following a lacklustre first year, the impact surprised the defending champion colorado foxes (1–0) on october 15, 1994, at home in front of a sold out montreal crowd to claim their first league title. subsequently, the team finished first or tied for first during the regular season in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2003 without making it back to the final. the impact lost to archrivals rochester in their first four playoff encounters, in 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2003, before finally defeating them in 2004 en route to their second title. the club was favoured to repeat in 2005, but after a near-flawless season (3 losses in 28 games) the impact were ousted in the semi-finals by the eventual champions, the seattle sounders (2–2, 1–2). the team also won the inaugural voyageurs cup in 2002 and successfully defended this title from 2003 to 2008. in 2009 the impact were crowned at home for their third title, beating the vancouver whitecaps fc by an aggregate score of 6–3 in a cinderella ending to what had been a tumultuous season.