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39-701: Based on the west coast of the United States, the Western Soccer Alliance (WSA) came into existence in 1985 as a means of providing semi-pro and amateur clubs an opportunity to compete outside of their local areas. The WSA was given additional impetus by the collapse of the North American Soccer League (NASL) at the end of the 1984 NASL season. One former NASL team, the San Jose Earthquakes , entered

78-563: A 5–2 aggregate score. In the third round on June 14 and 16, the Blackhawks crushed Real España of Honduras 6–0 on aggregate. With a bye in the fourth round because of the Vancouver 86ers ' withdrawal from the competition, they found themselves in their zone championship series. Here the Blackhawks' run came to an end as Club América of Mexico won 4–3 on aggregate. Mexican great Hugo Sánchez scored three of América's goals. While

117-483: A Thien Nguyen free kick. Just over a minute later, national team forward Eric Eichmann scored for Fort Lauderdale. His strike was followed by one from Troy Edwards from a Marcelo Carrera assist in the 85th minute. Marcelo Carrera got a goal to join his assist when he scored in the 90th minute on an assist from Victor Moreland. The game was televised live by Pacific Sports Network. JP Dellacamera provided play by play and Rick Davis added color commentary. In 1990,

156-668: A defensive battle, with San Diego defeating San Francisco Bay 1–0. Following this game, the San Diego Nomads played the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the ASL in the 1989 National Pro Soccer Championship in order to crown a "national" champion. The game, played before 8,632 fans in San Jose's Spartan Stadium on September 9, 1989, remained scoreless until the 74th minute when San Diego's Jerome Watson scored on

195-474: A national league. Only three of the eleven 1990 WSL teams began the 1991 season, and the Salt Lake Sting folded before the season ended. However, the Blackhawks continued their strong play, finishing with a 17–4 record, the second best in the league. In the playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the semifinals, then won their first and only championship with a victory over

234-577: A semi-pro challenge cup, was now officially a league with two separate divisions and three new franchises. Salary and travel costs also began to rise as the league began to plan for the possibility of becoming a new national soccer league, similar to the NASL in its heyday. One of the factors pushing the WSL in this direction was the creation of the third version of the American Soccer League on

273-577: A three-team, post-season. At the end of the season, the top three teams were, in order, the San Diego Nomads , F. C. Seattle and San Jose Earthquakes . In the "wild card" game, San Jose defeated Seattle 3–0. However, San Jose's success ended there when the Nomads defeated them 3–1 in the championship game. In 1988, The alliance kept the same teams as the 1987 season, but played 12 games, including games against two Canadian Soccer League teams,

312-637: The Albany Capitals . The Blackhawks gained even greater honors when they entered the 1992 CONCACAF Champions' Cup due to their 1991 APSL title. They were placed in Group 2 of the Cup's North/Central Zone. On May 27 and 29, 1992, the Blackhawks hosted the Eurokickers of Panama , taking the two-game series, 11–0. In the second round on April 18 and May 3, they dismantled La Victoria of Belize , on

351-673: The Calgary Kickers and Vancouver 86ers . The Seattle team, which had been known variably as F.C. Seattle, and the F.C. Seattle Storm, dropped the "F.C." from its name and became officially the Seattle Storm . The league also began naming an All Star team. The alliance continued its practice from 1987 of playing only two post-season games, a "wild card" game and championship. This year, San Jose defeated San Diego 1–1 (6–5 PK) in penalty kicks. On July 30, 1987, Seattle gained revenge on San Jose for its 1987 wild card defeat by crushing

390-560: The Greensboro Dynamo and Orlando Lions on goal differential. Van Voorhis folded the team at the end of the 1993 season after losing money in a soccer-related lawsuit. In 1994, shortly after having successfully landed a San Jose Major League Soccer franchise and handing over all existing Hawks player contracts, front-office resources and the rights to play in Spartan Stadium to MLS in exchange for Type C stock in

429-673: The MISL and the AISA . The NASL had folded in 1984. The United Soccer League had lasted only two years, 1984 and 1985. The second American Soccer League had collapsed in 1983 and the third version of the league would not begin playing until 1988. Finally, the Lone Star Soccer Alliance would not begin play until 1987. Because of this, the WSA attracted many of the top U.S. outdoor players. Some of these players also played in

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468-748: The Seattle Challenge Series against the Vancouver Whitecaps , Minnesota Strikers , New York Cosmos and U.S. Olympic Team. Other teams held similar challenge series and it was from these efforts that the Western Alliance Challenge Series was born. Two of the Challenge Series' teams, F.C. Portland and F. C. Seattle were amateur teams. The other two, Victoria Riptide and San Jose Earthquakes , were barely professional although

507-595: The Western Soccer Alliance and elected San Jose Earthquakes president, Peter Bridgwater , as the league's first commissioner. The Victoria Riptides disagreed and withdrew, but was replaced by the Edmonton Brick Men . Several other independent west coast teams which wanted to play beyond their local leagues also requested to join the new alliance. These included the Hollywood Kickers , Los Angeles Heat and San Diego Nomads . The WSA continued

546-436: The 1990 season. The 1989 season continued much as the season before, except for post season play, the league replaced the former "wild card" game with two semi-final games in which the top teams in the two divisions played the second place team in the other division. In the first semi-final, San Francisco Bay defeated Los Angeles 1–1(2–1 PK). In the other semifinal, San Diego defeated Portland 2–1. The championship game became

585-664: The APSL as his team was bleeding money, and enter them in the lower level United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL). In 1993, the Blackhawks found themselves both in a new league and with a new name. USISL had placed the team in the Pacific Division which was loaded with local San Francisco teams, including the San Francisco United All Blacks , San Francisco Bay Diablos , North Bay Breakers and East Bay Red Riders . The name change, to

624-486: The Blackhawks outran their CONCACAF competition, they did not see similar domestic success. In 1992, the APSL was down to five teams from the eight that had finished the 1991 season. The Blackhawks were also beginning to fade, finishing the season in third place with an even record of 8–8. While they made the playoffs, they lost to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the first round. Van Voorhis elected to withdraw from

663-648: The Earthquakes, 5–0, at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. The Western Soccer Alliance had seen nothing but success since its inception as a challenge cup in 1985. In 1989, it continued to build for the future. The alliance decided to become a formal league and with it came a name change to the Western Soccer League (WSL), with Bill Sage as league chairman. The WSL also added three new teams, Real Santa Barbara , Arizona Condors and Sacramento Senators . Several established teams also saw name changes,

702-619: The Los Angeles team could not obtain change or add dates on a stadium lease, and the Edmonton team was unable to accommodate additional games. Many top outdoor players now languished in local semi-pro or recreational leagues. These players, along with local soccer officials, began parallel, but independent efforts to create local "super clubs". These "super clubs" then challenged other independent teams to games for little more than bragging rights. For example, in 1984 F. C. Seattle hosted

741-534: The MISL or AISA during the winter so they could accept smaller salaries in the summer. In 1987, the league saw little change, except for the Edmonton Brick Men leaving to join the newly established Canadian Soccer League . The Hollywood Kickers also changed its name to the California Kickers. With the loss of Edmonton, the alliance reduced the number of games from 12 to 10. The alliance also established

780-432: The NASL had overexpanded. This brought teams into the league which were not financially solvent. The four WSA teams intended to use the lessons of the NASL to avoid the failure of that league. First they maintained a loose organization, using the name alliance in order to stress the semi-pro nature of the WSA. They also reduced roster costs by using the semi-pro and amateur players mentioned earlier. The regional nature of

819-583: The San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, Portland Timbers, Seattle Storm and newly added Sacramento Senators. The South Division had the San Diego Nomads, Los Angeles Heat, California Kickers and two new teams, Real Santa Barbara and the Arizona Condors. As the league began its 1989 season, things appeared to be going well, but the seeds of the WSL's eventual collapse had now been sown. The league, only four years from its founding as

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858-539: The San Jose Earthquakes became the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks and F.C. Portland resurrected the old local NASL name and became the Portland Timbers . With the additional teams came a change in the league structure. Through the 1988 season, the WSA played as a single Division. With the addition of more teams, the league split into two divisions – North and South. The North Division comprised

897-687: The San Jose Hawks, allowed them to differentiate themselves from the competition. Regardless of the name, the Hawks quickly rose to divisional domination, running to a 14–2 record and 119 points, second in the league. In the divisional semi-finals, the Hawks crushed the Chico Rooks 6–0, then easily handled the All Blacks 3–0. In the USISL, the divisional champions then entered what was called

936-622: The Sizzling Six Championship. The six teams played two games in order to determine who would go to the championship game. While this reduced travel cost, it left a lot to be desired as the Hawks continued to crush their competition, defeating the East Los Angeles Cobras 4–1, and the Dallas Americans 4–1. Despite these two victories, the Hawks did not make the championship game, losing out to

975-511: The WSA as a charter member. In 1988, the Earthquakes' new owner, Bill Lunghi, withdrew the Earthquakes from the WSA. In response, the WSA awarded a franchise to Dan Van Voorhis , a San Francisco Bay Area-based real estate lawyer. Van Voorhis had gotten his start in real estate when he and his partner provided the legal expertise for the creation of the Blackhawk Ranch housing development. Van Voorhis named his new team, which competed in

1014-680: The WSL formally merged with the American Soccer League (ASL) to form the American Professional Soccer League which would itself one day become known as the A-League , be absorbed by the United Soccer Leagues and be called USL-1 , the predecessor to USL Pro . Despite the hopes of the WSL leadership, USSF did not designate the new APSL as the top U.S. league. That honor would eventually go Major League Soccer which began play in 1996. Instead,

1053-399: The alliance also helped minimize travel costs. Despite the good early intentions, the WSA would in many ways mimic the rise and fall of the NASL. The success of the 1985 challenge series led the four teams into discussions regarding the establishment of something more than the ad hoc tournament of the first year. F.C. Portland , F. C. Seattle and the San Jose Earthquakes voted to create

1092-650: The best record in the WSL this year. In the playoffs, they first defeated 2–1 the Colorado Foxes , then won the title series two games to one over the Los Angeles Heat . In the APSL championship game, the Maryland Bays stopped the Blackhawks’ run with a victory in penalty kicks. In 1991, the APSL experienced a rapid contraction as most team owners realized they had jumped too quickly into

1131-631: The demise of the North American Soccer League in 1984 and the United Soccer League in 1985, four independent teams— F.C. Portland , F.C. Seattle , San Jose Earthquakes and Victoria Riptides —created the Western Alliance Challenge Series in the summer of 1985. They did so in order to fill the outdoor soccer void created by the failure of the NASL and USL. The Western Alliance Challenge Series would have had two more teams from Los Angeles and Edmonton, but

1170-553: The east coast. Another was the announcement in July 1988 that USSF intended to create a national, first division league in the United States to fulfill a FIFA requirement for the award of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the United States. The WSL was concerned that USSF would designate the new ASL as the Division One league, leaving the WSL as a permanent minor league. In February 1989, the ASL and WSL announced they would merge for

1209-428: The final game. At the end of the 1989 season, the WSL merged with the east coast-based American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). While this was notionally the first true national soccer league since the collapse of the NASL in 1984, in actuality, the WSL and ASL continued as separate leagues with teams from the two leagues meeting only in the championship game. The Blackhawks had

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1248-471: The first year of the series, the teams played a round robin, home and away tournament, called the Western Alliance Challenge Series. One of the more distinctive features of this series was the inclusion of games against outside teams, which counted in the final rankings. In this first year, the four teams played against Edmonton Brick Men and Canada . However, only the games with the Brick Men counted in

1287-441: The first year practice of playing outside teams ( Manchester City and Dundee this year) with results counting in the alliance standings. Each team played 16 games and the champion was crowned based on end of year standings. The alliance would not have a post season until 1987. When the Western Soccer Alliance began its 1986 season, it was the lone U.S. "professional" outdoor league. Two professional indoor leagues did exist:

1326-1043: The league, Van Voorhis was forced to accept a buyout from the league because of financial difficulties stemming from a divorce. This left the franchise (subsequently named the San Jose Clash ) league-owned for several years. APSL Champions CONCACAF Champions' Cup Rookie of the Year First Team All Star Second Team All Star WSL Top Goalscorer While the Blackhawks are best known for playing in Spartan Stadium , they spent most of 1991 in Newark Memorial Stadium. The team also played games in Buck Shaw Stadium and Fremont Stadium. Western Soccer Alliance The Western Soccer Alliance

1365-400: The majority of the players had prior professional experience in the NASL. However, all four teams drew their players from the ranks of ex-NASL players, local semi-pro teams, or local colleges and universities. By keeping their teams independent and amateur, Seattle and Portland could use college players without those players losing their NCAA soccer eligibility. Despite the low key nature of

1404-407: The newly renamed Western Soccer League's North Division, the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks. In 1989, the Blackhawks immediately put their stamp on the league as one of the top teams. It ran to an 11–5 record and 98 points, second only to the San Diego Nomads 12–4 record and 99 points. In the playoffs, the Blackhawks downed the Los Angeles Heat in penalty kicks before losing 1–0 to the Nomads in

1443-525: The rankings. F.C. Portland hosted the first game of the series, playing F.C. Seattle in the Portland Civic Stadium. While only 2,906 fans attended this first game, the series gained significant positive attention in the U.S. soccer press. The collapse of the NASL had shaken the U.S. soccer community, which had hoped that soccer, led by the NASL, would become quickly established as a major U.S. sport. In hindsight, it became obvious that

1482-491: The teams and the loose "alliance" versus "league", the WSA would go on to attract some of the top American players of the late 1980s and early 1990s. A few of the more noteworthy alumni include Marcelo Balboa ( San Diego Nomads ), Paul Caligiuri ( San Diego Nomads ) and Kasey Keller ( F.C. Portland ). Others players which came through the league included John Doyle , Mike Lapper , Cle Kooiman , Hugo Perez , Dominic Kinnear , Paul Krumpe and John Stollmeyer . In 1985,

1521-480: Was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada . The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series . In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alliance . In 1989, it existed for a single year as the Western Soccer League before merging with the American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League in 1990. After

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