Monday, January 5, 2004

 

The new year is upon us, but we thought we would take a quick look back at 2003 and the biggest stories of the year. It was a dramatic year with some fantastic performances, surprising twists and long-awaited champions. Here are 10 of the many wonderful stories from last season.

It had been rough seas for the Mariners over the past few years as the club struggled off the field with ownership difficulties that ultimately led to United Soccer Leagues taking over the franchise, albeit briefly, in 2002.

Virtually lying at the ocean floor, it looked as though A-League soccer in Virginia Beach was sunken forever when new owner Mike Field came along and purchased the team from USL shortly after the takeover and began to revive the franchise, which limped its way to the close of the 2002 season. 

The ship began its rise from the deep over the offseason with news of the signings of former MLS scoring greats Roy Lassiter and Dante Washington.

The team began to sail right from start with four wins in their first five games with the lone loss coming at the hands of perennial power and eventual A-League champion Charleston Battery. But their fourth win would avenge the loss as the club made up the two-goal deficit in their Lamar Hunt US Open Cup qualification series with a stunning 5-2 win to qualify for the tournament and shut Charleston out for the first time since 1998.

The Mariners would go on to fare well in the tournament, registering a dominating 5-0 win over the Carolina Dynamo before falling narrowly, 1-0, to DC United.

The sailing wasn't smooth over through the middle of the season as the club was unable to find consistency, but two players began to shine. Dante Washington and midfielder Roland Aguilera were proving a deadly combination and would guide the club to a fantastic finish over the last stretch of the season.

The club ran off a 10-game unbeaten streak in their final 11 games of the year to edge the 2002 finalist Richmond Kickers out for the second playoff berth from the Southeast Division with Washington finishing third in points (37) and second in goals (18) and Aguilera fifth in points (29), eighth in goals (10) and third in assists (9) in the A-League.

The dream season nearly continued in the playoffs with the club winning the first leg of their division championship series against Charleston, 1-0, but fell in the battle at Blackbaud Stadium 4-1 in the second leg as the Battery went on to claim their first A-League championship.

Over their first two seasons, the Vancouver Whitecaps Women dominated the Western Conference of the W-League, suffering only two regular season losses in 26 games. They controlled nearby rival Seattle with a smothering 6-1-1 record, but it would all change in 2003.

Picking up where they left off, a 4-3 overtime win in Seattle against the Whitecaps in the 2002 regular season finale, the Sounders traveled to Vancouver, where the Whitecaps had never lost and held an 11-2 aggregate score in their four wins over the Sounders, for the season opener.

Three different Sounders scored in the game as they stunned their rivals with a 3-1 win at Swangard.

Seattle would go on to lose the other three regular season contests against Vancouver, but the mystique was gone. The Sounders were no longer doormats to for the Whitecaps and forced each game to be decided by one goal. The three losses were the only ones Seattle would suffer on the year while Vancouver ran the table after the season opening loss with only one draw as another blemish on its season.

Not surprisingly, the two met in the postseason with a trip to the league semifinals on the line. The showdown occurred in Vancouver and for the second straight year, the Whitecaps would see their championship hopes shattered via penalty kicks as the Sounders fought for a 2-2 draw before advancing in penalty kicks 3-1.

The Sounders would go on to claim third at the W-League championship in Virginia Beach.

For three years, the Boston Renegades were the powerhouse of the northeast, both below and above the Canadian border, posting an incredible 31-5-4 regular season mark with a third-place finish in 2000 followed by back-to-back league titles.

Over that span, the Ottawa Fury were a .500 club, literally, at 16-16-8 and were 0-5 against the Renegades.

An improved squad, the Fury suffered a 1-0 home loss to Boston early in the season but would rebound with a six-game win streak as the club went unbeaten in its final 10 games of the season to reach the playoffs for the first time.

During Ottawa's run, the Fury registered a 1-1 draw in Boston against the Renegades, who were a perfect 10-0 going into the match. Boston's winning streak was at 14 stretching back to the 2002 season and at 18 overall including their championship run in the 2002 postseason.

The two would meet again in the opening round of the postseason in Boston, where the Fury surprised the defending two-time champion Renegades 3-2. Ottawa downed the New Jersey Lady Stallions in the conference final to advance to the league semifinals in Virginia Beach.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds forward Thiago Martins was not a surprise as the recipient of the A-League Most Valuable Player honor given his accomplishments over the season. Coming from a club that did not reach the postseason was what made his honor a rarity.

The Scoring (51 pts) and Goal Scoring (22) champion helped guide his club to a fantastic 12-3-1 record over the second half of the season to make a run for a postseason berth, but it ultimately came up two points short of Rochester for the second berth from the division.

The Brazilian striker, who was the first player to top 50 points on a season since 1998 when Mark Baena of Seattle also had 51 points and led the league in scoring, was the first player to win the A-League Scoring Championship from a team that did not reach the postseason since 1990 when Chance Fry posted 39 points for the 10-10 Seattle Storm. Current Portland Timbers player Scott Benedetti is the only other player to accomplish the feat, recording 16 points for the 1-11 FC Portland in 1988.

Similarly, Martins was only the second player in league history to win the Most Valuable Player honor while playing for a club that did not make the postseason. Brent Goulet was honored by the Western Soccer League in 1997 while playing for FC Portland, who finished fifth with a 5-5 record in the six-team league that saw the San Diego Nomads finish with a league-best 6-4 record.

Martins would go on to sign with DC United after the season. He tore the ACL in his left knee in a training session, however, in December.

Ten years ago it was not unheard of to see a new club play well in its first season, but in the 50-plus team Premier Development League today, it is extremely difficult for an expansion side to dominate out of the gate. The New Orleans Shell Shockers did just that.

Utilizing a mix of players from the area colleges and the local ISLANO league, New Orleans dominated the Mid South Division on its way to a 16-2-0 season and the regular season championship.

The Shell Shockers rode a balanced scoring attack that saw none of its players in the top 10 in the league's scoring table and a solid defense that ranked fifth in the league in goals against at 18.

Leading the defense was goalkeeper Garrett Hiebert, who finished seventh in the PDL in goals against average at 1.06.

Roberto Najarro was the club's leading scorer with 24 points on nine goals and six assists. Jonas Lopez finished two points back on 11 goals.

Hosting the Southern Conference championship tournament, the Shell Shockers advanced to the final with a 4-1 win over the Central Florida Kraze before falling at home for the first time on the year to the Memphis Express, 2-0. The Express were one of two teams to defeat New Orleans during the season with a 5-3 win in Memphis.

The US Women's National Team did not see the tournament success they envisioned in the 2003 Women's World Cup, but their opponent in the Third Place match was a surprise to many.

The Canadian Women's National Team took a giant leap forward this fall with its stunning run in the tournament. Leading the way were 16 players with W-League experience on the roster of 20, including 11 who played with the three Canadian franchises in 2003.

The most surprising story of the team's run was that of Ottawa Fury goalkeeper Taryn Swiatek. After a breakout season in the W-League, where she finished second in goals against average at 0.41, she came into the tournament as the third-string netminder. Following a 4-1 loss to eventual champion Germany in their opener, Swiatek would make her debut in goal against Argentina and posted a shutout in a 3-0 win, the team's first ever in the Women's World Cup.

A 3-1 victory over Japan in their third match advanced the team out of group play and into a showdown with defending champion China in the quarterfinals. In a close-fought match, the Canadian registered the historic win to move onto the semis, where Sweden would rally with two unanswered goals in the final 11 minutes for a 2-1 win.

Swiatek finished with a 1.20 GAA for the tournament while three of the four goal scorers on the team were W-League alumni. USL Hall of Famer Charmaine Hooper tallied twice despite playing in her new role as defender. Vancouver Whitecaps 16-year old phenom Kara Lang also found the back of the net twice and former Whitecap Christine Sinclair finished tied with Christine Latham for the team lead with three strikes for the tournament.

The defending champion Cape Cod Crusaders defied the odds for a second straight year to win the PDL championship despite not being the top team in their own division.

In 2002, the 12-4-2 Crusaders, seeded eighth in the league, came from nowhere to win the PDL championship in a 2-1 overtime thriller at home against the Boulder Rapids Reserve.

With  an identical 12-4-2 record in 2003, the Crusaders again finished second to division rival Vermont on the season, but found success in the postseason.

Seeded ninth, the Crusaders knocked off the fourth-seeded Richmond Kickers Future in stunning fashion, 4-0, before surprising host Vermont 4-2 in the conference final to move onto the semifinals. The Crusaders thumped the Memphis Express, 4-0, in their fourth straight game with four goals scored to advance to the championship for the second straight year.

The Crusaders met the perennial Central Conference powerhouse Chicago Fire Reserves, who finished second in the regular season with a 15-2-1 mark, in the Windy City in the title match and came away victors again, downing Chicago 2-0 for their second straight title.

It was quite the year for the Wilmington Hammerheads, who returned to the final for the second straight year and saw success in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

A year after seeing their dreams shattered by the Long Island Rough Riders at their Legion Stadium, the Hammerheads returned to the league championship game in a showdown with the Westchester Flames.

Despite a terrible thunderstorm that forced an hour delay, the Hammerheads would not disappoint their nearly 4,000 faithful fans as they fought the Flames to double-overtime before Junior Zarate found second-half substitute Joey Johnson for the game-winner less than a minute into the second extra frame.

The championship success was the highlight of a season that also included a memorable run in the US Open Cup that continued past the night of the PSL final. Wilmington downed the PDL Bradenton Academics in the Second Round, 2-1, before registering their first upset of the tournament, a 2-1 victory over the A-League's Atlanta Silverbacks.

In their Fourth Round fixture, the Hammerheads pulled the stunner of the tournament with a shocking 4-1 victory over the Dallas Burn of Major League Soccer to advance to the quarterfinals, where they would face DC United.

Just four days after winning the PSL title, Wilmington played host to United and nearly came away with another shocker, falling 1-0 on a 30th minute tally from Ronald Cerritos before a crowd of 5,026.

The Charleston Battery were the envy of nearly everyone in the A-League. Not for championships won, but for their pearl of a stadium, Blackbaud - the first privately funded soccer-specific stadium.

Despite being the envy of their counterparts and having won a championship at the third division level in 1996, the club was still missing something to complete the stadium, an A-League championship cup.

However, despite playoff appearances in all six previous seasons and possessing one of the league's top rosters money can buy since 2000, the Battery could just never quite seem to get over the hump in the playoffs.

The team tasted success in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, reaching the semifinals in 1999 and the Third Round twice. It won regular season division and conference titles in 2000 and 2002 and was the second-best team in 2002. In that same span, however, the club went 2-5 in the playoffs and was building a reputation of not being able to win when it counts.

Enter 2003. With the addition of former MLS midfielder Ted Chronopoulos and Josh Henderson from 2002 finalist Richmond Kickers, the Battery claimed their third regular season division title in four years with the duo leading the team in scoring.

The team finished fourth in goals allowed with veteran Dusty Hudock finishing tied with Montreal's Greg Sutton for the league lead in shutouts with 11.

Nearing the end of the season, the Battery showed signs of difficulty with a seven-game winless streak (0-3-4) only to rebound to finish the regular season with three wins.

Virginia Beach took a 1-0 lead in the first leg of the opening round of the playoffs, but Charleston rebounded with a convincing 4-1 win in the second leg to moved onto a conference final series against three-time league champion Rochester.

The Battery played the Rhinos to a scoreless draw in the opening leg in Rochester and secured a spot in the A-League final for the first time with a 1-0 win in Charleston on a goal from Henderson in the 41st minute.

Ninety minutes and three goals later, the Charleston Battery and owner Tony Bakker, who invested a lot of his own personal money in the franchise and the stadium, were celebrating their first A-League Championship at center field of Blackbaud.

Despite losing their leading scorer Kelly Golebiowski to the WUSA, the Hampton Roads Piranhas put together an amazing run to record the third undefeated championship season in W-League history as they claimed their first-ever title.

One of the W-League's original franchises from 1995, the Piranhas had never reached the final, advancing to the semifinals twice.

Meanwhile, the club was one of the leading franchises in the league on and off the field in the W-League, culminating in the franchise hosting the 2001 W-League Championship tournament and owner/general manager Marcie Laumann winning the 2001 Executive of the Year honor in 2001.

The honor came a year after Laumann was honored with the inaugural Archie Moylan Courage Award for her continued efforts in operating the Piranhas while experiencing severe complications with Juvenile Onset Diabetes.

The club's run in 2003 included two victories over 2002 finalist Charlotte and a 1-0 overtime victory against the Chicago Cobras, whom they faced in the final.

For the second in time in three years, the Piranhas hosted the championship tournament in Virginia Beach, Virginia. After watching Chicago blank the Ottawa Fury 3-0 in the first semifinal, the Piranhas fell behind to the Seattle Sounders 1-0 and trailed at halftime for only the second time on the year.

An unlikely hero in Darci Borski, who had one goal in the four games she played, rose to the forefront in the second half however, scoring the equalizer less than two minutes into the second half and what proved to be the game-winner in the 55th minute as the Piranhas went on to a 4-1 win.

Two days later in what of the most thrilling finals in W-League and USL history, the Piranhas and Cobras battled to overtime for the second time on the year scoreless through regulation, despite numerous scoring opportunities for both sides.

Six minutes into the frame, overtime substitute Janet Davis sent a shot off the right post that richocheted out to Mercy Akide, who blasted a 10-yard shot into the far corner for the win, sending the 1,237 fans into a frenzy.

In addition to finishing 14-0 with the title, the Piranhas were also a success in hosting the championship two years after a severe thunderstorm had washed away the excitement of championship night. The franchise was also honored as the W-League Organization of the Year at the Annual Operations Meeting.