| Season | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 22 |
| Champions | Maryland Bays (1st Title) |
| Premiers | Fort Lauderdale Strikers* (1st Title) |
| Matches | 220 |
| Goals | 694 (3.15 per match) |
| Best Player |  Philip Gyau (East)Mark Dodd,Colorado Foxes (West) |
| Top goalscorer | Chance Fry,Seattle Storm (17 goals) (West) and Overall Mike Masters (14 Goals) (East) |
| Best goalkeeper | Dale Caya,Penn-Jersey Spirit (East)Mark Dodd,Colorado Foxes (West) |
1991 → | |
Overview of the 1990American Professional Soccer League season. Although theWestern Soccer League and theAmerican Soccer League merged to form the American Professional Soccer League in 1990, the two leagues remained essentially independent leagues, linked by name alone. During this season, they ran separate regular season schedules with two different points systems. They each had their own playoff formats, had separate league MVPs and had their own All-League teams. The first game between the two leagues came in September when theMaryland Bays of the American Soccer League defeated theSan Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the Western Soccer League for the American Professional Soccer League championship.
On September 9, 1989, the champions of the west coast-basedWestern Soccer Alliance and the east coast-basedAmerican Soccer League played each other for the national championship.[1] This was the first meeting between teams from the two leagues but was part of a larger effort to merge the two leagues.[2] This effort resulted in the creation of theAmerican Professional Soccer League on February 22, 1990.[3] The merger remained one of name only as the two leagues played separate schedules and named separate MVPs and All-League teams. However, it allowed the teams to market themselves as members of a national league.[4] During the playoffs, except for the West semifinals and the APSL finals, teams played a home and away series. However, they needed to win two games, so in the case of a tie after two games, the teams played a thirty-minute mini-game. If the game remained tied, the two teams would enter a shoot out. A shoot out pitted a field player against the opposing team's goalkeeper. The field player had five seconds to take a shot on goal beginning 35 yards from the goal.
Points:
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maryland Bays | 20 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 42 | 29 | +13 | 44 |
| 2 | Albany Capitals | 20 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 35 | 22 | +13 | 42 |
| 3 | Penn-Jersey Spirit | 20 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 34 | 23 | +11 | 39 |
| 4 | Boston Bolts | 20 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 28 |
| 5 | Washington Stars | 20 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 24 | 28 | −4 | 21 |
| 6 | New Jersey Eagles | 20 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 21 | 38 | −17 | 17 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 20 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 38 | 22 | +16 | 45 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 20 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 32 | 39 | −7 | 29 |
| 3 | Orlando Lions | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 25 | 30 | −5 | 24 |
| 4 | Miami Freedom | 20 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 27 | 29 | −2 | 24 |
| 5 | Washington Diplomats | 20 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 22 | 40 | −18 | 16 |
Points:
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 20 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 39 | 30 | +9 | 32 | 104 |
| 2 | Salt Lake Sting | 20 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 39 | 34 | +5 | 32 | 104 |
| 3 | Colorado Foxes | 20 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 12 | +10 | 18 | 100 |
| 4 | Portland Timbers | 20 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 37 | 99 |
| 5 | Seattle Storm | 20 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 42 | 35 | +7 | 29 | 93 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | PKW | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California Emperors | 20 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 35 | 32 | +3 | 27 | 89 |
| 2 | Real Santa Barbara | 20 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 33 | 35 | −2 | 23 | 87 |
| 3 | Los Angeles Heat | 20 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 39 | 39 | 0 | 23 | 85 |
| 4 | San Diego Nomads | 20 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 28 | −6 | 19 | 67 |
| 5 | New Mexico Chilies | 20 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 25 | 45 | −20 | 21 | 61 |
| 6 | Arizona Condors | 20 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 29 | 51 | −22 | 27 | 59 |
| Semifinals Best-of-3 | 1990 East Finals Best-of-3 | ||||||||||||
| S1 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | 2 | - | |||||||||
| N2 | Albany Capitals | 2 | 0 | - | |||||||||
| S1 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 2 | 0 | - | |||||||||
| N1 | Maryland Bays | 3 | 2 | - | |||||||||
| N1 | Maryland Bays | 2 | 4 | - | |||||||||
| S2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 1 | 1 | - | |||||||||
| Albany Capitals (NY) | 2–3 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) |
|---|---|---|
Chris Szanto 6:10' (Chinapoo, Masters)Paul Mariner 45:00' (Masters, Smyth) | Report | Ricardo Alonso 117:15' (Carrera, Donev) Jimmy McGeough, Jr. 73:05' (James, Carrera)Pedro Magallanes 77:45' (James, Alonso) |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) | 2–0 | Albany Capitals (NY) |
|---|---|---|
| Ricardo Alonso 37:41' (Magallanes, McGeough) Alvin James 85:00'Arnie Mausser  89' | Report | Bobby Cumming 22' Steve Stokoe 42' |
The Fort Lauderdale Strikers advance to the East Finals.
| Tampa Bay Rowdies (FL) | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | Maryland Bays (MD) |
|---|---|---|
| Perry Van der Beck 21:21' Mark Wright 80:54' (Hooper, Byrne) | Report | Kurt Dasbach 34:01' (Ryerson, Nattans) Jean Harbor  96:27' (Abe) |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies (FL) | 1–4 | Maryland Bays (MD) |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Jones 7:35' (Hill) | Report | Jean Harbor 4:30' (Abe) Philip Gyau 18:45' (Harbor, Sloan)Jean Harbor 45:38' (Abe, Barger)John Abe 72:36' (Nattans) |
The Maryland Bays advance to the East Finals.
| Maryland Bays (MD) | 3–2 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) |
|---|---|---|
| John Abe 13:57' (Barger, Namazi) Jean Harbor 71:29' (Gee)Joe Barger 87:28' (Ryerson)Darryl Gee  | Report 1 Report 2 | Pedro Magallanes 49:57' (Donev) Marcelo Carrera 52:00'Troy Edwards |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers (FL) | 0–2 | Maryland Bays (MD) |
|---|---|---|
| Victor Moreland 49:14' Ricardo Alonso 65:50' | Report | Philip Gyau 1:32' (Ryerson) Rob Ryerson 13:38'Scott Cook 16:08', 30:10'Omid Namazi 22:45'Jean Harbor 43:15' |
The Maryland Bays advance to the APSL Championship.
| First Round Best-of-3 | Division Finals Single Match | 1990 West Finals Best-of-3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| S1 | California Emperors | 0 | - | - | ||||||||||||||||
| S2 | Real Santa Barbara | 1 | 1 | 0 | S3 | Los Angeles Heat | 2 | - | - | |||||||||||
| S3 | Los Angeles Heat | 0 | 2 | 1 | S3 | Los Angeles Heat | 2 | 1(2) | 0 | |||||||||||
| N1 | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 0 | 1(4) | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| N1 | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 2 | - | - | ||||||||||||||||
| N2 | Salt Lake Sting | 0 | 1 | - | N3 | Colorado Foxes | 1 | - | - | |||||||||||
| N3 | Colorado Foxes | 2 | 4 | - | ||||||||||||||||
| Los Angeles Heat (CA) | 0–1 | Real Santa Barbara (CA) |
|---|---|---|
| Brian Wendel 71:01' | Report 1 Report 2 | Jim Hutchinson 68:44' |
| Real Santa Barbara (CA) | 1–2 | Los Angeles Heat (CA) |
|---|---|---|
| Femi Olukanni 29:39' | Report 1 Report 2 | Danny Pena 63:03' (Ervine), Mike Getchell 64:23' (Sacks), |
The Los Angeles Heat advance to the Division Finals.
| Colorado Foxes (CO) | 2–0 | Salt Lake Sting (UT) |
|---|---|---|
| John Klein 76' Mike Mikes 83' | Report |
| Salt Lake Sting (UT) | 1–4 | Colorado Foxes (CO) |
|---|---|---|
| Barney Boyce 55' (pen.) | 44'Mike Mikes 67'Robin Fraser 72',89'Efren Rodarte |
The Colorado Foxes advance to the Division Finals.
| California Emperors (CA) | 0–2 | Los Angeles Heat (CA) |
|---|---|---|
| Report 1 Report 2 | 41:02'Brad Smith 89:00'Jim Gabarra,,,, |
The Los Angeles Heat advance to the Conference Finals.
| San Francisco Bay Blackhawks (CA) | 2–1 | Colorado Foxes (CO) |
|---|---|---|
| Troy Dayak 13:02' (Kinnear), 39:38' (Wynalda) | Report 1 Report 2 | Larry McPhail 7:56' (Ashton) |
The San Francisco Bay Blackhawks advance to the Conference Finals.
| Los Angeles Heat (CA) | 2–0 | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks (CA) |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Gabarra 20:43' Brad Smith 55:24' (Bruch) | Report 1 Report 2 |
| San Francisco Bay Blackhawks (CA) | 1–0 | Los Angeles Heat (CA) |
|---|---|---|
| Dominic Kinnear 22:43' (Gallo) | Report 1 Report 2 | Mike Getchell 20' |
The San Francisco Bay Blackhawks advance to the APSL Championship.
The Maryland Bays win the APSL Championship.
| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chance Fry | Seattle Storm | 17 | 5 | 39 |
| 2 | George Pastor | Salt Lake Sting | 14 | 9 | 37 |
| 3 | Mike Masters | Albany Capitals | 14 | 4 | 32 |
| 4 | Philip Gyau | Maryland Bays | 12 | 6 | 30 |
| 5 | Derek Sanderson | Salt Lake Sting | 11 | 6 | 28 |
| 6 | Jerry O'Hara | California Emperors | 10 | 3 | 23 |
| 7 | Shawn Medved | Portland Timbers | 10 | 2 | 22 |
| 8 | Jean Harbor | Maryland Bays | 8 | 6 | 22 |
| 9 | Jim Hutchinson | Real Santa Barbara | 9 | 4 | 22 |
| 10 | Scott Benedetti | Seattle Storm | 9 | 3 | 21 |
| 11 | Cesar Plasencia | Real Santa Barbara | 9 | 3 | 21 |
| 11 | Steve Pittman | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| 11 | David Byrne | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| 11 | Steve Corpening | San Francisco Bay Blackhawks | 8 | 4 | 20 |
| 11 | Rob Paterson | Portland Timbers | 8 | 4 | 20 |
| 11 | Mike Sweeney | Boston Bolts | 8 | 3 | 19 |
| 11 | Elvis Comrie | Albany Capitals | 8 | 2 | 18 |
| 11 | Lazlo Barna | Miami Freedom | 7 | 4 | 18 |
| 11 | Duanne Robinson | Penn-Jersey Spirit | 5 | 8 | 18 |
First Team All League
Second Team All League
First Team All League
Second Team All League
