The 2001 USL A-League was an American Division II league run by the

United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

during the summer of 2001.

History

The addition of the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

this season saw the renewal of a Pacific Northwest rivalry between them, the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club w ...

and

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

which dated back to the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. Although Vancouver was not new to the league, this was the first season they competed in under the Whitecaps name. Beginning with their founding in 1986 through the 2000 A-League season, Vancouver had operated under the 86ers name. 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 Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

topped the league with seventy-six points. The post-season was marred by two tragedies. First, the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

forced the league to reschedule the first-round games which had been set to begin on September 12. Then, Mickey Trotman, a starter for the

Rochester Rhinos Rochester New York FC, formerly known as the Rochester Rhinos, are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they changed their name to Rochester Rhinos to ...

, was killed in an automobile accident two days before the team's first semifinal match with the

Milwaukee Rampage The Milwaukee Rampage are a former defunct professional American soccer team, that was located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which played in the A-League. History Founded in 1993 by Milwaukee area businessmen Dan Doucette and Jim Hock, the Rampage p ...

. In the end, the Rhinos overcame the

Hershey Wildcats Hershey Wildcats were a professional soccer team, based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, that played in the USL A-League between 1997 and 2001. The team was owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. The team played in Hersheypar ...

to take its third league title in four seasons.

League standings

Northern Conference

Central Conference

Western Conference

Playoffs

Bracket

First round

Pittsburgh vs Charleston

San Diego vs Atlanta

Portland vs Charlotte

Milwaukee vs Nashville

Quarterfinals

Milwaukee vs Richmond

Hershey vs Portland

Vancouver vs San Diego

Rochester vs Pittsburgh

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

Points leaders

Honors

Annual awards

* Most Valuable Player: Paul Conway * Leading Goal Scorer: Paul Conway * Goalkeeper of the Year:

Jon Busch Jon Busch (born August 18, 1976) is an American professional soccer coach and former player, who played as a goalkeeper. Busch is currently the goalkeeping coach for USL Championship club Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. He is best remembered for h ...

* Defender of the Year: Rick Titus * Rookie of the Year:

Robbie Aristodemo Robert David Aristodemo (born May 20, 1977) is a professional soccer midfielder who is the current head coach for Montverde Academy's varsity girls team, the Orlando Kicks FC of United Women's Soccer, and an assistant coach with the Major Arena ...

* Coach of the Year: Dale Mitchell * First Team All A-League2001 A-League Awards
**Goalkeeper:

**Defenders:

Scott Schweitzer Scott Schweitzer (born August 12, 1971 in Rahway, New Jersey) is an American soccer coach and former professional soccer player. He spent two years as the head coach of Carolina RailHawks FC. College soccer Schweitzer was a four-year letter winner ...

, Rick Titus, Gilbert Jean-Baptiste **Midfielders: Philippe Godoy, Stoian Mladenov,

Leighton O'Brien Leighton O'Brien (born March 14, 1976 in Tacoma, Washington) is an American soccer player who is serving as the Technical Director for the Pacific Northwest Soccer Club. O'Brien is noted most significantly for his tenure with the Seattle Sounder ...

Temoc Suarez Cuauhtemoc “Temoc” Suarez (born April 19, 1975 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina) is a retired American soccer player who spent three seasons in Major League Soccer, two in the National Professional Soccer League and five in the USL First Di ...

**Forwards: Paul Conway,

Kevin Jeffrey Kevin Jeffrey (born 4 October 1974 in Trincity, Trinidad and Tobago) is a former professional football (soccer) forward who spent eight seasons in the USL First Division. After his playing career, he became a football manager. After a successf ...

Dustin Swinehart Dustin Swinehart (born July 1, 1974, in Columbus, Ohio) is a former United States, American soccer player. He spent virtually his entire professional career playing with the Charlotte Eagles. Swinehart was named the Director of Community Relations ...

* Second Team All A-League **Goalkeeper: Matt Napoleon **Defenders: James Wall,

Brent Sancho Brent Sancho CM (born 13 March 1977) is a Trinidadian former professional football player and politician. In February 2015, he became the Minister of Sports for his home country, Trinidad and Tobago. Club career College Born in Port of Spa ...

, Jason Annicchero **Midfielders: John Ball,

Lenin Steenkamp Lenin Steenkamp (born 9 September 1969 in Durban, South Africa) is a retired South African football player who spent his entire career in the United States. College In 1989, Steenkamp entered the College of Boca Raton on a soccer scholarship. ...

, Kevin Knight, Steve Kindel **Forwards: Jakob Fenger,

Digital Takawira Vitalis "Digital" Takawira (born September 24, 1972 in Salisbury) is a retired Zimbabwean football player. He has played forward and attacking midfield professionally in Zimbabwe, Switzerland and the United States, as well as for the Zimbabwe n ...

, Rodrigo Costa

External links

2001 A-League

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A-League 2001 2 2001 in Canadian soccer

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Association football events curtailed due to the September 11 attacks