American Soccer League III, 1988-1989

The third American Soccer League was formed at a time of rapid flux in U.S. 
Soccer League makeup.  Just before the demise of the United Soccer League in 
1985, there was formed the Western Soccer Alliance (Changed to the Western 
Soccer League in 1989), followed two years later by the Lone Star Soccer 
Association (itself formed as a direct result of the collapse of the United 
Soccer League), and the American Soccer League III in 1988.  In 1990, the 
ASL III and the WSA merged to form the American Professional Soccer League, 
known in 1995 as the A-League.  The league standings for the WSA/WSL and 
APSL can be found on their separate homepages.  The ASL III information was 
obtained by Chris Allen (callen@uga.cc.uga.edu) from the APSL media guide.



                              1988

                            G   W   L   GF  GA  PTS 
     	Northern Division
New Jersey Eagles          20  15   5   39  24   45
Maryland Bays              20  12   8   32  31   36
Washington Stars           20  11   9   31  28   33
Boston Bolts               20   9  11   31  33   27
Albany Capitals            20   7  13   26  35   21

     	Southern Division
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers    20  14   6   46  25   42
Washington Diplomats       20  10  10   27  30   30
Tampa Bay Rowdies          20  10  10   23  21   30
Orlando Lions              20   8  12   21  31   24
Miami Sharks               20   4  16   24  42   12

Semifinals:     Ft. Lauderdale 5 defeated Maryland 5-2, 6-0
                Washington defeated New Jersey, 4-1, 0-1, 4-1 (MG)
FINALS:         Washington defeated Ft. Lauderdale 4-3, 3-2


                              1989

                            G   W  TW   L  TL   GF  GA  PTS 
     	Northern Division
Washington Stars           20  14   7   6   2   19  14   37
Boston Bolts               20  13   5   7   3   27  19   37
Albany Capitals            20  11   1   9   4   29  19   36
Maryland Bays              20   9   5  11   5   28  32   27
New Jersey Eagles          20   6   1  14   4   21  35   21

     	Southern Division
Tampa Bay Rowdies          20  12   3   8   2   32  25   35
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers    20  12   2   8   1   33  25   35
Washington Diplomats       20  11   3   9   3   32  26   33
Orlando Lions              20   9   0  11   3   25  20   30
Miami Sharks               20   3   2  17   2   20  51    9

Semifinals:    Ft. Lauderdale defeated Washington, 3-1, 3-1
               Boston defeated Tampa Bay, 2-0, 2-1
FINALS:        Ft. Lauderdale defeated Boston, 1-0, 0-2, 1-0 (MG)

WSL-ASL II "National" Championship:  Ft. Lauderdale defeated San Diego.

TW = Tie-breaking win.  TL = Tie-breaking loss.

Scoring System:  3 points for a regulation win, 2 for a penalty-kick win, 1 for a penalty-kick loss, 0 for a regulation loss.

After the season, Sacramento folded.


At the end of 1989, the ASL III and the WSL merged into a new entity known as the American Professional Soccer League.  For 1990, they remained separate conferences which played independent schedules with different rules and scoring systems, but the two conference champions met for a league championship title game.