# 1996 Florida Strikers season

The 1996 Florida Strikers season was the first season of the new team in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues, playing in the USISL Premier League. It was also the thirtieth season of the club in professional soccer. Previously the club had been named Fort Lauderdale Strikers and fielded a team in the USISL Professional League. This year, the team finished in third place in the Southern Division, and did not make the playoffs.

## Competitions
### USISL Premier League regular season

Blue denotes team has won their division. Green denotes team has won playoff spot. Orange denotes team gets bye into semifinals as defending champion.

#### Central Conference
##### Northern Division

| Place | Team | P | W | L | SW | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| 1 | Lexington Bluegrass Bandits* | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 32 | 18 | +14 | 28 |
| 2 | Michigan Madness* | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 24 | 28 | -4 | 25 |
| 3 | Detroit Dynamite* | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 34 | 19 | +15 | 22 |
| 4 | Mid-Michigan Bucks* | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 24 | 18 | +6 | 22 |
| 5 | Kalamazoo Kingdom | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 18 | 22 | -4 | 15 |
| 6 | Grand Rapids Explosion** | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 21 | +15 | 0 |
* Detroit, Kalamazoo, Lexington, and Michigan were all penalized 3 points. ** Grand Rapids did not have a home stadium this year, and played only road games.

##### Southern Division

| Place | Team | P | W | L | SW | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| 1 | Austin Lone Stars | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 41 | 17 | +24 | 30 |
| 2 | Omaha Flames | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 39 | 22 | +17 | 24 |
| 3 | Sioux City Breeze* | 13 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 23 | +3 | 23 |
| 4 | Des Moines Menace | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 22 | 21 | +1 | 21 |
| 5 | Oklahoma City Heat | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 22 | 26 | -4 | 21 |
| 6 | Wichita Blue | 13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 18 | 33 | -15 | 15 |
* Sioux City was penalized 6 points. The game between Sioux City and Wichita was postponed and could not be rescheduled before end of the season. The game was cancelled because it had no effect on the playoffs.

#### Eastern Conference
##### Northern Division

| Place | Team | P | W | L | SW | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| 1 | Roanoke River Dawgs | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 48 | 28 | +20 | 30 |
| 2 | Jackson Chargers* | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 22 |
| 3 | Nashville Metros* | 14 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 34 | 26 | +8 | 17 |
| 4 | Birmingham Grasshoppers | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 33 | -13 | 12 |
* Nashville was penalized 6 points. Jackson was penalized 3 points.

##### Southern Division

| Place | Team | P | W | L | SW | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| 1 | Cocoa Expos* | 14 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 45 | 22 | +23 | 28 |
| 2 | Orlando Lions* | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 25 |
| 3 | Florida Strikers* | 14 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 31 | 33 | -2 | 19 |
| 4 | West Florida Fury | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 29 | 36 | -7 | 15 |
| 5 | Miami Breakers | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 29 | 37 | -8 | 12 |
| 6 | South Florida Future | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 17 | 63 | -46 | 0 |
* Cocoa, Florida, and Orlando were all penalized 3 points.

#### Western Conference
##### Northern Division

| Place | Team | P | W | L | SW | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| 1 | Spokane Shadow* | 14 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 17 | +17 | 34 |
| 2 | San Francisco Bay Seals | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 35 | 15 | +20 | 30 |
| 3 | Colorado Springs Stampede* | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 12 | +8 | 25 |
| 4 | Puget Sound Hammers | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 31 | 23 | +8 | 24 |
| 5 | Willamette Valley Firebirds | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 21 | 31 | -10 | 15 |
| 6 | Bellingham Orcas | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 17 | 50 | -33 | 9 |
* Colorado Springs and Spokane were both penalized 3 points.

##### Southern Division

| Place | Team | P | W | L | SW | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| 1 | Central Coast Roadrunners* | 14 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 38 | 16 | +22 | 34 |
| 2 | San Diego Top Guns* | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 22 | +6 | 25 |
| 3 | Arizona Phoenix | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 21 |
| 4 | Tucson Amigos | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 21 |
| 5 | Fontana Falcons | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 31 | 32 | -1 | 15 |
| 6 | Southern California Gunners | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 9 |
* Central Coast and San Diego were both penalized 3 points