2009 USL Playoff Preview

2009 marked the 23rd season of play for the first division of the USL (United Soccer League). The new season started off with four team changes:
- The Cleveland City Stars were promoted from the USL-2 Division
- The Austin Aztex were added as an expansion team
- The Atlanta Silverbacks went on a 'hiatus' for the season (refer back to the current struggles going on between the owners group and the new league owners)
- The Seattle Sounders left to become an expansion MLS team

The season began on April 11 and ended on September 20th with each team playing a total of 30 league games. The following are some interesting league stats from this year:
- Average goals per game: 2.35
- Biggest victory: 9-0 (Carolina over Miami)
- Longest Winning Run: 5 (Portland & Puerto Rico)
- Longest Unbeaten Run: 24 (Portland)
- Highest Attendance: 14,103 (Portland)
- Lowest Attendance: 67 (Miami)
- Average Attendance: 4,702

The final table ended up like this:
Position-Team-Points
1-Portland Timbers-58
2-Carolina Railhawks-55
3-Puerto Rico Islanders-53
4-Charleston Battery-53
5-Montreal Impact-44
6-Rochester Rhinos-43
7-Vancouver Whitecaps FC-42
8-Minnesota Thunder-31
9-Miami FC-29
10-Austin Aztex-21
11-Cleveland City Stars-19

The top 7 teams made the playoffs with Portland getting a first round bye. The Quarterfinal match-ups will be a home and away series with the first game at the lowest seeded team on Thursday (24th) and the second leg at the higher seeded team on Sunday (27th). The Semifinals will take place in the same format the following week and the Finals home-and-away series the week after.

	Quarterfinals							Semifinals							Final
	4	Charleston Battery
	5	Montreal Impact
								1	Portland Timbers
	2	Carolina RailHawks FC
	7	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
	3	Puerto Rico Islanders
	6	Rochester Rhinos