2008 United Soccer Leagues

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2008 United Soccer Leagues - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2008 Season is the 22nd edition of the United Soccer Leagues season.

The season kicked off on Friday, April 12 with two First Division games, as the Charleston Battery visited Miami FC and the Montreal Impact visited the Vancouver Whitecaps.

General

Changes in the First Division: the California Victory take the 2008 season off, leaving 11 teams playing a 30-game schedule.
Changes in the Second Division: the Pittsburgh Riverhounds return from hiatus, and Real Maryland FC join as an expansion team. However, the Cincinnati Kings and New Hampshire Phantoms drop to the PDL. 10 teams play a 20-game schedule this season.
In the PDL, 5 teams withdrew for the 2008 season, while 7 expansion teams and the two voluntary relegations increase the league to 67 teams in 10 divisions across 4 conferences. Teams play a 16-game league schedule.

Honors

Competition	Champion	Runner-Up	Regular Season Champion/Best USL team
USL First Division	Vancouver Whitecaps	Puerto Rico Islanders	Puerto Rico Islanders
USL Second Division	Cleveland City Stars	Charlotte Eagles	Charlotte Eagles
USL PDL	Thunder Bay Chill	Laredo Heat	Michigan Bucks
U.S. Open Cup	D.C. United (MLS)	Charleston Battery (USL-1)	Charleston Battery
Canadian Championship	Montreal Impact	Toronto FC (MLS)	n/a

Standings

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Puerto Rico Islanders	30	15	6	9	43	23	+20	54	Commissioner's Cup, bye to semifinal round of playoffs
2	Vancouver Whitecaps (C)	30	15	7	8	34	28	+6	53	First round of playoffs
3	Montreal Impact	30	12	12	6	33	28	+5	42
4	Rochester Rhinos	30	11	10	9	35	32	+3	41^[a]
5	Charleston Battery	30	11	12	7	34	36	−2	40^[b]
6	Seattle Sounders	30	10	10	10	37	36	+1	40^[b]
7	Minnesota Thunder	30	10	11	9	40	38	+2	39
8	Carolina RailHawks	30	9	11	10	34	43	−9	37
9	Miami FC	30	8	12	10	28	34	−6	34^[c]
10	Atlanta Silverbacks	30	8	12	10	37	50	−13	34^[c]
11	Portland Timbers	30	7	13	10	26	33	−7	31

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: Tie-breaker order: 1. Head-to-head points; 2. Total wins; 3. Goal difference; 4. Goals for; 5. Lottery
(C) Playoff Champion
Notes:

^ Rochester deducted 1 point for use of an ineligible player on August 10, 2008^[1]
^ ^a ^b CHA: 4 pts; SEA: 4 pts
^ ^a ^b MIA: 7 pts; ATL: 1 pt

Playoffs

Teams were re-seeded for semifinal matchups
Vancouver was selected by the league to host the final despite being the lower seeded team

First round September 26/28					Semi-finals October 3/5					Final October 12

6	Seattle Sounders	2	1	3

3	Montreal Impact	1	3	4
					3	Montreal Impact	1	0	1

					2	Vancouver Whitecaps	0	2	2
7	Minnesota Thunder	0	4	4

2	Vancouver Whitecaps	2	3	5
										2	Vancouver Whitecaps	2

										1	Puerto Rico Islanders	1
5	Charleston Battery	0	1	1

4	Rochester Rhinos	2	0	2
					4	Rochester Rhinos	2	0	2

					1	Puerto Rico Islanders (a.e.t)	0	3	3

First Round

September 26, 2008

7:35 PM EDT

First Leg

Rochester Rhinos	2–0	Charleston Battery
Ball 49' Guppy 86' Delicate 90' Bertz 90'	Report

PAETEC Park
Rochester, New York

Attendance: 6,923

Referee: Chris Penso

September 28, 2008

7:00 PM EDT

Second Leg

Charleston Battery	1–0	Rochester Rhinos
Alonso 12' Fuller 42'	Report	Palguta 41' Smith 53' Gregor 61'

Blackbaud Stadium
Charleston, South Carolina

Attendance: 2,131

Referee: Doug Wolff

Rochester Rhinos won 2–1 on Aggregate.

September 26, 2008

10:00 PM EDT

First Leg

Seattle Sounders	2–1	Montreal Impact
Alcaraz-Cuellar 15' 75' O'Brien 42' (pen.) Besagno 51' Gardner 61' Sakuda 78'	Report	Pesoli 21' 71' 83' Braz 86' Brown 90'

Starfire Sports Complex
Tukwila, Washington

Attendance: 2,865

Referee: Edvin Jurisevic

September 28, 2008

5:00 PM EDT

Second Leg

Montreal Impact	3–1	Seattle Sounders
Lorenzo 31' Testo 45' 56' Braz 68' Placentino 75' Ribeiro 90'	Report	Levesque 59' 74' Alcaraz-Cuellar 62' Jackson 90' O'Brien 90'

Saputo Stadium
Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 11,134

Referee: Mauricio Navarro

Montreal Impact won 4–3 on Aggregate.

September 26, 2008

10:00 PM EDT

First Leg

Vancouver Whitecaps	2–0	Minnesota Thunder
Greenfield 27' (o.g.) Sebrango 58' Hirano 73' Moose 89'	Report	Schulte 31' Cvilikas 76'

Swangard Stadium
Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 4,943

Referee: Carol Anne Chenard

September 28, 2008

6:05 PM EDT

Second Leg

Minnesota Thunder	4–3	Vancouver Whitecaps
Gonzalez 23' Tarley 64' 73' Sánchez 77' deRoux 78' Moojen 90' (pen.) Schulte 90'	Report	Valente 3' Nash 44' Sebrango 55'

National Sports Center
Blaine, Minnesota

Attendance: 3,811

Referee: NA

Vancouver Whitecaps won 5–4 on Aggregate.

Semifinals

October 3, 2008

7:35 PM EDT

First Leg

Rochester Rhinos	2–0	Puerto Rico Islanders
Smith 18' Gregor 63' Menyongar 78' Fitzpatrick 90'	Report	Krause 33' Miranda 36' Jones 36' 90'

PAETEC Park
Rochester, New York

Attendance: 7,001

Referee: Niko Bratsis

October 5, 2008

6:00 PM EDT

Second Leg

Puerto Rico Islanders	3–0 (a.e.t.)	Rochester Rhinos
Noel 10' Atieno 33' Steele 40' Telesford 70' Arrieta 119'	Report	Earls 32'

Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium
Bayamón, Puerto Rico

Attendance: 9,112

Referee: Tony Russo

Puerto Rico Islanders won 3–2 on Aggregate in Extra Time.

October 3, 2008

8:00 PM EDT

First Leg

Montreal Impact	1–0	Vancouver Whitecaps
Ribeiro 52' 61' Aguilera 88'	Report	Charles 29' Nolly 52'

Saputo Stadium
Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 12,002

Referee: Steve DePiero

October 5, 2008

6:30 PM EDT

Second Leg

Vancouver Whitecaps	2–0	Montreal Impact
Moose 10' Clarke 37' Sebrango 41' Charles 56' Addlery 81'	Report	Testo 40' Pizzolitto 48' Gatti 64' Braz 80'

Swangard Stadium
Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 4,992

Referee: Dave Gantar

Vancouver Whitecaps won 2–1 on Aggregate.

Final

October 12, 2008

7:00 PM EDT

Second Leg

Vancouver Whitecaps	2–1	Puerto Rico Islanders
Gbeke 55', 74' Kindel 71'	Report	Gbandi 68'

Swangard Stadium
Burnaby, British Columbia

Attendance: 5,822

Referee: Mark Kadlecik

USL First Division 2008 Champions
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Second title

Awards and All-League Teams

First Team
F: Alex Afonso (Miami FC) (Leading Goalscorer); Macoumba Kandji (Atlanta Silverbacks)
M: Osvaldo Alonso (Charleston Battery); Stephen deRoux (Minnesota Thunder); Martin Nash (Vancouver Whitecaps); Jonathan Steele (Puerto Rico Islanders) (MVP)
D: Cristian Arrieta (Puerto Rico Islanders) (Defender of the Year); Taylor Graham (Seattle Sounders); David Hayes (Atlanta Silverbacks); Nevio Pizzolitto (Montreal Impact)
G: Bill Gaudette (Puerto Rico Islanders) (Goalkeeper of the Year)
Coach: Colin Clarke (Puerto Rico Islanders) (Coach of the Year)

Second Team
F: Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle Sounders); Eduardo Sebrango (Vancouver Whitecaps)
M: Leonardo Di Lorenzo (Montreal Impact); Johnny Menyongar (Rochester Rhinos); Ricardo Sanchez (Minnesota Thunder); Matt Watson (Carolina RailHawks)
D: Wesley Charles and Takashi Hirano (Vancouver Whitecaps); Cameron Knowles (Portland Timbers); Scott Palguta (Rochester Rhinos)
G: Matt Jordan (Montreal Impact)

Second Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Charlotte Eagles	20	13	2	5	45	15	+30	44	Regular season champion
2	Richmond Kickers	20	14	4	2	48	20	+28	44	Qualified for playoffs
3	Cleveland City Stars	20	10	3	7	33	16	+17	37
4	Crystal Palace Baltimore	20	11	8	1	30	30	0	34
5	Harrisburg City Islanders	20	7	3	10	33	20	+13	31
6	Western Mass Pioneers	20	5	9	6	19	29	−10	20^[a]
7	Wilmington Hammerheads	20	4	9	7	32	33	−1	19
8	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	20	4	10	6	25	37	−12	18
9	Bermuda Hogges	20	5	13	2	21	50	−29	17
10	Real Maryland Monarchs	20	3	15	2	15	51	−36	10^[a]

Source: ^[3]
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Western Mass and Real Maryland deducted 1 point

Playoffs

First Round August 13			Semifinals August 16			Final August 23

			1	Charlotte Eagles	2
4	Crystal Palace Baltimore (AET/PK)	2 (7)	4	Crystal Palace Baltimore	1
5	Harrisburg City Islanders	2 (6)				1	Charlotte Eagles	1
						3	Cleveland City Stars	2
			2	Richmond Kickers	0
3	Cleveland City Stars	4	3	Cleveland City Stars(AET)	1
6	Western Mass Pioneers	2

First round

August 13, 2008

7:00 PM EDT

Cleveland City Stars	4–2	Western Mass Pioneers
Schulte 14' Bundu 23', 89' Hlavaty 32' Otieno 69' Sarkodie 81' Ruud 88'	Report	Augustine 13' Deren 16' Molinari 34' 68' Krause 43' 64' Wrona 44' Klinger 66'

Krenzler Field
Cleveland, Ohio

Attendance: 1,683

Referee: Chris Penso (United States)

August 13, 2008

7:30 PM EDT

Crystal Palace Baltimore	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Harrisburg City Islanders
Brooks 10' Healey 30' Teixeira 59'	Report	Heins 14' Oduor 75' Schofield 119'
Penalties
Harada Harkin Teixeira Healey Lookingland Brooks Marshall Flores	7–6	Heins Pelletier Marples Schofield Bixler Fisher Bloes Calvano

UMBC Stadium
Catonsville, Maryland

Attendance: 1,352

Referee: Bryan Roslund (United States)

Semifinals

August 16, 2008

7:00 PM EDT

Charlotte Eagles	2–1	Crystal Palace Baltimore
Herrera 48' (pen.) Swinehart 51' Woods 65' Long 70' Boss 90'	Report	Harada 5' Teixeira 54' Brooks 59'

Restart Field
Charlotte, North Carolina

Attendance: 1,188

Referee: Jeff Muschik

August 16, 2008

7:00 PM EDT

Richmond Kickers	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Cleveland City Stars
Nyzamba 30' Bulow 67' Gorres 77' Jones 101'	Report	Ruud 99' Sella 108'

University of Richmond Stadium
Richmond, Virginia

Attendance: 2,693

Referee: Daniel Stead

Final

August 23, 2008

8:00 PM EDT

Cleveland City Stars	2–1	Charlotte Eagles
Otieno 15' Bundu 39' Schulte 66' Leibbrandt 89'	Report	Long 17' Swinehart 52' Shak 65' Kabwe 87' Smith 90'

Krenzler Field
Cleveland, Ohio

Attendance: 2,016

Referee: Jason Krnac

Awards and All-League team

First Team
F: Jorge Herrera (Charlotte Eagles); Boyzzz Khumalo (Pittsburgh Riverhounds); Dustin Swinehart (Charlotte Eagles) (league MVP)
M: Mike Burke (Richmond Kickers); Floyd Franks (Cleveland City Stars); Shintaro Harada (Crystal Palace Baltimore)
D: Brady Bryant and Steve Shak (Charlotte Eagles); Sascha Gorres (Richmond Kickers); Mark Schulte (Cleveland City Stars) (Defender of the Year)
G: Terry Boss (Charlotte Eagles)
Coach: Mark Steffens (Charlotte Eagles) (Coach of the Year)
Rookie of the Year: Stanley Nyazamba (Richmond Kickers)

Second Team
F: Gary Brooks (Crystal Palace Baltimore); Sallieu Bundu (Cleveland City Stars); Jeff Deren (Western Mass Pioneers)
M: Trey Alexander (Wilmington Hammerheads); Justin Evans (Pittsburgh Riverhounds); Matthew Mbuta (Crystal Palace Baltimore)
D: Dustin Bixler (Harrisburg City Islanders); Trevor McEachron (Richmond Kickers); Federico Molinari (Western Mass Pioneers); Dame Walters (Wilmington Hammerheads)
G: Ronnie Pascale (Richmond Kickers)

Premier Development League

See 2008 PDL Season

References

^ "Rhinos penalized for infraction". United Soccer Leagues. August 15, 2008. Archived from the original on March 26, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
^ "USL First Division 2008". USLsoccer.com. United Soccer Leagues. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
^ "USL Second Division 2008". USLsoccer.com. United Soccer Leagues. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2020.

External links

Official USL Site

USL A-League and First Division

Seasons
A-League	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
First Division	2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Teams
A-League	Atlanta Silverbacks Boston Bulldogs Calgary Mustangs^CA California Jaguars Carolina Dynamo Charleston Battery Charlotte Eagles Cincinnati Riverhawks Colorado Foxes Connecticut Wolves Edmonton Aviators^CA El Paso Patriots Hershey Wildcats Indiana Blast Jacksonville Cyclones Lehigh Valley Steam Long Island Rough Riders Maryland Mania Milwaukee Rampage Milwaukee Wave United Minnesota Thunder MLS Project 40 Montreal Impact^CA Nashville Metros New Orleans Storm New York Centaurs New York Fever Orange County Waves Orlando Sundogs Pittsburgh Riverhounds Portland Timbers Puerto Rico Islanders Raleigh Capital Express Richmond Kickers Rochester Raging Rhinos Sacramento Geckos San Diego Flash San Francisco Bay Seals Seattle Sounders Staten Island Vipers Syracuse Salty Dogs Toronto Lynx^CA Vancouver Whitecaps FC^CA Virginia Beach Mariners
First Division	Atlanta Silverbacks Austin Aztex California Victory Carolina RailHawks Charleston Battery Cleveland City Stars FC Tampa Bay Miami FC Minnesota Thunder Montreal Impact^CA Portland Timbers Puerto Rico Islanders Richmond Kickers Rochester Rhinos Seattle Sounders Toronto Lynx^CA Vancouver Whitecaps FC^CA Virginia Beach Mariners

^Note CA – Canada (CSA) based team

2008 in American soccer

« 2007

2009 »

Leagues

Men	Major League Soccer (MLS Reserve) United Soccer Leagues First Division Second Division Premier Development League Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–09) Professional Arena Soccer League (2008–09) National Premier Soccer League
Women	W-League Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL)

Cups

Other

International

Club competitions

CONCACAF Champions League (2008–09)
SuperLiga
Pan-Pacific Championship

National teams

Men	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 2008 Summer Olympics (qualification)
Women	Algarve Cup 2008 Summer Olympics FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

Team seasons
MLS	Chicago Fire Chivas USA Colorado Rapids Columbus Crew D.C. United FC Dallas Houston Dynamo Kansas City Wizards Los Angeles Galaxy New England Revolution New York Red Bulls Real Salt Lake San Jose Earthquakes Toronto FC
USL-1	Atlanta Silverbacks Carolina RailHawks Charleston Battery Miami FC Minnesota Thunder Montreal Impact Portland Timbers Puerto Rico Islanders Seattle Sounders Rochester Rhinos Vancouver Whitecaps
USL-2	Bermuda Hogges Charlotte Eagles Cleveland City Stars Crystal Palace Baltimore Harrisburg City Islanders Pittsburgh Riverhounds Real Maryland Monarchs Richmond Kickers Western Mass Pioneers Wilmington Hammerheads

2008 in Canadian soccer

« 2007

2009 »

Men's Leagues

Women's Leagues

W-League

Cups

Other

International

CONCACAF Champions League

Club seasons

MLS	Toronto FC
USL–1	Vancouver Whitecaps FC Montreal Impact

v t e United States Soccer – Division 2 seasons
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United Soccer League (1984–85)	1984 1985
APSL/A-League	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
USISL Select League / A-League	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
USL First Division	2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
USSF Division 2 Professional League	2010
North American Soccer League	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
USL / USL Championship	2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Canadian Soccer – Division 2 seasons (CSA & USSF)

Canadian National Soccer League

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USSF (U.S. based leagues)

Western Soccer Alliance	1985 1986
American Professional Soccer League	1993 1994 1995 1996
A-League	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
USL First Division	2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
USSF Division 2 Professional League	2010
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USL Championship	2017 2018 2019

Note: There is no clear information from CSA about tier of U.S. based leagues which have Canadian clubs. In terms of historical information, they have been deployed as tier 2 league as USSF have done.

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