The Rochester Raging Rhinos, who had been in the A-League final the four previous years and five of their six in franchise history, were poised for another postseason run. The Seattle Sounders were running nearly uncontested toward the title with the second-best record in league history. The pair of clubs with five league titles between them, however, saw their 2003 title runs end prematurely in surprising fashion. The fans still saw a fantastic final as the Milwaukee Rampage needed overtime to defeat the Richmond Kickers, 2-1.

The Sounders opened the season looking absolutely invincible with eight victories, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 24-7. Then after a 2-2 stretch, the club ripped off another 12 straight wins, besting their competition 29-7. With the regular season title well in hand, the club rested down the stretch for the postseason and narrowly missed topping Rochester’s league record 24-4 mark, wrapping up the campaign with a 23-4-1 record with a 1-2-1 finish to the season.

Heavy favorites in the second round against the rival Vancouver Whitecaps, the Sounders fell behind 2-0 on the road in the two-leg aggregate series to a third-place club healthy for the first time all year. In need of two goals to level the series, Seattle was stunned on their home turf two nights later, falling 6-2 for an aggregate 8-2 score.

The series win arguable made Vancouver favorites against the injury-riddled Rampage in the Western Conference finals, but Milwaukee’s defense lived up to the defense wins title adage. The Rampage left Vancouver with a 0-0 score and defeated the Whitecaps in the series overtime after a 1-1 match in Milwaukee, both goals coming from Matt Bobo, who only had three on the year.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the nation, its was anyone’s guess. The Charleston Battery used an 11-game winning streak mid-season to propel them to the top spot in the Eastern Conference only to be eliminated in the second round by division foe Richmond Kickers. The Battery led 2-1 heading to Richmond for the second leg of the series, but were knocked out 4-3 on aggregate after a 3-1 defeat in the second half of the series.

Up north, the Rhinos had their hands full with longtime rival Montreal Impact, advancing 1-0 on aggregate to face the Kickers after a 0-0 night in Montreal and a second half Bill Sedgewick tally in the second leg.

Rochester’s defense held strong yet again in the postseason, leaving Richmond with a 1-1 tie in the series’ aggregate score. And, as others before them, the Kickers were unable to beat the Rhinos at Frontier Field. After a scoreless match and series overtime period, the series would be decided from the spot with the penalty kick tiebreaker. In one of the most spectacular shootouts in USL history, the first eight players scored on their attempts. In the ninth round, Richmond goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale beat Rhinos’ netminder Pat Onstad and Rochester’s Greg Simmonds was unable to send the Rhinos to the 10th round and another championship appearance, missing high.

Richmond’s participation in nail-biting postseason action continued in the big game, taking the host Rampage to double overtime in a back-and-forth final that saw spectacular series of events. In a hotly contested match on a chilly night, Milwaukee’s clutch performer John Wolyniec scored in the 45th minute, beating three defenders to drill a shot to the far post out of Pascale’s reach.

Richmond leveled the score in the 59th minute when Marco Ferruzzi converted a penalty kick only to see the Kickers nearly fall behind five minutes later when Milwaukee’s Angel Rivillo stepped to the spot and cracked a penalty kick off the crossbar.

A minute into the second overtime period, an unlikely hero arose for Milwaukee in Sinisa Angelovski when the man who arguably cost the club a shot at US Open Cup glory in a quarterfinal loss to the Kansas City Wizards redeemed himself with a 19-yard blast that sent the Milwaukee faithful into a frenzy.