# 1996 USISL Select League

The 1996 USISL Select League season was the first season of a professional men's soccer league which featured teams from the United States. The league shared Division II status in the American soccer pyramid with the A-League, before the two leagues merged in 1997 as the USISL A-League.

## History

The league had its origins in the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL), which was the de facto second tier of American soccer during the early 1990s, and until 1995 confined itself to organising regional leagues.
The USISL Pro League, which had been at the third tier of the pyramid in 1995, split into two leagues in 1996; the best teams joined the new USISL Select League, while the remainder (plus expansion teams) remained in the USISL Pro League, which retained its Division III status. Both the A-League and the new USISL Select League had Division II status in 1996.
In an attempt to counteract the fact that a number of top A-League players had left to join MLS in 1995 and 1996 six of the seven remaining A-League teams – Montreal Impact, Colorado Foxes, Seattle Sounders, Rochester Raging Rhinos, Vancouver 86ers and Atlanta Ruckus, plus two planned A-League expansion teams (Toronto Lynx and Hershey Wildcats) merged with the USISL Select League to form a consolidated Division II league before the 1997 season. The resulting merged league retained the A-League name, and the USISL Select League name was abandoned.

### USISL Select League teams
## Champions

* Regular Season: Carolina Dynamo (43 points, 14–3–1 record)
* Playoff Winners: California Jaguars (beat Richmond Kickers 2–1)

## Regular season

* Regulation win = 3 points
* Shootout win (SW) = 1 point
* Loss (regulation or shootout) = 0 points

### Eastern Conference
#### North Atlantic Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | SW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Long Island Rough Riders | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 39 | 31 | +8 | 33 |
| 2 | Richmond Kickers | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 28 |
| 3 | Connecticut Wolves | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 25 |
| 4 | Delaware Wizards | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 20 | 29 | −9 | 16 |
| 5 | Cape Cod Crusaders | 18 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 13 | 24 | −11 | 9 |
| 6 | New York/New Jersey Stallions | 18 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 19 | 52 | −33 | 6 |
* ↑ -2?
* ↑ -4?

#### South Atlantic Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | SW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Carolina Dynamo | 18 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 37 | 15 | +22 | 43 |
| 2 | South Carolina Shamrocks | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 42 | 31 | +11 | 34 |
| 3 | Hampton Roads Mariners | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 31 |
| 4 | Tampa Bay Cyclones | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 40 | 32 | +8 | 28 |
| 5 | Raleigh Flyers | 18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 25 | 26 | −1 | 21 |

### Western Conference
#### Central Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | SW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Milwaukee Rampage | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 36 | 19 | +17 | 33 |
| 2 | Minnesota Thunder | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 31 | 16 | +15 | 30 |
| 3 | New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 31 | 36 | −5 | 23 |
| 4 | Ohio Xoggz | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 26 | 34 | −8 | 16 |
| 5 | Chicago Stingers | 18 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 29 | 41 | −12 | 13 |

#### Pacific Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | SW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | California Jaguars | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 30 | 21 | +9 | 34 |
| 2 | Sacramento Scorpions | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 29 |
| 3 | El Paso Patriots | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 30 | 23 | +7 | 28 |
| 4 | New Mexico Chiles | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 27 |
| 5 | Reno Rattlers | 18 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 13 | 33 | −20 | 8 |

## Playoffs
### Second round
#### Minnesota Thunder vs Milwaukee Rampage
#### Long Island Rough Riders vs Delaware Wizards

* The game was suspended in the 39th minute due to lightning. Play resumed on August 24, 1996, at 2:00 PM.

## Select Six Tournament

The Select Six Tournament consisted of six teams. The Richmond Kickers participated as hosts. The Charleston Battery entered as the champion of the 1996 USISL Professional League. The other four teams came from the winners of the second round playoff games.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | W | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | California Jaguars | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 |
| 2 | Richmond Kickers | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 |
| 3 | Charleston Battery | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | −7 |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | W | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | Long Island Rough Riders | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 |
| 2 | Minnesota Thunder | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | Hampton Roads Mariners | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 |

### Semifinals
#### Richmond Kickers vs Long Island Rough Riders
## Final
## Points leaders

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Assists | Points |
| 1 | Dan Stebbins | Milwaukee Rampage | 21 | 8 | 50 |
| 2 | Jamie Wellington | New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers | 18 | 6 | 42 |
| 3 | Luis Murillo | Tampa Bay Cyclones | 16 | 5 | 37 |
| 4 | Mike Gailey | Carolina Dynamo | 14 | 8 | 36 |
| 5 | Ron Murphy | Cape Cod Crusaders | 13 | 6 | 32 |
| 6 | Yari Allnut | Carolina Dynamo | 14 | 3 | 31 |
| 6 | Mike Saunders | Connecticut Wolves | 15 | 1 | 31 |
| 8 | Chugger Adair | Carolina Dynamo | 13 | 4 | 30 |
| 9 | Chad Carrithers | Sacramento Scorpions | 13 | 3 | 29 |

## Honors

* MVP: Dan Stebbins
* Points leader: Dan Stebbins
* Defender of the Year: Ezra Hendrickson
* Goalkeeper of the Year: Scott Garlick
* Rookie of the Year: Luis Marillo
* Coach of the Year: Alan Dicks
* Organization of the Year: Minnesota Thunder
* All-League
** Goalkeeper: Carmine Isacco
** Defenders: Ezra Hendrickson, Derick Crownell, Stuart Fitzsimmons
** Midfielders: Amos Magee, Travis Rinker, Oswaldo Ortiz, Yari Allnutt
** Forwards: Dan Stebbins, John Jones, Paul Young