2003 D.C. United season

March 2026 August 2023 D.C. United 1998 wordmark.svg D.C. United 2003 MLS 7th Owner D.C. United Holdings Head coach Ray Hudson MLS Cup Conference Semifinals U.S. Open Cup Semifinals Atlantic Cup Runners-up KovalenkoEtcheverry (06) _DCU_02h _adidaswhite2002 000000 FFFFFF 000000 000000 000000 _adidasstripesonwhite _DCU_03a _adidasstripesonwhite _DCU_03a _redtop 000000 FFFFFF 000000 FFFFFF FFFFFF _adidasaltblack _DCU_03t _adidasaltblack _adidaswhite2002 DD0000 FFFFFF DD0000 000000 000000 true 2002 2004 The 2003 D.C. United season was the clubs' ninth year of existence, as well as their seventh season in Major League Soccer. Led by Ray Hudson, D.C. United's 2003 campaign was highlighted by the club's return to the MLS Cup Playoffs, their first postseason appearance since 1999. In the playoffs, United who didn't qualify for the playoffs until the final day of the regular season, took on the Eastern Conference regular season champions, Chicago Fire. The Fire defeated United 4–0 on aggregates in the conference semifinals, winning each leg by a 2–0 margin of victory. Background Squad No. Name Nationality Position(s) Date of birth (age) Apps Goals Assists Signed from Goalkeepers1Doug WarrenUSAGK1981 03 18USA 18Nick RimandoUSAGK1979 06 17USA 28Clint Baumstark USAGK1983 01 9USA Wingers8 Hristo StoichkovBUL1966 02 8USA Strikers11 Alecko EskandarianUSA1978 07 9 17 Ali CurtisUSA1978 12 18USA 19 Devin BarclayUSA1983 04 9USA 27 Ronald CerritosHON1975 01 3 29 Thiago MartinsBRA1976 09 4 Review April May June July August September October November On November 1, 2003, D.C. United played their first playoff match in nearly four years, entering the 2003 MLS Cup Playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. In the Conference semifinals, United faced the Eastern Conference regular season champions, Chicago Fire. The two-match, aggregate series was first contested at United's RFK Stadium. The match ended in a 2–0 defeat thanks to goals from the Fire's Andy Williams and Ante Razov in the 4th and 94th minutes, respectively.Recap: Chicago Fire 2, D.C. United 0 http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?mst_action=recap&league=mls&game_id=195283&section=mls&cont_id=mst MLSnet.com DCUnited.com April 9, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20040326073934/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?mst_action=recap&league=mls&game_id=195283&section=mls&cont_id=mst March 26, 2004 November 1, 2003 A week later, on November 9, 2003, the second leg was played at Chicago Fire's Soldier Field, where the Fire defeated United by the same 2–0 scoreline, thus ultimately winning the series 4–0 on aggregate, and advancing to the Eastern Conference championship. The defeat ended United's playoff campaign and their season altogether. Non-competitive Preseason exhibitions February 14, 2003 D.C. United 2–1 https://web.archive.org/web/20030904115827/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=163789 Canada U20 Stoitchkov 18 pen. 35 pen.Kovalenko 2 21 50 Hume 47 Bobby Campbell Stadium Boca Raton, Florida W February 16, 2003 2:30 p.m. Lynn Fighting Knights 0–3 https://web.archive.org/web/20031023062224/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=164288 D.C. United Gomez 35Mediros 61 83 Bobby Campbell Stadium Boca Raton, Florida W February 18, 2003 FIU Panthers 0–3 https://web.archive.org/web/20031026113050/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=164613 D.C. United Petke 14Kovalenko 26Stoitchkov 49 FIU Soccer Stadium Miami, Florida 817 W February 20, 2003 Florida Atlantic Owls 3–5 https://web.archive.org/web/20031026113257/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=164929 D.C. United Totland 26Garbee 75Baum 86 Ivanov 32Etcheverry 44Eskandarian 54Olsen 57Quintanilla 90+1 FAU Soccer Stadium Boca Raton, Florida W Midseason exhibitions D.C. United May 14, 2003 7:30 p.m. 1–0 https://web.archive.org/web/20030603181727/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=181241 Tottenham Hotspur Carr 30 o.g.Stoitchkov 67 RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. 14,028 Kevin Terry W D.C. United July 23, 2003 7:00 p.m. 1–1 yes 6–5 https://web.archive.org/web/20030815193048/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=194823 Blackburn Rovers Carroll 85 Taylor 16Cole 30Neill 90+2 Carroll Etcheverry Curtis Quintanilla Olsen Prideaux Kovalenko Saunders Ostenstad Danns Taylor Gallagher Todd Johansson RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. 9,452 Ali Saheli D D.C. United August 31, 2003 7:30 p.m. 3–1 https://web.archive.org/web/20031031095339/http://www.dcunited.com/index.cfm?section=main&cont_id=202145 El Salvador Stewart 24 50Etcheverry 39Olsen 62Geddes 85 Pacheco 6Velásquez 20Meraz 73 RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. 23,269 Michael Kennedy W Competitive Overall Major League Soccer 2003 Major League Soccer season Standings Eastern Conference DCU Overall table DCU Results summary Results by round Match results 1 Kansas City Wizards April 12, 2003 16:00 ET 3–2 yes Report D.C. United Preki 3Klein 61Brown 92 Petke 36Quaranta 46 Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, Missouri L 2 D.C. United April 19, 2003 15:30 ET 0–0 yes Report Chicago Fire RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. D 3 Colorado Rapids April 26, 2003 17:00 ET 1–1 yes Report D.C. United Spencer 24 pen. Etcheverry 7 Invesco Field Denver, Colorado D 4 D.C. United May 3, 2003 15:30 ET 0–0 yes Report Dallas Burn RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. D 5 MetroStars May 10, 2003 15:30 ET 1–0 Report D.C. United Mathis Giants Stadium East Rutherford, New Jersey L 6 D.C. United May 17, 2003 15:30 ET 1–1 Report Kansas City Wizards RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. D 7 Dallas Burn May 31, 2003 15:30 ET 3–2 Report D.C. United Dragon Stadium Southlake, Texas L 8 D.C. United June 7, 2003 15:30 ET 2–0 Chicago Fire RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. W 9 Colorado Rapids June 11, 2003 17:30 ET 0–0 yes D.C. United Invesco Field Denver, Colorado D 10 D.C. United June 14, 2003 15:30 ET 3–0 Columbus Crew RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. W 11 D.C. United June 21, 2003 15:30 ET 1–1 New England Revolution RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. D 12 Columbus Crew June 28, 2003 15:30 ET 3–0 D.C. United Crew Stadium Columbus, Ohio L 13 Dallas Burn July 2, 2003 17:00 ET 1–3 D.C. United Dragon Stadium Southlake, Texas W 14 D.C. United July 5, 2003 12:00 ET 2–3 MetroStars RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. L 15 UTC−5 16 UTC−5 17 UTC−5 18 UTC−5 19 UTC−5 20 UTC−5 21 UTC−5 22 UTC−5 23 UTC−5 24 UTC−5 25 UTC−5 26 UTC−5 27 UTC−5 28 UTC−5 29 UTC−5 30 UTC−5 31 UTC−5 32 UTC−5 MLS Cup Playoffs 2003 MLS Cup Playoffs Conf. SF D.C. United November 1, 2003 0–2 Report Chicago Fire Williams 4Razov 94 RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. United States 15,202 George Gansner L Conf. SF Chicago Fire November 9, 2003 2–0 4–0 Report D.C. United Soldier Field Chicago United States 15,312 L U.S. Open Cup 2003 U.S. Open Cup Third round D.C. United Washington, D.C. July 16, 2003 2–1 Report Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Riverhounds Petke 33Kovalenko 44 Wright 37Tripoli 41Villar 59Martins 74Chulis 83 Maryland SoccerPlex Germantown, Maryland 3,073 Hector Tobon W Fourth round D.C. United Washington, D.C. August 6, 2003 1–0 yes Report Virginia Virginia Beach Mariners Petke 13Quintanilla 23Eskandarian 57Stokes 90Stoitchkov 97 Lassiter 12Washington 15Bilyk 21 Maryland SoccerPlex Germantown, Maryland 2,870 Abiodun Okulaja W Quarterfinals Wilmington Hammerheads North Carolina August 27, 2003 0–1 Report Washington, D.C. D.C. United Zarate 55 Cerritos 30 Legion Field Wilmington, North Carolina 5,016 Gus St. Silva W Semifinals MetroStars New Jersey October 1, 2003 3–2 Report Washington, D.C. D.C. United Guevara 20 43Wolyniec 88 Ivanov 18Warren 0 59Cerritos 76 Yurcak Field Piscataway, New Jersey 3,791 Terry Vaughn L Club September 2012 Statistics Appearances and goals Numbers after plus–sign (+) denote appearances as a substitute. MLS MLS Cup US Open Cup 1 Doug Warren GK USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 2 David Stokes DF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Galin Ivanov DF BUL 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Brandon Prideaux DF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Milton Reyes DF HON 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 7 Ryan Nelsen DF NZL 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Hristo Stoitchkov FW BUL 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 9 Earnie Stewart FW USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 10 Marco Etcheverry MF BOL 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Alecko Eskandarian FW USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Mike Petke DF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 13 Jose Alegria MF PER 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 14 Ben Olsen MF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 15 Bobby Convey MF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Brian Carroll MF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Nick Rimando GK USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Devin Barclay FW USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Eliseo Quintanilla FW SLV 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 21 Dema Kovalenko MF UKR 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 24 Trevor Perea MF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 25 Santino Quaranta FW USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 26 Bryan Namoff MF USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 27 Ronald Cerritos FW SLV 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 28 Clint Baumstark GK USA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 29 Thiago Martins FW BRA 0+0 0 0 0 0 0 November 1, 2003 Soccerway August 2023 Transfers MLS SuperDraft picks 2003 MLS SuperDraft D.C. United made a total of seven selections in the 2003 MLS Draft. Five of the draft picks were ultimately signed for the 2003 season. #FFFFFF 2003 D.C. United SuperDraft Picks Round Selection Player Position College Status11 USA Alecko Eskandarian FW Virginia Signed to first team 1 5 USA David Stokes DF North Carolina Signed to first team 2 11 USA Brian Carroll MF Wake Forest Signed with first team 2 14 USA Doug Warren GK Clemson Signed with first team 4 31 USA Hayden Woodworth MF Messiah Did not sign 5 41 USA John Swann DF Indiana Did not sign 6 51 USA Michael Behonick GK American Signed with first team See also 2003 in American soccer 2003 Major League Soccer season 2003 U.S. Open Cup D.C. United List of D.C. United seasons References 2003 Dc United Dc United Category:2003 in sports in Washington, D.C.