| Season | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Seattle Sounders (1st Title) |
| Premiers | Montreal Impact (1st Title) |
| 1996 CONCACAF Champions' Cup | Seattle Sounders |
| Matches | 72 |
| Goals | 215 (2.99 per match) |
| Best Player |  Peter Hattrup,Seattle Sounders |
| Top goalscorer | Peter Hattrup,Seattle Sounders (11 goals) |
| Best goalkeeper | Marcus Hahnemann,Seattle Sounders |
←1994 1996 → | |
The1995 A-League season was the sixthA-League season and first after being renamed from the American Professional Soccer League. The A-League was the de facto highest level of U.S. soccer (officially sanctioned U.S. second division) until Major League Soccer commenced the following year.[1]
The league had ended its1994 season with seven teams and intended to expand to ten for the 1995 season with new franchises inDetroit andAtlanta.[2] These plans were stymied when theFort Lauderdale Strikers,Los Angeles Salsa andToronto Rockets all folded. This left the league with only four teams. The addition of theNew York Centaurs andAtlanta Ruckus gave the league six teams and allowed it to compete for another season.[3]
Training camps opened in March and the season began on May 5, 1995, when theVancouver 86ers defeated the Atlanta Ruckus. By the time the regular season ended on September 10, 1995, theMontreal Impact had topped the chart. However, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Ruckus. Seattle defeated Vancouver in the first round, then defeated Atlanta in the final to take their first championship.
The league introduced a new scoring system for the regular season. As with previous years, no games ended in a tie. If the score was tied at the end of regulation, a penalty shootout would determine a winner. Awin was worth three points, a shootout win two points, a shootout loss one point and a loss zero points.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | SW | SL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 24 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 47 | 27 | +20 | 51 |
| 2 | Seattle Sounders | 24 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 40 | 24 | +16 | 51 |
| 3 | Vancouver 86ers | 24 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 43 | 43 | 0 | 33 |
| 4 | Atlanta Ruckus | 24 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 29 | 41 | −12 | 32 |
| 5 | Colorado Foxes | 24 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 35 | 41 | −6 | 29 |
| 6 | New York Centaurs | 24 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 21 | 39 | −18 | 20 |
| Semifinals Best-of-3 | 1995 A-League Finals Best-of-3 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 1(1) | 3 | 0(1) | |||||||||
| 4 | Atlanta Ruckus | 1(2) | 0 | 0(3) | |||||||||
| 4 | Atlanta Ruckus | 1(3) | 0 | 1(1) | |||||||||
| 2 | Seattle Sounders | 1(1) | 3 | 1(2) | |||||||||
| 2 | Seattle Sounders | 1 | 0(3) | - | |||||||||
| 3 | Vancouver 86ers | 0 | 0(2) | - | |||||||||
| Atlanta Ruckus (GA) | 1–1 | Montreal Impact (QC) |
|---|---|---|
Tom Wurdack 43'Lenin Steenkamp  71' | Report 1 Report 2 | 70'Lloyd Barker |
| Penalties | ||
? ? Mo Suri  Michael Araujo ? | 2–1 | ? ? ?Lloyd BarkerTom Kouzmanis |
| Montreal Impact (QC) | 3–0 | Atlanta Ruckus (GA) |
|---|---|---|
| Paulinho 31' Lloyd Barker 44'Lyndon Hooper 78' | Report 1 Report 2 |
| Montreal Impact (QC) | 0–0 | Atlanta Ruckus (GA) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | ||
| Penalties | ||
| Nick De Santis Patrick Diotte Tom Kouzmanis Lloyd Barker | 1–3 | Staale SoebyeCato SolbergBrian MooreMo SuriJohn Doyle |
The Atlanta Ruckus advance to the finals.
| Vancouver 86ers (BC) | 0–1 | Seattle Sounders (WA) |
|---|---|---|
Nico Berg 62' | Report | 80'Gary Heale |
The Seattle Sounders advance to the finals.
| Seattle Sounders (WA) | 3–0 | Atlanta Ruckus (GA) |
|---|---|---|
| Chance Fry 24:35',85' Jason Dunn 86:55' | Report 1 Report 2 | 41'Michael Araujo |
The Seattle Sounders win the A-League title.
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Hattrup | Seattle Sounders | 11 | 8 | 30 |
| 2 | Paul Dougherty | Montreal Impact | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| 3 | Lloyd Barker | Montreal Impact | 10 | 6 | 26 |
| 4 | Chance Fry | Seattle Sounders | 9 | 4 | 22 |
| 5 | Paul Dailly | Vancouver 86ers | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| 6 | Giuliano Oliviero | Vancouver 86ers | 9 | 1 | 19 |
| 7 | Geoff Aunger | Vancouver 86ers | 6 | 6 | 18 |
| 8 | Staale Soebye | Atlanta Ruckus | 7 | 3 | 17 |
| 9 | Martin Nash | Vancouver 86ers | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| Lenin Steenkamp | Atlanta Ruckus | 8 | 0 | 16 | |
| Jason Dunn | Seattle Sounders | 5 | 6 | 16 | |
| 12 | Grant Needham | Montreal Impact | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| Paulinho | Montreal Impact | 6 | 3 | 15 | |
| 14 | Jeff Hooker | Colorado Foxes | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| 15 | Shawn Medved | Seattle Sounders | 6 | 1 | 13 |