1987–88 American Indoor Soccer Association season

American Indoor Soccer Association
Season1987–88
ChampionsCanton Invaders
3rd title
Matches played48
Goals scored414 (8.63 per match)
Top goalscorerRudy Pikuzinski (24)

The 1987–88 American Indoor Soccer Association season was the fourth season for the league. Only four teams (Canton, Fort Wayne, Memphis and Milwaukee) returned from the previous year, which made for a very brief, 24-game season that ended in early February. The 1988 All-Star game had been scheduled for Tampa Bay,[1] but with the Rowdies leaving the league to play outdoors in the American Soccer League, and three other clubs (Chicago, Toledo and league-champion Louisville) folding, the game was canceled altogether.

Two expansion teams were set to join for the following season, Dayton and Jacksonville. Rather than have only a two-team battle in a championship playoff series, the league instead opted to stage a 12-match, unbalanced, round-robin tournament called the Challenge Cup Series[2] to determine who took home the trophy for 1987–88. The two expansion teams were also invited to play in this unique season-ending event, despite never having previously faced AISA competition. This would also give league owners a chance to see if the two new teams were really ready for the AISA. The series commenced on February 14. As the six-week long tournament rolled on, the race for cup came down to the final game of the series on April 1, which happened to match league-leaders Canton and Fort Wayne.[3] Both teams carried 8–3 records into match. Since the winner would secure the title by one game, it became a de facto championship final. Canton held on for a 5–4 victory, and their third AISA title in four seasons.[4]

League Standings

Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD PCT GB
1 Memphis Storm 24 16 8 104 94 +10 .667 —
2 Canton Invaders 24 12 12 108 97 +11 .500 4
3 Milwaukee Wave 24 11 13 103 111 −8 .458 5
4 Fort Wayne Flames 24 9 15 99 112 −13 .375 7
Source: RSSSF

Challenge Cup

Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD PCT GB
1 Canton Invaders 12 9 3 67 55 +12 .750 —
2 Fort Wayne Flames 12 8 4 72 52 +20 .667 1
3 Milwaukee Wave 12 6 6 52 53 −1 .500 3
4 Jacksonville Generals 12 6 6 53 58 −5 .500 3
5 Memphis Storm 12 4 8 44 53 −9 .333 5
6 Dayton Dynamo 12 3 9 46 63 −17 .250 6
Source: RSSSF

de facto Challenge Cup final

Fort Wayne Flames4–5Canton Invaders
 report
Attendance: 8,028

1987–88 AISA Challenge Cup Champions: Canton Invaders (8–4 record)

League Leaders

Scoring

Player Team GP G A Pts
Rudy Pikuzinski Canton 23 24 18 42
Martín Vásquez Memphis 23 17 19 36
George Pastor Milwaukee 24 18 15 33
Ted Hantak Memphis 22 21 10 31
Neil Ridgeway Fort Wayne 22 19 11 30
Art Kramer Canton 23 16 12 28
Steve Frick Canton 19 20 5 25
Chris Hellenkamp Fort Wayne 21 18 6 24
Dan O'Keefe Fort Wayne 21 18 6 24
Paul DiBernardo Fort Wayne 22 18 5 23
Carlos Salguero Fort Wayne 21 11 12 23

Goalkeeping

Player Team GP Min SA SV GA GAA W L
Manny Sanchez Memphis 12 708 389 140 44 3.73 8 3
Yaro Dachniwsky Memphis 11 598 278 124 38 3.82 6 5
Mark Berry Milwaukee 6 386 270 96 27 4.19 4 2
Warren Lipka Fort Wayne 14 804 418 207 58 4.33 7 6
Bill Naumovski Canton 16 882 380 152 65 4.42 8 7

League awards

  • Most Valuable Player: Rudy Pikuzinski, Canton
  • Coach of the Year: Terry Nicholl, Memphis
  • Defender of the Year: Tim Tyma, Milwaukee
  • Goalkeeper of the Year: Manny Sanchez, Memphis
  • Rookie of the Year: Rod Castro, Memphis

All-AISA Team

Player Pos Team
Manny Sanchez G Memphis
Tim Tyma D Milwaukee
Vince Beck D Memphis
Chris Hellenkamp M Fort Wayne
Ted Hantak F Memphis
Rudy Pikuzinski F Canton

References

  1. ^ Younkin, Lou (February 20, 1987). "Smaller arena may enliven All-Star Game action". The Courier Journal. p. D6. Retrieved June 14, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Lilley, Bill (February 8, 1988). "Whole league 'biting bullet'". Akron Beacon Journal. p. A1. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  3. ^ Lilley, Bill (April 1, 1988). "Win puts Invaders even closer to Cup". Akron Beacon Journal. p. 1C. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  4. ^ Lilley, Bill (April 2, 1988). "Invaders up to the Challenge". Akron Beacon Journal. p. 1C. Retrieved June 12, 2017.