| Competition: | USL W-League |
| Season: | 1995 |
| Winners: | Long Island Lady Riders (1st title) |
| League Topscorer: | Charmaine Hooper (31 goals) |
| Matches: | 157 |
| Total Goals: | 327 |
| Nextseason: | 1996 |
The 1995 USWISL, also known as the 1995 Nike W League for sponsorship reasons,[1] [2] [3] was the inaugural season of the United States Women's Interregional Soccer League (USWISL), which later became the USL W-League. Operated by the USISL, it was the highest division of women's soccer in the United States at the time.[4] The Long Island Lady Riders were crowned champions after defeating the Southern California Nitemares in the Championship game.[4]
In December 1993, it was announced that the USISL had committed to establishing the first US-wide women's soccer league, and that it would begin operations in 1995.[5] In 1994, in preparation for the following year, around eighteen teams were established with the purpose of playing a few exhibition games with each other under the USISL umbrella. Five of these teams were then invited to a final tournament in Trinity, North Carolina, which was won by the Sacramento Storm, who defeated the Greensboro Dynamo 1–0 in the Championship game.[5]
The league was originally meant to include 20 teams,[1] but only 19 entered the competition; moreover, the Wichita Lady Blues and the Tulsa Roughnecks folded early in the year, thus bringing the number of competing teams down to 17, divided into three divisions (Eastern, Central, and Western).[4] [3]
The league did not follow the standard FIFA points system; instead, points were awarded as follows:[4]
| Team | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Long Island Lady Riders (C) | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 11 | +19 | 78 | 26 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania Freedom | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 53 | 11 |
| 3 | Connecticut Lady Wolves | 10 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 52 | 16 |
| 4 | Mass Bay Crusaders | 10 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 14 | +6 | 49 | 15 |
| 5 | Boston Tornado | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 17 | −1 | 44 | 16 |
| 6 | Baltimore Lady Bays | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 14 | +2 | 37 | 13 |
| 7 | Hampton Roads Piranhas | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 26 | −19 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | Rhode Island Stingrays | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | −20 | 2 | 2 |
| Team | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rockford Dactyls | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 5 | +33 | 72 | 24 |
| 2 | Texas Lightning | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 12 | +19 | 56 | 20 |
| 3 | Columbus Ziggx | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 26 | −4 | 49 | 19 |
| 4 | Cincinnati Leopards | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 26 | −2 | 47 | 17 |
| 5 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Wichita Lady Blues | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern California Nitemares | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 12 | +19 | 64 | 22 |
| 2 | San Francisco Vikings | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 12 | +8 | 62 | 20 |
| 3 | Sacramento Storm | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 17 | +5 | 49 | 17 |
| 4 | San Diego Lady Top Guns | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 20 | −4 | 24 | 10 |
| 5 | Arizona Heatwave | 8 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 25 | −20 | 15 | 5 |
The Sizzlin' Six Tournament took place in Cincinnati, Ohio from August 11 to August 13, 1995. The Cincinnati Leopards qualified automatically as the hosts of the tournament. Having won their respective divisions, the Long Island Lady Riders (Eastern), the Rockford Dactyls (Central), and the Southern California Nitemares (Western) also qualified for the tournament. The Pennsylvania Freedom and the Texas Lightning, who finished second in the Eastern and Central divisions respectively, took the remaining two spots.[3]
The six qualified teams played in a modified round-robin tournament, with each team playing games on August 11 and 12 against two non-division opponents. The Championship game was played on August 13, 1995.[3]
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charmaine Hooper | Rockford Dactyls | 31 |
| 2 | Diane McLoughlin | Long Island Lady Riders | 19 |
| 3 | Jennifer Evans | Southern California Nitemares | 18 |
| 4 | Janette Javit | Texas Lightning | 17 |
| 5 | Erica Handelman | Rockford Dactyls | 15 |
| 6 | Jennifer Shannon | Cincinnati Leopards | 14 |
| 7 | Paula Russo | Boston Tornado | 13 |
| 8 | Kara Lee | Texas Lightning | 11 |
| Lori Hokerson | Sacramento Storm | ||
| 10 | Caitlin Connolly | Long Island Lady Riders | 9 |