USLsoccer.com : Storied clubs square off in semis

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Storied clubs square off in semis

Commissioner’s Cup winner Montreal out to break trend in USL First Division playoffs

USL News Release

Monday, September 18, 2006

TAMPA, FL – When the league semifinals begin Friday, the Commissioner’s Cup winner Montreal Impact will be looking to end a five-year absence of regular season champions in the USL First Division final when they square off against Canadian rival Vancouver. Three-time league champion Rochester will battle Charleston in the other semifinal series.

One of four clubs to have won multiple USL First Division championships, the Montreal Impact stand head and shoulders above the rest in another honor, having captured their fifth Commissioner’s Cup as the regular season league champions.

The Impact have been consistent contenders for the regular season title since their 1993 inception, winning the Commissioner’s Cup three straight years from 1995-97 and back-to-back the past two campaigns. They also finished second in the previous two seasons, missing out on four straight regular season titles by one point in 2004 and a tiebreaker in 2003. The Impact have finished in the top two in the league in seven of their 12 seasons of play.

An elusive honor to capture, only two other teams have won the regular season title twice. The Seattle Sounders won in 1994 and 2002 and the Rochester Raging Rhinos won in 1998 and 1999. Both clubs have won the league championship three times, however.

Rochester is one of two teams to win a Commissioner’s Cup and USL First Division championship in the same year, winning them both in 1998. The Colorado Foxes won both in 1992.

The Impact will be looking to break the trend of Commissioner’s Cup winners exiting the playoffs prematurely, a streak that has not seen the regular season champion advance to the final since the Minnesota Thunder in 2000. In fact, only four Commissioner’s Cup winners have reached the final since 1991.

Their opposition, however, has a much larger drought to end. In their 13th year in the league, the Vancouver Whitecaps are arguably the best franchise to have not captured a league championship, having reached the playoffs in all but two seasons. Vancouver’s USL First Division history only boasts one Commissioner’s Cup, an honor won in their inaugural season in 1993 as the 86ers. They have been eliminated in the semifinals five times in their playoff history.

Despite both teams’ regular appearances in the playoffs, it will be the first-ever meeting between the two. Montreal won the season series with a 1-1 draw at home and a 1-0 win at Vancouver, both in July.

Montreal has dominated the all-time series a record of 19-7-3 (9-3-3 at home, 10-4-0 away) with an impressive run of late versus the Caps. Currently in a 10-game unbeaten streak (7-0-3), the Impact have not lost to Vancouver since 2001. The last five have been decided by one goal or were draws. The Impact have been just as impressive in Vancouver, winning the last six and have not allowed a goal in the last five. The Impact have not lost in Vancouver since 1996.

In this season’s meetings, Mauricio Vincello saved the Impact from a loss at home with a stoppage time equalizer to negate a 21st minute Steve Kindel goal. Joel Bailey scored the loan goal of the second game for Montreal in the 55th as Andrew Weber posted a shutout in Vancouver.

Old foes will meet for a fourth time in the playoffs when Charleston and Rochester square off in the other semifinal series.

Charleston won the last playoff series between the two in 2003 by a 1-0 aggregate scoreline en route to their long-awaited USL First Division championship. The Rhinos knocked the Battery out in 1998 and 2000 on their way to capturing their first and second league championships.

In another elimination confrontation, the Battery won 1-0 in a US Open Cup Quarterfinal showdown at Rochester in 2004.

The Rhinos hold a decisive advantage in the all-time series with 10-3-3 regular season record and 13-5-4 overall records against the Battery. However, the Battery won the 2006 season series with a draw at home and a 2-1 win at Rochester.

Charleston’s victory was the first, and currently only, win for any visiting opponent at the Rhinos’ new PAETEC Park in official play. The Rhinos were eliminated from the US Open Cup by New England in penalties after a draw and a 2-0 loss to England’s Sheffield Wednesday was a friendly.

Ben Hollingsworth converted a penalty eight minutes into the match and Gavin Glinton pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 75th. John Ball pulled one back for Rochester in the 89th, but it proved too late. Charleston’s Dusty Hudock and Rochester’s Scott Vallow posted shutouts in a scoreless draw in the final weekend of the season in the second meeting.

USL First Division Commissioner’s Cup Winners

Regular Season Champions (W-L-T, Pts) -- Playoff Results (W-L-T)

2006 – Montreal Impact (14-5-9, 51 pts) -- TBD
2005 – Montreal Impact (18-3-7, 61) -- Lost in semifinal series (0-1-1)
2004 – Portland Timbers (18-7-3, 57) -- Lost in conference semifinal series overtime (1-1)
2003 – Milwaukee Wave United (18-10-0, 54) -- Lost in division final series overtime (1-1)
2002 – Seattle Sounders (23-4-1, 107) -- Lost in conference semifinal series (0-2)
2001 – Richmond Kickers (16-7-3, 76) -- Lost in quarterfinal series (0-2)
2000 – Minnesota Thunder (20-4-4, 99) -- Lost in final (4-2)
1999 – Rochester Rhinos (22-6, 92) -- Lost in final (5-3)
1998 – Rochester Rhinos (24-4, 70) -- Won Championship (6-0)
1997 – Montreal Impact (21-7, 61) -- Lost in conference final series (3-2-0)
1996 – Montreal Impact (21-6, 55) -- Lost in semifinal (0-1)
1995 – Montreal Impact (17-7, 51) -- Lost in semifinal series (1-2)
1994 – Seattle Sounders (14-6, 121) -- Lost in semifinal series (1-2)
1993 – Vancouver 86ers (15-9, 126) -- Lost in semifinals in shootout (0-1-0)
1992 – Colorado Foxes (11-5, 89) -- Won Championship (2-0-0)
1991 – Maryland Bays (19-2, 158) -- Lost in semifinal series (1-2)
1990 – Different point systems used in each conference
1985-89 – Two independent leagues