In its final season under the A-League moniker, the USL First Division saw the Montreal Impact win the second men’s championship on behalf of Canada 10 years after winning the club’s first in Montreal.

Despite the departure of former A-League Coach of the Year Bob Lilley, the Impact picked up right where they left off under new skipper and former star player Nick DeSantis, who calmly guided the team to its second straight season as the second best team through the regular season with a 17-6-5 mark. The club broke several team and league records on the season with 19 shutouts in 28 games, 16 from Greg Sutton, who became just the fourth goalkeeper in league history to be named Most Valuable Player, second since 1990. Teammate Gabe Gervais won his second consecutive Defender of the Year honor.

Montreal’s dominance continued into the postseason, where they opened with three consecutive shutouts, downing Rochester twice 1-0 and Syracuse 2-0. A 1-1 tie against Syracuse in the second leg sent the club to its second final, where they recorded their fourth shutout in five postseason games to beat the Seattle Sounders 2-0.

Seattle, meanwhile, finished fourth in their conference during the season with a 13-11-4 record. The team fell behind to the regular season champion Portland Timbers in the opening leg of the playoffs 2-1 only to rebound on a pair of Welton Melo goals to tie the series and win in series overtime, knocking out the league’s top offense led by Rookie of the Year Alan Gordon and Coach of the Year Bobby Howe. They then took a 1-0 lead into Vancouver and advanced to the league final with a 1-1 draw.

The biggest surprise of the year was the performance of the defending champion Charleston Battery, who struggled throughout the season and finished fourth from the bottom. There was a silver lining, however, in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The club opened with a 2-0 win over the Wilmington Hammerheads in the Third Round and upset MLS’ MetroStars 1-0 in the Fourth Round to advance to the Quarterfinals.

The Minnesota Thunder, Richmond Kickers and Rochester Raging Rhinos joined Charleston in the final eight. Minnesota followed a 2-1 overtime Third Round win over the eventual Premier Development League Finalist Boulder Rapids Reserve with a Fourth Round 1-0 upset over MLS’ Los Angeles Galaxy. The Richmond Kickers also needed overtime in the Third Round to down the two-time defending PDL champion Cape Cod Crusaders 2-1 before registering an upset against DC United 2-1.

Charleston edged Rochester 1-0 to be the only non-MLS team in the semifinals while the Kickers were nipped 1-0 by the Chicago Fire and the Thunder were knocked out in penalty kicks 5-4 after a 2-2 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes. Charleston took the Fire to overtime in their semifinal game before falling 1-0.