Knowledge Base Wiki

USSF Division 2 Professional League

Founded	2010
Folded	2010
Country	United States
Other club(s) from	Canada, Puerto Rico
Confederation	CONCACAF
Conferences	USL Conference NASL Conference
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	2
Domestic cup(s)	U.S. Open Cup Canadian Championship
Last champions	Puerto Rico Islanders (2010)
Website	USSF D2 Pro League at ussoccer.com

The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League)^[1] was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL). The D2 Pro League was the second tier of the United States soccer league system below Major League Soccer.^[2] The league also included two clubs from Canada and one club from Puerto Rico.

On August 27, 2009, Nike agreed to sell their stake in the United Soccer Leagues to investment company NuRock, instead of Jeff Cooper, who had aligned with a group of USL First Division team owners. Disappointed with the sale and state of the league, the ownership group broke away after the 2009 season with the intent to form a new incarnation of the North American Soccer League. The leagues sued each other, but ultimately withdrew their lawsuits and agreed to mediate with the United States Soccer Federation.

The USSF found that three of the NASL teams (NSC Minnesota Stars, Rochester Rhinos, and FC Tampa Bay) had binding contracts to play in the USL First Division in 2010, leaving the NASL with too few teams to be sanctioned. However, this left the USL First Division with only six teams, also too few for sanctioning. The USSF stripped the USL First Division of its sanctioning, and denied sanctioning to the NASL. After a week of negotiations among the three, the USSF agreed to run a 12-team interim league for 2010. The six extant teams in each league would each occupy their own conference, but teams belonging to both leagues would play each other.^[3]

Team	City	Stadium	Founded	Head Coach
USL Conference
Austin Aztex	Austin, Texas	House Park	2008	Adrian Heath
NSC Minnesota Stars	Blaine, Minnesota	National Sports Center	2009	Manny Lagos
Portland Timbers	Portland, Oregon	PGE Park	2001	Gavin Wilkinson
Puerto Rico Islanders	Bayamón, Puerto Rico	Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium	2003	Colin Clarke
Rochester Rhinos	Rochester, New York	Marina Auto Stadium	1996	Bob Lilley
FC Tampa Bay	Tampa, Florida	George M. Steinbrenner Field	2008	Perry Van der Beck (interim)
NASL Conference
Carolina RailHawks FC	Cary, North Carolina	WakeMed Soccer Park	2006	Martin Rennie
Crystal Palace Baltimore	Catonsville, Maryland	Ridley Athletic Complex	2006	Jim Cherneski
Miami FC	Miami, Florida	FIU Stadium, Lockhart Stadium	2006	Daryl Shore
Montreal Impact	Montreal, Quebec	Saputo Stadium	1992	Marc Dos Santos
AC St. Louis	Fenton, Missouri	Anheuser-Busch Center	2009	Dale Schilly[4]
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Burnaby, British Columbia	Swangard Stadium	1986	Teitur Thordarson

It was announced that the season would be centered around what are called pods. The pods were constructed around geographic regions and did not follow conference lines.^[5] Teams within the same pod played each other four times, twice at home and twice away. Teams played one team outside of their pod four times, twice at home and twice away, and played the rest of the teams outside their pod twice, once at home and once away. This resulted in a thirty-game season for each team, and had the additional advantage of reducing travel costs. The season ended a playoff format to crown a league champion.

Pod	Teams
1	NSC Minnesota Stars Portland Timbers AC St. Louis Vancouver Whitecaps FC
2	Crystal Palace Baltimore Carolina RailHawks FC Montreal Impact Rochester Rhinos
3	Austin Aztex Miami FC Puerto Rico Islanders FC Tampa Bay

At the end of the regular season, the top teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs as the top two seeds. In addition, the remaining six teams with the highest point totals, regardless of conference, also advanced to the playoffs.^[6]

Each round of the playoffs was a two-game aggregate goal series (the away goals rule was not applied as a tie-breaker). In the event that the aggregate score is tied after the second game of the series, the teams played two 15-minutes periods of extra time. If the score is still tied after extra time, the series was to be decided by a penalty shootout.^[7]

USSF Division 2 Professional League

Season	2010
Champions	Puerto Rico Islanders
Matches played	180
Goals scored	437 (2.43 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ryan Pore (15 goals)
Biggest home win	POR 3–0 STL (Apr 22) STL 3–0 MTL (Jul 10) MTL 3–0 STL (Jul 21) STL 3–0 POR (Jul 28) POR 3–0 CPB (Aug 29) CAR 3–0 CPB (Sep 3) ROC 3–0 TAM (Sep 11) MTL 3–0 TAM (Sep 19) TAM 6–3 CPB (Oct 1)
Biggest away win	CPB 0–5 MTL (Aug 21)
Highest scoring	TAM 6–3 CPB (Oct 1)
Longest winning run	Rochester Rhinos (6 games, ended Aug 27)
Longest unbeaten run	Portland Timbers (10 games, to end the season)
Longest winless run	FC Tampa Bay (11 games, ended Oct 1)
Longest losing run	Crystal Palace Baltimore (8 games, to end the season)
Highest attendance	Portland Timbers (15,418; 4 times)
Lowest attendance	Crystal Palace Baltimore (507, Aug 4)
Average attendance	4,449
← 2009 USL 2011 USL → 2011 NASL →

NASL Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Carolina RailHawks FC	30	13	9	8	44	32	+12	47	Conference leader, qualified for playoffs
2	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	30	10	5	15	32	22	+10	45	Qualified for playoffs[a]
3	Montreal Impact	30	12	11	7	36	30	+6	43
4	Miami FC	30	7	11	12	37	49	−12	33
5	AC St. Louis	30	7	15	8	32	48	−16	29
6	Crystal Palace Baltimore	30	6	18	6	24	55	−31	24

USL Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Rochester Rhinos	30	16	8	6	38	24	+14	54	Conference leader, qualified for playoffs
2	Austin Aztex	30	15	7	8	53	40	+13	53	Qualified for playoffs[a]
3	Portland Timbers	30	13	7	10	34	23	+11	49
4	NSC Minnesota Stars	30	11	12	7	32	36	−4	40
5	Puerto Rico Islanders	30	9	11	10	37	35	+2	37
6	FC Tampa Bay	30	7	12	11	41	46	−5	32

USSF Division 2 Pro League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Rochester Rhinos	30	16	8	6	38	24	+14	54	Conference leaders, qualified for playoffs
2	Carolina Railhawks FC	30	13	9	8	44	32	+12	47
3	Austin Aztex	30	15	7	8	53	40	+13	53	Qualified for playoffs[a]
4	Portland Timbers	30	13	7	10	34	23	+11	49
5	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	30	10	5	15	32	22	+10	45
6	Montreal Impact	30	12	11	7	36	30	+6	43
7	NSC Minnesota Stars	30	11	12	7	32	36	−4	40
8	Puerto Rico Islanders (C)	30	9	11	10	37	35	+2	37
9	Miami FC	30	7	11	12	37	49	−12	33
10	FC Tampa Bay	30	7	12	11	41	46	−5	32
11	AC St. Louis	30	7	15	8	32	48	−16	29
12	Crystal Palace Baltimore	30	6	18	6	24	55	−31	24

Abbreviation and Color Key: Austin Aztex – AUS • Carolina RailHawks – CAR • Crystal Palace Baltimore – CPB • Miami FC – MIA • NSC Minnesota Stars – MIN Montreal Impact – MTL • Portland Timbers – POR • Puerto Rico Islanders – PUE • Rochester Rhinos – ROC • AC St. Louis – STL FC Tampa Bay – TAM • Vancouver Whitecaps FC – VAN Win  • Loss  • Draw  • Home
Club	Match
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Austin Aztex	MTL	STL	ROC	MIN	TAM	CPB	TAM	MIA	CPB	PUE	POR	VAN	MIA	MIA	PUE	ROC	STL	MIA	TAM	PUE	CAR	POR	VAN	MIN	PUE	TAM	STL	STL	CAR	MTL
	2–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–3	3–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	3–1	4–2	0–2	3–2	1–1	2–2	2–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	4–2	1–3	0–2
Carolina RailHawks	STL	MIN	ROC	MIA	TAM	PUE	MTL	POR	VAN	CPB	MTL	STL	PUE	MTL	ROC	ROC	VAN	MTL	ROC	CPB	MIA	AUS	TAM	PUE	CPB	POR	MIN	CPB	PUE	AUS
	2–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–2	2–0	0–2	1–2	2–1	2–3	2–1	2–3	3–0	0–0	0–1	4–2	2–1	3–1
Crystal Palace Baltimore	TAM	PUE	STL	VAN	POR	AUS	ROC	POR	AUS	MIA	ROC	CAR	MIN	MIN	PUE	ROC	MTL	STL	MTL	MIA	MTL	CAR	ROC	MTL	POR	CAR	VAN	CAR	POR	TAM
	0–1	1–3	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–1	0–2	3–3	1–2	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–2	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	0–2	0–5	0–3	0–3	0–3	2–4	1–3	3–6
Miami FC	ROC	VAN	TAM	CAR	MIN	MIN	AUS	PUE	MTL	CPB	POR	AUS	AUS	TAM	POR	VAN	PUE	TAM	AUS	CPB	PUE	TAM	CAR	ROC	STL	MTL	ROC	STL	ROC	PUE
	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–3	2–4	1–1	3–3	1–0	1–3	1–2	1–1	0–2	1–3	1–1	0–2	1–3	1–0	1–1	3–3	1–2	1–3	1–3	2–1	2–1	4–2	1–0	1–1
NSC Minnesota Stars	VAN	CAR	PUE	TAM	ROC	AUS	MTL	MIA	MIA	TAM	STL	ROC	MTL	POR	POR	CPB	CPB	TAM	STL	PUE	VAN	STL	POR	VAN	POR	AUS	STL	CAR	VAN	TAM
	0–2	1–0	1–3	1–0	0–3	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–3	3–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	3–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–2	0–1	0–1	0–2	3–0	1–0	1–0	3–1
Montreal Impact	AUS	POR	PUE	MIN	VAN	POR	CAR	MIA	MIN	TAM	ROC	CAR	VAN	ROC	STL	CAR	CPB	STL	VAN	CPB	CAR	CPB	ROC	CPB	ROC	PUE	MIA	TAM	VAN	AUS
	0–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–2	0–3	1–0	1–2	3–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	1–2	5–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	3–0	1–0	2–0
Portland Timbers	ROC	STL	MTL	VAN	CPB	STL	MTL	CPB	CAR	AUS	MIA	MIN	MIN	TAM	VAN	MIA	VAN	STL	TAM	ROC	MIN	STL	MIN	AUS	CPB	PUE	CAR	PUE	CPB	VAN
	1–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	0–3	2–2	0–1	2–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–2
Puerto Rico Islanders	MIN	CPB	MTL	CAR	TAM	MIA	AUS	STL	VAN	TAM	ROC	AUS	CPB	CAR	TAM	MIA	MIN	ROC	MIA	TAM	AUS	STL	CAR	POR	VAN	MTL	AUS	POR	CAR	MIA
	3–1	3–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	4–2	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–3	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–2	0–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	0–1	1–2	1–1
Rochester Rhinos	MIA	POR	AUS	MIN	CAR	STL	CPB	VAN	VAN	MIN	CPB	MTL	PUE	MTL	AUS	CPB	CAR	TAM	PUE	CAR	POR	CAR	MTL	CPB	MIA	MTL	TAM	MIA	MIA	STL
	1–1	0–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–2	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	3–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	0–2	3–0	1–2	0–1	2–1
AC St. Louis	CAR	AUS	POR	VAN	CPB	ROC	POR	TAM	MIN	PUE	VAN	CAR	VAN	MTL	MIN	AUS	MTL	CPB	POR	MIN	VAN	POR	PUE	TAM	MIA	MIN	AUS	MIA	AUS	ROC
	0–2	1–2	0–3	0–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	0–3	2–3	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–2	0–2	0–3	1–0	3–0	2–2	0–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	3–1	0–3	2–1	2–4	2–4	1–2
FC Tampa Bay	CPB	MIN	MIA	AUS	CAR	AUS	STL	MIN	PUE	VAN	MTL	PUE	POR	MIA	MIN	PUE	ROC	MIA	POR	AUS	PUE	MIA	VAN	CAR	STL	ROC	AUS	MTL	MIN	CPB
	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	3–3	3–0	3–1	2–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–2	2–4	1–1	3–3	1–1	1–2	2–2	0–3	1–1	0–3	1–3	6–3
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	MIN	MIA	STL	POR	CPB	MTL	ROC	ROC	TAM	CAR	AUS	PUE	STL	MTL	POR	STL	MIA	POR	MIN	MTL	CAR	STL	MIN	TAM	AUS	PUE	CPB	MIN	MTL	POR
	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	3–0	0–1	0–1	2–2

Final regular season results. Based on the results at the NASL results table and USL schedule table

Each round was a two-game aggregate goal series. Home teams for the first game of each series listed at the bottom of the bracket.

	Quarterfinals							Semifinals							Final
	1	Rochester Rhinos	0	2	2
	8	Puerto Rico Islanders	2	1	3
								5	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	0	0	0
								8	Puerto Rico Islanders (a.e.t.)	0	2	2
	4	Portland Timbers	0	1	1
	5	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2	0	2
															2	Carolina RailHawks FC	0	1	1
															8	Puerto Rico Islanders	2	1	3
	3	Austin Aztex	0	2	2
	6	Montreal Impact	2	3	5
								2	Carolina RailHawks FC	0	2	2
								6	Montreal Impact	1	0	1
	2	Carolina RailHawks FC	0	4	4
	7	NSC Minnesota Stars	0	0	0

• Most Valuable Player: Ryan Pore (Portland Timbers)^[8]
• Defender of the Year: Greg Janicki (Vancouver Whitecaps)^[8]
• Goalkeeper of the Year: Jay Nolly (Vancouver Whitecaps)^[8]
• Rookie of the Year: Maxwell Griffin (Austin Aztex)^[8]
• Coach of the Year: Bob Lilley (Rochester Rhinos)^[8]

• GK: Jay Nolly (Vancouver Whitecaps)^[8]
• DF: Greg Janicki (Vancouver Whitecaps)^[8]
• DF: Aaron Pitchkolan (Rochester Rhinos)^[8]
• DF: Troy Roberts (Rochester Rhinos)^[8]
• MF: Ryan Pore (Portland Timbers)^[8]
• MF: Martin Nash (Vancouver Whitecaps)^[8]
• MF: Jamie Watson (Austin Aztex)^[8]
• MF: Paulo Araujo Jr. (Miami FC)^[8]
• MF: Daniel Paladini (Carolina RailHawks)^[8]
• FW: Eddie Johnson (Austin Aztex)^[8]
• FW: Ali Gerba (Montreal Impact)^[8]