						Rochester Raging Rhinos	3	1	4
										Milwaukee Rampage	2	0	2
					3	Richmond Kickers	2	1	3
6	Milwaukee Rampage (p)	3	0	3 (4)		Milwaukee Rampage (a.e.t.)	2	2	4
11	Nashville Metros	2	1	3 (2)

First round

Pittsburgh vs Charleston

September 20, 2001
7:35 PM (EDT)

Pittsburgh Riverhounds (PA)	2–1	Charleston Battery (SC)
Gary DePalma 45' Phil Karn 76'	Report	36' 44' John Ball 38' Paul Conway

Bethel Park Stadium, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania

Attendance: 1,152

September 22, 2001
7:30 PM (EDT)

Charleston Battery (SC)	1–3	Pittsburgh Riverhounds (PA)
Mac Cozier 22' Jukka Rantala 45' Mac Cozier 50' Dan Calichman 77'	Report	3' Gary DePalma 45' Paul Dougherty 54' John Jones 64' Henry Gutierrez

Blackbaud Stadium Charleston, South Carolina

Attendance: 2,606

San Diego vs Atlanta

September 19, 2001
10:00 PM (EDT)

San Diego Flash (CA)	2–0	Atlanta Silverbacks (GA)
Brian O'Connor 43' Thiago Martins 63', 72'	Report	5' Shaun McSkimming 36' Ian Checcio 54' Randy Merkel 74' Sean Michael Callahan

San Diego Mesa College, San Diego, California

Attendance: 370

Referee: Richard Heron (USA)

September 23, 2001
5:30 PM (EDT)

Atlanta Silverbacks (GA)	2–2	San Diego Flash (CA)
Danny Care 32' Sean Finn 45', 60' Ryan Walker 90'	Report	42' Chugger Adair 66', 73' Thiago Martins

DeKalb Memorial Stadium Clarkston, Georgia

Attendance: 722

Portland vs Charlotte

September 20, 2001
10:35 PM (EDT)

Portland Timbers (OR)	2–0	Charlotte Eagles (NC)
Darin Lewis 10' Mark Baena 19' Neil Ryan 26' Darren Sawatzky 43' Michael O'Neill 63'	Report	32' Jose Correa 73' Nate Watkins

PGE Park, Portland, Oregon

Attendance: 4,771

September 22, 2001
7:30 PM (EDT)

Charlotte Eagles (NC)	2–3	Portland Timbers (OR)
Jacob Coggins 16' Joey Johnson 19'	Report	23' Michael O'Neill 82' Scott Benedetti 85' Greg Howes

Providence High School, Charlotte, North Carolina

Attendance: 2,100

Milwaukee vs Nashville

September 19, 2001
7:00 PM (CDT)

Nashville Metros (TN)	2–3	Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Chris Morman 20' 73' Brandon Wright 72' Jakob Fenger 82' Jaymi Bailey 90'	Report	13' Judah Cooks 30', 61' Steve Butcher 77' David Hayes 77' Jason Russell 83' Igor Soso 90' Dennis Fadeski

Ezell Park, Nashville, Tennessee

Attendance: 810

Referee: Ali Saheli (USA)

September 22, 2001
3:00 PM (CDT)

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	0–1 (OT)	Nashville Metros (TN)
Matt Bobo 28' Philippe Godoy 72' Destin Makumbu 93' Josh Provan 98' Judah Cooks 99'	Report	27' Jeff Dominguez 84' Jakob Fenger 93' Andreas Maier 90' Jeff Houser 98' Jeff Houser
Penalties
Steve Bernal Igor Soso David Hayes Steve Butcher Mike Slivinski	4–2	Dominic Schell Jakob Fenger Andreas Maier Jeff Houser

Milwaukee County Sports Complex, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 2,152

Quarterfinals

Milwaukee vs Richmond

September 28, 2001
7:00 PM (CDT)

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	2–2	Richmond Kickers (VA)
Alen Soso 10' 82' Philippe Godoy 18' Matt Bobo 43' Judah Cooks 45' Dennis Fadeski 66' Digital Takawira 73'	Report	17', 26' Josh Henderson 44' Mike Burke 63', 74' Kevin Knight 90' Chris Brown

Milwaukee County Sports Complex, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance: 1,318

Referee: Michael Kennedy (USA)

September 30, 2001
5:00 PM (CDT)

Richmond Kickers (VA)	1–2 (OT)	Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Peter Luzak 68' Rob Ukrop 88' Josh Henderson 90' (pen.)	Report	35' Jim Curtin 93' Igor Soso

Richmond City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 4,107

Referee: Robert Mann (USA)

Hershey vs Portland

September 27, 2001
5:00 PM (CDT)

Portland Timbers (OR)	0–2	Hershey Wildcats (PA)
Gavin Wilkinson 19' Mark Baena 43' Michael O'Neill 86'	Report	23' Nigel Henry 49' Mike Feniger 59' Chris Marinos 62' Chad Evans 71' Doug Watson 85' Fred DeGand

PGE Park, Portland, Oregon

Attendance: 4,894

September 29, 2001

Hershey Wildcats (PA)	1–0	Portland Timbers (OR)
Mike Feniger 28'

Attendance: 1,048

Vancouver vs San Diego

September 26, 2001

San Diego Flash (CA)	2–0	Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)
Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar 67' Emmanuel Ayim 84'	Report

Douglas Stadium, San Diego, California

Attendance: 468

September 29, 2001
7:30 PM (PDT)

Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)	4–1	San Diego Flash (CA)
Darren Tilley 6' John Sulentic 17', 90' Steve Kindel 42'	Report	35' Chugger Adair

Swangard Stadium, Vancouver, British Columbia

Attendance: 6,782

Rochester vs Pittsburgh

September 26, 2001

Pittsburgh Riverhounds (PA)	2–1	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Welton Melo 62' John Jones 81'		25' (pen.) Stoian Mladenov

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 1,073

September 29, 2001

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	3–0	Pittsburgh Riverhounds (PA)
Martin Nash 30' Neathan Gibson 53' Jimmy Tanner 90'

Richmond City Stadium, Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 4,107

Referee: Robert Mann (USA)

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

October 4, 2001

Milwaukee Rampage (WI)	2–3	Rochester Rhinos (NY)
Philippe Godoy 24' Matt Bobo 61' Jim Curtin 78'	Report	2' Lenin Steenkamp 15' Nate Daligcon 61' Fuseini Dauda 72' Kirk Wilson 76' Neathan Gibson 78' Scott Vallow 83' Tommy Tanner

Attendance: 271

October 6, 2001
6:36 PM (CST)

Rochester Rhinos (NY)	1–0	Milwaukee Rampage (WI)
Scott Schweitzer 16' Neathan Gibson 41' Mike Kirmse 90'	Report	38' Igor Soso 45' Judah Cooks 45' Philippe Godoy 81' Brian Doherty

Frontier Field, Rochester, New York

Attendance: 6,817

Semifinal 2

October 3, 2001
7:30 PM (PDT)

Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)	0–4	Hershey Wildcats (PA)
	Report	21', 39' Kyle Swords 85' Zé Roberto 90' Doug Miller

Swangard Stadium, Vancouver, British Columbia

Attendance: 6,685

October 6, 2001

Hershey Wildcats (PA)	0–1	Vancouver Whitecaps (BC)
	Report	66' Darren Tilley

Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Attendance: 786

Final

October 13, 2001

Rochester Raging Rhinos (NY)	2–0	Hershey Wildcats (PA)
Martin Nash 38' Carlos Zavala 38' Stoian Mladenov 63', 87'	Report

Frontier Field Rochester, New York

Attendance: 13,692

Referee: Eric Simmons (USA)

Points leaders

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
1	Paul Conway	Charleston Battery	25	22	3	47
2	Dustin Swinehart	Charlotte Eagles	23	18	3	39
3	Jakob Fenger	Nashville Metros	24	14	6	34
4	Jeff Houser	Nashville Metros	24	14	5	33
5	Digital Takawira	Milwaukee Rampage	20	13	4	30
6	Kevin Jeffrey	Richmond Kickers	24	11	7	29
	Leighton O'Brien	Seattle Sounders	24	11	7	29
	Mark Baena	Portland Timbers	24	13	3	29
9	Ignace Moleka	Atlanta Silverbacks	19	12	1	25
	Luis Macias	El Paso Patriots	23	12	1	25
	Chugger Adair	San Diego Flash	22	10	5	25
	Jason Jordan	Vancouver Whitecaps	18	9	7	25
	Rodrigo Costa	Indiana Blast	21	11	3	25
14	Mark Rowland	El Paso Patriots	26	7	10	24
15	Josh Henderson	Richmond Kickers	21	10	3	23

Honors

Annual awards

Most Valuable Player: Paul Conway
Leading Goal Scorer: Paul Conway
Goalkeeper of the Year: Jon Busch
Defender of the Year: Rick Titus
Rookie of the Year: Robbie Aristodemo
Coach of the Year: Dale Mitchell
First Team All A-League^[5]
- Goalkeeper: Jon Busch
- Defenders: Scott Schweitzer, Rick Titus, Gilbert Jean-Baptiste
- Midfielders: Philippe Godoy, Stoian Mladenov, Leighton O'Brien, Temoc Suarez
- Forwards: Paul Conway, Kevin Jeffrey, Dustin Swinehart
Second Team All A-League
- Goalkeeper: Matt Napoleon
- Defenders: James Wall, Brent Sancho, Jason Annicchero
- Midfielders: John Ball, Lenin Steenkamp, Kevin Knight, Steve Kindel
- Forwards: Jakob Fenger, Digital Takawira, Rodrigo Costa

External links

References

^ Dvorchak, Robert (September 12, 2001). "Area sporting events step aside in wake of tragedy". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. B4. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Huggins, Harold (September 19, 2001). "Metros to open playoffs against Rampage". The Tennessean. p. 3C. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ DiVeronica, Jeff (October 4, 2001). "Rhinos' Trotman killed in auto accident". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester. p. 1D. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ DiVeronica, Jeff (October 14, 2001). "A sweet repeat". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester. p. 1D. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ 2001 A-League Awards Archived 2012-03-05 at the Wayback Machine

[1] Dvorchak, Robert (September 12, 2001). "Area sporting events step aside in wake of tragedy". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. B4. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[2] Huggins, Harold (September 19, 2001). "Metros to open playoffs against Rampage". The Tennessean. p. 3C. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[3] DiVeronica, Jeff (October 4, 2001). "Rhinos' Trotman killed in auto accident". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester. p. 1D. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[4] DiVeronica, Jeff (October 14, 2001). "A sweet repeat". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester. p. 1D. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[5] 2001 A-League Awards Archived 2012-03-05 at the Wayback Machine

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