The Richmond Kickers offense continues to hit on all cylinders as they dismissed fellow USL Pro team, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 4-1 in the US Open Cup Second Round. The Kickers, who defeated the Dayton Dutch Lions (USL Pro) by the same score in the opening round, received two goals each from David Bulow and Matthew Delicate to cruise into a Third Round matchup with the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer.
Combined with his hat trick in Round 1, Bulow now has a tournament-high five goals, which is already a club record for a single tournament. The two goals on Tuesday give him 13 for his career, which puts him into a three-way tie with Jaime Moreno (DC United) and Johnny Menyongar (Rochester Rhinos / Minnesota Thunder) for first place on the Professional Era (1995-present) goalscoring chart.
Just like their opening round match, the Kickers attempted to get out to a fast start, and the early pressure paid off. Bulow opened up the scoring in the 17th minute when Edson Elcock crossed a ball into the box from the right wing and the tournament’s leading scorer was there to tuck it past goalkeeper Hunter Gilstrap to make it 1-0.
After a spectacular diving header went wide for Bulow moments later, it was the Riverhounds who leveled the match in the 30th minute. Chad Severs received a ball inside the box off the head of Jason Yeisley, who found space and nodded it into the back of the net to tie the game.
With both teams creating chances heading into halftime, Bulow would strike again before the break. Sascha Gorres delivered a cross into the box and once again, Bulow was on the other end, inside the six, with his record-tying 13th career Open Cup goal. The goal broke a couple of club records, as he became the Kickers’ all-time goalscoring leader in the competition and broke the team’s single-tournament record of four which was held by McColm Cephas (2005) and Kevin Jeffrey (2001).
Pro Era Goalscoring Leaders (1995-present) |
13 – Jaime Moreno (DC United) 13 – Johnny Menyongar (Rochester / Minnesota) 13 – David Bulow (Richmond / Cape Cod) 12 – Melvin Tarley (Minnesota Thunder) 11 – Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle Sounders) |
After halftime, Gorres would create a two-goal gap with a cross to the top of the box for Delicate who placed a header above the outstretched arms of Gilstrap, who had come out to get the ball.
Down 3-1, Pittsburgh threw everything forward to get back in the game, but Richmond would put the game away in the 81st minute when Delicate fired an unstoppable shot into the upper corner from just outside the penalty area. For Delicate, it was his eighth career US Open Cup goal, moving him into a tie with Ronald Cerritos and former US international Brian McBride for sixth on the Pro Era chart.
With the win, Richmond has still never lost to a 3rd Division team in the Open Cup and will face off with the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium next Tuesday. The game will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Kickers dropped a 3-0 decision to the Crew in that same stadium back in 2002. Brian McBride and Dante Washington scored for the MLS team that day.
TheCup.us Match MVP: David Bulow
Scoring:
RIC: David Bulow (Edson Elcock) – 17th min.
PIT: Chad Severs (Jason Yeisley) – 30th min.
RIC: David Bulow (Sascha Gorres) – 41st min.
RIC: Matthew Delicate (Sascha Gorres) – 52nd min.
RIC: Matthew Delicate (Ross MacKenzie) – 81st min.
Lineups
RICHMOND: GK Ronnie Pascale; D Sascha Görres, Henry Kalungi, Yomby William, Luke Vercollone (Stanley Nyazamba 69′); Jamel Wallace (Ross Mackenzie 58′), David Hertel, David Bulow, Edson Elcock, Shaka Bangura (Evan Harding 54′); F Matthew Delicâte
PITTSBURGH: GK Hunter Gilstrap; D Nikola Katic, Sterling Flunder, Mike Seth (Jeremy Deighton 70′), Louie Rolko; Tommy Gray, Matt Fondy (Matthew Tuttle 70′), Sammy Appiah, Shintaro Harada; F Jason Yeisley, Chad Severs
Cautions
85′: Appiah (Pitt)
Ejections:
None.
Attendance: 1161