2007 United Soccer Leagues

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The 2007 Season is the 21st edition of the United Soccer Leagues season.

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 Bayamon 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

Standings[]

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 28 16 6 6 37 23 +14 54 Commissioner's Cup, quarterfinal round of playoffs
2 Portland Timbers 28 14 5 9 32 18 +14 51 Quarterfinal round of playoffs
3 Montreal Impact 28 14 6 8 32 21 +11 50
4 Atlanta Silverbacks 28 12 9 7 40 30 +10 43
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
Source: [2]

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 (PK) 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 (PK) 1 0 1 (3)
2 Portland Timbers 1 0 1 (1)
2 Portland Timbers 0 3 3
7 Vancouver Whitecaps 1 0 1

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[]

Pos Team Pld W L D GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Richmond Kickers (C) 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 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
Source: [3]
(C) Regular season winner
Notes:
  1. ^ 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 (AET) 2
4 Charlotte Eagles 1
1 Richmond Kickers 1 (7)
3 Harrisburg City Islanders (PK) 1 (8)
2 Cleveland City Stars 0
3 Harrisburg City Islanders (AET) 1

Premier Development League[]

  • See 2007 PDL Season

See also[]

  • United Soccer Leagues

References[]

  1. ^ "Playoff format overhauled". The Vancouver Sun Newspaper. April 20, 2007. Archived from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  2. ^ "USL First Division 2007". USLsoccer.com. United Soccer Leagues. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  3. ^ "USL Second Division 2007". USLsoccer.com. United Soccer Leagues. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2020.

External links[]

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