After the semifinals of the Maryland Open Cup tournament wrapped up, two teams emerged to advance to the championship game. Jilly’s Bar & Grill dethroned the defending state champions, beating Christos 3-0. Charm City booked their spot in the final with a 1-0 win over FC Allyance.
The date for the championship game has yet to be determined, but when the bracket for the USASA Region I Finals were released, it was learned that regardless of who wins the Maryland title, both teams will qualify for the regional tournament.
Jilly’s came out firing and scored two goals in the first twelve minutes on goals by George Phillips (5th minute) and Josh Burford (12th) and never looked back. Defending Maryland Open Cup champion Christos had not played since January, and it showed. They were very sluggish and could not create any scoring opportunities until the second half. Christos had several chances early in the second half that might have gotten them back into the game but were unable to cash in. Forward Brian Walter of Jilly’s would eventually put the game away in the 65th minute on an assist from his brother Mike. Goalkeeper Andy Marchica of Christos kept them in the game with 22 saves while Nick Parypinski had an easy time with 7 stops for Jilly’s.
Meanwhile, Charm City and Allyance needed overtime to decide a winner in the other semifinal. For the second week in a row, Charm City were the cardiac kids as they earned a hard fought 1-0 victory in the Open Cup. They lost a man in the first ten minutes when Matt Beckman was given a straight red for a serious foul play (spikes high tackle). That forced the team to play a conservative game against FC Allyance’s speedy forwards. Unfortunately, Allyance could not convert on at least five excellent scoring opportunities in the first half. Both teams had some great opportunities in the second half but to no avail.
On to overtime in a game played in a steady rain and mist where finally, old man Pat Crawford of Charm City put a direct kick into the left corner of the Allyance goal from 22 yards out with 30 seconds left in the first overtime. The second overtime was marred by rough play and stalling on the part of Charm City. Ed Emopkae was ejected for FC Allyance at the 10 minute mark of the second overtime for serious foul play when he violently pushed a forward for Charm City in an act of frustration. The game then ended 1 to 0.
Scott Maguire of Charm City and Jason Vaugh of Allyance were but brilliant in goal with 20 saves and 18 saves respectively.