| Season | 2003 | 
|---|---|
| Champions | Charleston Battery (1st title) | 
| Premiers | Milwaukee Wave United (1st title) | 
| Top goalscorer | Thiago Martins (22 goals) | 
| ← 2002  2004 →  | |
The 2003 USL A-League was an American Division II league run by the United Soccer League during the summer of 2003.
League standings
Eastern Conference
Northeast Division
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Impact | 28 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 40 | 21 | +19 | 54 | 
| 2 | Rochester Raging Rhinos | 28 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 55 | 36 | +19 | 51 | 
| 3 | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 28 | 15 | 4 | 9 | 50 | 41 | +9 | 49 | 
| 4 | Syracuse Salty Dogs | 28 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 42 | 38 | +4 | 38 | 
| 5 | Toronto Lynx | 28 | 11 | 4 | 13 | 29 | 38 | −9 | 37 | 
Southeast Division
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charleston Battery | 28 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 41 | 27 | +14 | 52 | 
| 2 | Virginia Beach Mariners | 28 | 14 | 5 | 9 | 51 | 34 | +17 | 47 | 
| 3 | Richmond Kickers | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 41 | 32 | +9 | 43[lower-alpha 1] | 
| 4 | Charlotte Eagles | 28 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 29 | 59 | −30 | 25 | 
| 5 | Atlanta Silverbacks | 28 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 27 | 48 | −21 | 19 | 
Notes:
- ↑ 2 points deducted?
Western Conference
Central Division
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee Wave United | 28 | 18 | 0 | 10 | 61 | 32 | +29 | 54 | 
| 2 | Minnesota Thunder | 28 | 17 | 2 | 9 | 44 | 28 | +16 | 53 | 
| 3 | El Paso Patriots | 28 | 9 | 3 | 16 | 33 | 48 | −15 | 30 | 
| 4 | Cincinnati Riverhawks | 28 | 9 | 0 | 19 | 38 | 62 | −24 | 24[lower-alpha 1] | 
| 5 | Indiana Blast | 28 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 28 | 67 | −39 | 11 | 
Notes:
- ↑ 3 points deducted?
Pacific Division
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Sounders | 28 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 53 | 
| 2 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 28 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 45 | 24 | +21 | 52 | 
| 3 | Portland Timbers | 28 | 15 | 2 | 11 | 39 | 33 | +6 | 47 | 
| 4 | Calgary Storm | 28 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 16 | 62 | −46 | 15 | 
Playoffs
Bracket
| Division finals | Conference finals | Final | ||||||||||||||||
| S1 | Charleston Battery | 0 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| S2 | Virginia Beach Mariners | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Charleston Battery | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Eastern Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
| Rochester Rhinos | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| N1 | Montreal Impact | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| N2 | Rochester Raging Rhinos | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Charleston Battery | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota Thunder | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| C2 | Minnesota Thunder (a.e.t.) | 0 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| C1 | Milwaukee Wave United | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Minnesota Thunder | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Western Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle Sounders | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| P2 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 0 | 1 | 1 (5) | ||||||||||||||
| P1 | Seattle Sounders (p) | 0 | 1 | 1 (6) | ||||||||||||||
Division finals
Northeast Division
| Rochester Rhinos (NY) | 2–1 | Montreal Impact (SC) | 
|---|---|---|
| Ian Fuller  6' Stoian Mladenov  8' (pen.) Doug Miller  50' Kirk Wilson  90' | Report |  6' Nevio Pizzolitto  84' Zé Roberto | 
| Montreal Impact (SC) | 0–0 | Rochester Rhinos (NY) | 
|---|---|---|
| Zé Roberto  4' Martin Nash  63'  90' Abraham Francois  89' | Report |  15' Scott Schweitzer  65' Yuri Lavrinenko  72' Kirk Wilson  81' David Hayes | 
The Rochester Rhinos advance 2 – 1 on aggregate.
Southeast Division
| Virginia Beach Mariners (VA) | 1–0 | Charleston Battery (SC) | 
|---|---|---|
| Roy Lassiter  18' Stephen Danbusky  75' | Report | 
| Charleston Battery (SC) | 4–1 | Virginia Beach Mariners (VA) | 
|---|---|---|
| Chris Goos  3' Josh Henderson  14', 71' Russell Hutchison  17' (o.g.) | Report |  10' Hamisi Amani-Dove  37' Roland Vargas-Aguilera  58' Stephen Danbusky | 
The Charleston Battery advance 4 – 2 on aggregate.
Central Division
| Milwaukee Wave United (WI) | 1–0 | Minnesota Thunder (MN) | 
|---|---|---|
| Greg Howes  14' (pen.) Chris Morman  78' | Report |  54' Steve Shak | 
| Minnesota Thunder (MN) | 2–0 (OT) | Milwaukee Wave United (WI) | 
|---|---|---|
| Johnny Torres  62', 92' | Report |  84' Todd Dusosky | 
The Minnesota Thunder advance 2 – 1 on aggregate.
Pacific Division
| Seattle Sounders (WA) | 0–0 | Vancouver Whitecaps (BC) | 
|---|---|---|
| Marco Vélez  14' Scott Jenkins  15' Ryan Edwards  34' | Report |  35' Carlo Corazzin  87' Ollie Heald  90' Paul Dailly | 
| Vancouver Whitecaps (BC) | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Seattle Sounders (WA) | 
|---|---|---|
| Jean Piette  11' Dave Morris  90' Steve Kindel  117' | Report |  2' Roger Levesque  4' Chad Brown  18' Andrew Gregor  77' Zach Scott  78' Darren Sawatzky | 
| Penalties | ||
| Ollie Heald  Tiarnan King  Chris Franks  Carlo Corazzin  Dave Morris  Jeff Clarke  | 5–6 |  Kyle Smith  Chad Brown  Darren Sawatzky  Herculez Gomez  Andrew Gregor  Viet Nguyen | 
The Seattle Sounders advance 1 – 0 on aggregate.
Conference finals
Eastern Conference final
| Charleston Battery (SC) | 1–0 | Rochester Rhinos (NY) | 
|---|---|---|
| Josh Henderson  41' | Report |  41' Ian Fuller | 
The Charleston Battery advance 1 – 0 on aggregate.
Western Conference final
| Seattle Sounders (WA) | 0–1 | Minnesota Thunder (MN) | 
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Gregor  9' Zach Scott  53' Scott Jenkins  57' Chad Brown  59' | Report |  79' Steve Shak | 
| Minnesota Thunder (MN) | 1–0 | Seattle Sounders (WA) | 
|---|---|---|
| Johnny Torres  59' Duncan Tarley  90' | Report |  8' Viet Nguyen  23' Ryan Edwards  85' Craig Tomlinson | 
The Minnesota Thunder advance 2 – 0 on aggregate.
Final
| Charleston Battery (SC) | 3–0 | Minnesota Thunder (MN) | 
|---|---|---|
| Ted Chronopoulos  13' Terry Phelan  15' Paul Conway  21' John Wilson  32' Steve Klein  37' | Report | 
Points leaders
| Rank | Scorer | Club | GP | Goals | Assists | Points | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thiago Martins | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 25 | 22 | 7 | 51 | 
| 2 | Doug Miller | Rochester Rhinos | 28 | 17 | 4 | 38 | 
| 3 | Dante Washington | Virginia Beach Mariners | 26 | 18 | 1 | 37 | 
| 4 | Greg Howes | Milwaukee Wave United | 28 | 11 | 12 | 34 | 
| 5 | Todd Dusosky | Milwaukee Wave United | 26 | 11 | 7 | 29 | 
| Roland Vargas-Aguilera | Virginia Beach Mariners | 26 | 10 | 9 | 29 | |
| Kevin Jeffrey | Richmond Kickers | 27 | 10 | 9 | 29 | |
| 8 | Josh Henderson | Charleston Battery | 20 | 10 | 5 | 25 | 
| Byron Alvarez | Portland Timbers | 21 | 12 | 1 | 25 | |
| McKinley Tennyson | Portland Timbers | 27 | 11 | 3 | 25 | |
| 11 | Lourenço Andrade | El Paso Patriots | 20 | 9 | 4 | 22 | 
| Dino Delevski | Milwaukee Wave United | 23 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 
Awards and All A-League Teams
All A-League First Team[1]
F: Thiago Martins (Pittsburgh Riverhounds) (MVP & Leading Goalscorer); Doug Miller (Rochester Raging Rhinos); Dante Washington (Virginia Beach Mariners)
M: Roland Aguilera (Virginia Beach Mariners); Marco Ferruzzi (Minnesota Thunder); Andrew Gregor (Seattle Sounders); Ricardo Villar (Pittsburgh Riverhounds)
D: Gabriel Gervais (Montreal Impact) (Defender of the Year);  Danny Jackson (Seattle Sounders); John Wilson (Charleston Battery)
G: Greg Sutton (Montreal Impact) (Goalkeeper of the Year)
Coach: Bob Lilley Montreal Impact) (Coach of the Year)
All A-League Second Team
F: Byron Alvarez (Portland Timbers); Greg Howes (Milwaukee Wave United); Kevin Jeffrey (Richmond Kickers)
M: Ted Chronopoulos (Charleston Battery); Ollie Heald (Vancouver Whitecaps); Zé Roberto (Montreal Impact); David Testo (Richmond Kickers)
D: Scott Schweitzer (Rochester Raging Rhinos); Steve Shak (Minnesota Thunder); Alan Woods (Atlanta Silverbacks)
G: Rich Cullen (Seattle Sounders)
References
- ↑ 2003 A-League Awards Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine