Pat Noonan scored a goal and assisted on two others to help the New England Revolution win their first U.S. Open Cup title, and their first championship of any kind in the club’s 12-year history. The Revolution defeated FC Dallas 3-2 to win the Open Cup at Pizza Hut Park, a stadium where they’ve lost the last two MLS Cup championships.
In the tournament’s first MLS vs. MLS game of the year, the Revs won their first title in their fifth championship game appearance. They lost the 2001 Open Cup final, and fell short three times in the MLS Cup final, and can finally get that monkey off their back.
Noonan opened up the scoring in the 21st minute when Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala failed to control a deflection inside the six-yard box. The ball found its way to Noonan at the post and he tapped it out of the air from point blank range to make it 1-0. The Hoops would equalize nine minutes later on an impressive individual effort by Arturo Alvarez. He dribbled to the top of the box and bent a shot past a diving Matt Reis, which deflected off the post and into the back of the net.
Twellman would send the Revs into the halftime break with a lead when Steve Ralston’s corner kick found Noonan’s head which eventually found its way to Twellman in front who volleyed home his fourth goal of the tournament.
Twellman helped create what turned out to be the game-winner from the left wing where he sent a low cross into the box where it found Noonan, who flicked a pass to Wells Thompson. The rookie from Wake Forest beat Adrian Serioux and blasted a shot past Sala to give the Revs a 3-1 lead.
Dallas would not give up. Less than a minute after entering the match as a substitute, Abe Thompson tapped in a ball that was headed into the area by Clarence Goodson to bring the home side within a goal in the 64th minute.
New England’s defense held on for the 3-2 win in the highest scoring Open Cup final since 1993 when CD Mexico (San Francisco) defeated the United German Hungarians (Philadelphia), 5-0.
The Revolution earned $100,000 for winning the Open Cup, while FC Dallas walks away with $50,000 for second place. The team that advances the furthest from each lower division earns prize money as well, with results against higher level competition as one of the tiebreakers.
The Carolina RailHawks and the Seattle Sounders both advanced to the semifinals, but the Sounders were awarded the $10,000 prize money because they defeated two MLS teams, one more than the RailHawks did. For the USL Second Division, the Richmond Kickers went home with the cash thanks to the tiebreaker over the Harrisburg City Islanders. In the amateur division, which includes the USASA and the Premier Development League teams, the El Paso Patriots earned the prize money by defeating a USL First Division team (Miami FC) in the first round. The Ocean City Barons (PDL) and Bavarian SC (USASA) both earned wins against USL Second Division teams, and fell just short.
Scoring Summary:
NE — Pat Noonan 1 (unassisted) 21
DAL — Arturo Alvarez 1 (David Wagenfuhr ) 30
NE — Taylor Twellman 1 (Pat Noonan ) 41
NE — Wells Thompson 1 (Pat Noonan ) 57
DAL — Abe Thompson 1 (Clarence Goodson ) 64
New England Revolution — Matt Reis, Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, James Riley, Andy Dorman, Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston, Khano Smith, Wells Thompson (Adam Cristman 78), Pat Noonan, Taylor Twellman,
Substitutes Not Used: Gary Flood, Kyle Helton, Marshall Leonard, Abdoulie Mansally, Sainey Nyassi, Doug Warren
FC Dallas — Dario Sala, David Wagenfuhr (Kenny Cooper 76), Clarence Goodson, Adrian Serioux, Drew Moor, Dax McCarty, Pablo Ricchetti (Alex Yi 46) (Abe Thompson 63), Juan Toja, Dominic Oduro, Carlos Ruiz, Arturo Alvarez.
Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Chris Gbandi, Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine
FC Dallas / New England Revolution
total shots: 12 (Carlos Ruiz 4) 13 (Taylor Twellman 6)
shots on goal: 4 (Arturo Alvarez 2) 6 (Taylor Twellman 4)
fouls: 16 (Clarence Goodson 4,
Pablo Ricchetti 4) 13 (Jeff Larentowicz 4)
offsides: 7 (Dominic Oduro 4) 3 (Taylor Twellman 2)
corner kicks: 4 (Dax McCarty 4) 5 (Steve Ralston 4)
saves: 3 (Dario Sala 3) 2 (Matt Reis 2)
Misconduct Summary:
NE — Jeff Larentowicz (caution; Tackle from Behind) 74
NE — James Riley (caution; Delaying a Restart) 86
referee: Alex Prus
Referee’s Assistants: George Gansner; Kermit Quisenberry
4th official: Terry Vaughn
time of game: 1:51
attendance: 10,618
weather: Clear -and- 84 degrees