1994 American Professional Soccer League

Football league season
American Professional Soccer League
Season1994
ChampionsMontreal Impact
(1st title)
PremiersSeattle Sounders
(1st title)
Top goalscorerPaul Wright
(12 goals)
← 1993
1995 A-League →

The 1994 season of the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was the fifth in the history of the league, which was the top level of club soccer in the United States from 1990 to 1995. It was planned to be contested by eight teams in the U.S. and Canada and took place between July 1 and October 15, partially overlapping with the 1994 FIFA World Cup.[1] The Tampa Bay Rowdies folded and the Toronto Blizzard were replaced by the Toronto Rockets, who were formed from the North York Rockets of the Canadian Soccer League. Two expansion teams, the Houston Force and Seattle Sounders, were also added.[2][3]

The Force postponed their first two matches and played against the Los Angeles Salsa before the APSL revoked their franchise on July 22, 1994. The league cited financial issues that the ownership group were unwilling to address.[4] The season continued with 20 regular season matches for each team, including new fixtures to replace Houston's schedule, and a two-round playoffs for the top four teams.[5] The playoffs semifinals were played in a best-of-three format, with a 30-minute third match following the second leg and a penalty shootout if necessary. The third match was held on the same day as the second leg due to budget constraints.[6]

Regular season

Place Team GP W L WN WE WS LN LE LS GF GA GD Points
1 Seattle Sounders 20 14 6 14 0 0 4 1 1 38 16 +22 121
2 Los Angeles Salsa 20 12 8 10 1 1 5 1 2 36 2 +14 106
3 Montreal Impact (C) 20 12 8 10 0 2 7 0 1 27 18 +9 93
4 Colorado Foxes 20 12 8 9 1 2 8 0 0 26 26 +0 92
5 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 20 8 12 5 1 2 9 0 3 23 33 -10 72
6 Vancouver 86ers 20 7 13 6 0 1 11 1 1 25 41 -16 65
7 Toronto Rockets 20 5 15 5 0 0 15 0 0 14 33 -19 44

Playoffs

Bracket

Semifinals
Best-of-3 		1994 APSL Final
Single match
        
1 Seattle Sounders 0 4 0(1)
4 Colorado Foxes 2 1 0(2)
4 Colorado Foxes 0
3 Montreal Impact 1
2 Los Angeles Salsa 1 3 0(1)
3 Montreal Impact 2 0 0(2)

Semifinal 1

Colorado Foxes (CO)2–0Seattle Sounders (WA)
Ted Eck 12'
Bryan Haynes 77'


Seattle Sounders (WA)4–1Colorado Foxes (CO)
Dick McCormick 19', 28'
Jason Dunn 71', 72'		 67' Ted Eck
Memorial Stadium Seattle, Washington
Attendance: 8,448


Seattle Sounders (WA)0–0Colorado Foxes (CO)
Penalties
Neil Megson soccer ball with red X
Gary Heale soccer ball with check mark
David Hoggan soccer ball with red X
Dick McCormick soccer ball with red X
Jason Dunn soccer ball with red X		 1–2 soccer ball with red X Kim Roentved
soccer ball with check mark Mark Santel
soccer ball with check mark Robert Lipp
soccer ball with red X Ted Eck
soccer ball with red X Jeff Hooker
Memorial Stadium Seattle, Washington
Attendance: 8,448

Semifinal 2

Montreal Impact (QB)2–1Los Angeles Salsa (CA)
Lloyd Barker 5' (Rizi)
Jean Harbor 12'
Enzo Concina Yellow card Yellow-red card 69'		 Report 1
Report 2		 32' (pen.) Paulinho
Yellow card Yellow-red card 80' Arturo Velazco
Attendance: 1,961
Referee: Jose Farias


Los Angeles Salsa (CA)3–0Montreal Impact (QB)
Thor Lee 40'
Paulinho 78', 86'		 Report
Titan Stadium, Fullerton, California
Attendance: 6,002


Los Angeles Salsa (CA)0–0Montreal Impact (QB)
Report 1
Report 2
Penalties
Omid Namazi soccer ball with red X
? soccer ball with red X
? soccer ball with red X
Paulinho soccer ball with check mark
Danny Pena soccer ball with red X
Yari Allnutt soccer ball with red X		 1 – 2 soccer ball with red X Rudy Doliscat
soccer ball with red X ?
soccer ball with red X ?
soccer ball with check mark Lloyd Barker
soccer ball with red X Gustavo Echevarria
soccer ball with check mark Patrick Diotte
Titan Stadium, Fullerton, California
Attendance: 6,002

Final

Montreal Impact (QB)1–0Colorado Foxes (CO)
Jean Harbor 21', Yellow card 75' Report Yellow card 23' Iain Fraser
Yellow card 38' Bryan Haynes
Yellow card 41' Anthony McCreath
Attendance: 8,169
Referee: René Parra (Canada)

MVP: Rudy Doliscat

Points leaders

Rank Scorer Club Goals Assists Points
1 Paul Wright Los Angeles Salsa 12 3 27
Paulinho Los Angeles Salsa 11 5 27
3 Chance Fry Seattle Sounders 11 4 26
4 Jason Dunn Seattle Sounders 10 3 23
5 Jean Harbor Montreal Impact 8 4 20
6 Dale Mitchell Vancouver 86ers 5 9 19
7 Domenic Mobilio Vancouver 86ers 7 3 17
8 Ted Eck Colorado Foxes 6 4 16
9 Lloyd Barker Montreal Impact 6 1 13
Jason Farrell Seattle Sounders 3 7 13
Shawn Medved Seattle Sounders 1 11 13
David Hoggan Seattle Sounders 5 3 13
13 Chad Ashton Colorado Foxes 3 4 10

Honors

References

  1. ^ Phillips, Randy (March 11, 1994). "Impact kicks off season on July 1". Montreal Gazette. p. D6. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Keating, Jack (June 30, 1994). "Move over Cup, APSL is back". The Province. p. A73. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Keating, Jack (February 2, 1994). "Shaky APSL changes '94 schedule". The Province. p. A41. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "The Force no longer with APSL". The Province. July 24, 1994. p. A63. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Giase, Frank (September 25, 1994). "Two leagues must hook up". The Record. p. S4. Retrieved December 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Padilla, Doug (October 3, 1994). "Montreal edges Salsa in semifinals shootout". The San Bernardino Sun. p. C3. Retrieved December 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

  • The Year in American Soccer - 1994
  • USA - A-League (American Professional Soccer League) (RSSSF)
  • v
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Canadian National Soccer League
Other defunct leagues
USSF (U.S. based leagues)
Western Soccer Alliance
American Professional Soccer League
A-League
USL First Division
USSF Division 2 Professional League
North American Soccer League
USL Championship
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.