If you ask people around the country about the biggest story in American soccer in 1997, the majority will tell you it was the San Francisco Bay Seals. Ask USA Today soccer writer Jerry Langdon and he’ll tell you they were the “Team of the Year.”

The Seals completed what will probably go down as one of the greatest runs through the tournament in the US Open Cup’s history.

It all started with a victory over the A-League’s two-time defending champion Seattle Sounders in the second round of the Cup. Most teams would have been satisfied with that, but the Seals were just getting started.

They went on to literally stun the soccer world by beating arguably one of the best teams in Major League Soccer, the Kansas City Wizards, 2-1. Forward Marquis White shocked the Wizards with a goal at the 52-second mark of the match. When Kansas City came back to tie, it was White again who scored in the 70th minute to ‘seal’ the victory.

As the hype surrounding the Seals grew, the upsets continued. San Francisco would next conquer another MLS squad, the San Jose Clash, by the same 2-1 score.

San Francisco’s improbably journey eventually came to an end in the semifinal round when they gave back-to-back MLS Cup Champions DC United a tough match before falling 2-1 in a shootout. Even in defeat at the hand of DC United, who won the 1996 US Open Cup championship, the Seals had taken the nation by storm.

For a team that began as a amateur side, the ascendance of the Seals through the ranks of the USISL was remarkable as they would go on to join the A-League the following year, along with their D3 Pro League Champion counterparts Albuquerque Geckos, who claimed the title with a 4-1 trouncing of the Charlotte Eagles on their home turf at the University of New Mexico soccer stadium.

Albuquerque forward Luis Labastida was the man of the match, scoring two goals and adding an assist in leading the club to the win. Geckos midfielder Mthembe Ndlovu was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

The Geckos final record of 17-3 is almost as impressive as the Seals’ non-league play, considering that they were an expansion team.

The regular season was owned by Florida Strikers forward Orrett Prendergast. Prendergast, who ran away with the scoring title with 29 goals and three assists for 61 points, was a natural choice for D3 Pro League MVP.

Labasista (20 goals and nine assists) was on the list of other regular season standouts, as were Chico’s Luis Orellana (the assist lead with 15) and Seals goalkeeper JJ Wozniak (0.690 GAA).

Attendance figures for the D3 Pro League teams reached 337,487 for an average of 862 per game. Almost half (17) of the 39 teams that competed had an average of over 1,000 fans per game.