The 2005 champion Seattle Sounders missed the postseason by one point last year. They left no doubts in 2007, going the second half of the campaign with just one loss (11-1-2) to capture the Commissioner’s Cup as the regular season champions.

The US Open Cup standouts, fresh off a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime defeat in the tournament Semifinals after defeating two MLS squads, put their sights fully on the USL First Division Championship and firmly drove toward their second title in three years. It would be a record fourth league title, surpassing the three won by the Rochester Rhinos from 1998-2001.

Led by French newcomer Sebastien Le Toux, who captured a share of the Goal Scoring Championship with 10, the Sounders blanked the expansion Carolina RailHawks in the Quarterfinals 3-0 on aggregate.

The Semifinals were not as easy a task. They opened with a 2-1 win in Puerto Rico, but the Islanders netted a 1-0 second leg win to level the series on aggregate and force overtime, where both clubs scored to send the game to penalties. The Sounders, who won the 2005 title from the spot, proved victorious behind the netminding of Chris Eylander, one of the leading goalkeepers in the league on the season.

Facing a first-time finalist in the Atlanta Silverbacks, who had knocked off the Rochester Rhinos 3-2 on aggregate in the quarters and the Portland Timbers in penalties after a 1-1 semifinal draw, the Sounders were favorites to down the fourth-seeded Silverbacks and did so in resounding fashion.

Despite losing former USL-1 MVP Leighton O’Brien to a groin injury just 18 minutes in, the insertion of veteran Greg Howes proved to be of little comfort for the visitors as he went on to open the scoring and set up the second as Seattle cruised to the 4-0 victory.

While the Sounders were the toast of the league by capturing both the regular season Commissioner’s Cup and the USL First Division Championship, catching some of the limelight were the expansion Carolina RailHawks, the Portland Timbers and the goalkeepers around the league.

The RailHawks made a similar US Open Cup run before also being eliminated in overtime of their semifinal against eventual tournament champion New England. The first-year club proved a success on and off the field, reaching the postseason and finishing with one of the league’s top attendance marks with over 5,000 a game.

The Timbers were arguably the best stories of the past year, making one of the greatest turnarounds in league history. After finishing tied for last place in 2006, Portland reversed course with a new coach and general manager in former player Gavin Wilkinson, who guided the team to a second-place finish in the league.

The Timbers rebounded from their 7-15-6 record in 2006 to finish 14-5-9 in their first year under Wilkinson, leading the league table most of the year prior to the Sounders late run. The club finished the year with the fewest losses in the league and was the only club to go unbeaten at home (8-0-6).

The one factor the RailHawks and Timbers had in common, along with numerous other clubs, was the performance of their netminders throughout the 2007 campaign. The number of goals scored in 2007 dropped off from previous years, particularly among those in the leading scorers table.

The average number of goals per team on the season dropped by three from the previous two seasons as the league played its third campaign without overtime in the regular season. The top four goalkeepers posted 10 more shutouts in 2007 in comparison to 2006 while the scoring production of the top five in the goal table made a staggering drop from 72 to 45.

Many fans and coaches had reason to argue that their goalkeepers were the best in the league. Portland’s Josh Wicks finished as the leading netminder with 14 shutouts and second in wins with 13. He took home the GAA Championship honor for the league’s lowest GAA of 0.603 and was also selected as the Goalkeeper of the Year. Montreal’s Matt Jordan finished second in the chase for the GAA title, but managed to earn the second All-League selection despite injuries that limited his numbers in other statistical categories.

Jordan’s selection came at the expense of other standouts like Seattle’s Chris Eylander, who led the league in wins (14), was second in shutouts (13) and was third in GAA (0.823) while guiding the Sounders to the regular season championship. Puerto Rico’s Josh Saunders, Carolina’s Chris McClellan, Rochester’s Scott Vallow and Atlanta’s Ryan McIntosh were also among the short-list of standout players on the year not only at goalkeeper, but in general.

While the Timbers and RailHawks were stealing the spotlight throughout the course of the campaign, it was McIntosh’s Silverbacks that would move to the stage front at the close of the campaign. Unlike previous seasons in which the team faded down the stretch, Atlanta held on to finish fourth and posted a playoff run that saw them edge the 2006 finalist and three-time league champion Rochester Rhinos 3-2 on aggregate in the First Round.

Atlanta then battled the second-seeded Timbers to a pair of draws (1-1 at home, scoreless in Portland) before advancing in penalties on the road 3-1 in which McIntosh secured the win with a save in the fourth round of the tiebreaker.