The Madison 56ers stormed into the second round of the U.S. Open Cup, scoring four goals in a late 14-minute span in the second half to power past Chicago’s AAC Eagles in a first round match in front of 702 fans Tuesday night at Breese Stevens Field.
Tenzin Rampa (Madison West/UW-Milwaukee) opened the scoring in the 67th minute for the 56ers, Jed Hohlbein (Middleton/UW) found the back of the net twice in four minutes and Marquette’s Adam Lysak (Milton) finished things off as the 56ers won their first Open Cup match since 1991.
Madison (5-1-3 overall) advances to play the Chicago Fire Premier, the Premier Development League team for the Major League Soccer club, in a second round match next Tuesday at Breese Stevens. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Second round winners will face MLS teams in the third round June 28.
Based on the first round winners and the tournament rule that requires teams from the same club – such as the Fire – to be separated in the bracket, it appears the most likely potential MLS opponents for the winner of the 56ers-Fire Premier match are Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake. The U.S. Soccer Federation is expected to announce the third round prospective matches this week.
The trio of target striker Hohlbein and outside midfielders Lysak and Rampa wore down AAC Eagles backline in the second half Tuesday night, with Rampa finally getting the breakthrough. The Milwaukee Wave player, who had his amateur status reinstated to join the team, zipped a left-footed shot past Eagles goalkeeper Marek Los to help make his return to the 56ers a success.
Player-assistant coach Henry Aiyenero helped create Hohlbein’s first goal, hustling forward from his central midfield position to win the ball back after losing it. He found Hohlbein, who worked his way around three defenders to the left side of the box and slipped a shot past Los to make it 2-0.
Lysak and Hohlbein finished things off in the 76th and 81st minutes with each scoring on a give-and-go sequence involving the other. University of Wisconsin keeper Max Jentsch (Hartland Arrowhead) made two saves for the clean sheet, but was hardly tested by AAC Eagles.
RECAP: Madison.com
| Madison 56ers | 0 | 4 | — |
4 |
| AAC Eagles | 0 | 0 | — |
0 |
Madison 56ers – Tenzin Rampa (Keenan Newallo) 67
Madison 56ers – Jed Hohlbein (Henry Aiyenero) 72
Madison 56ers – Jed Hohlbein (Adam Lysak) 76
Madison 56ers – Adam Lysak (Jed Hohlbein) 81
MADISON 56ERS: Max Jentsch; Carl Schneider, Colin Mani, Sean Ronnekleiv-Kelly, Aaron Nichols; Henry Aiyenero, Keenan Newallo (David Kommavang 82); Adam Lysak, Andrew Wiedabach (Aymar Sinaise 78), Tenzin Rampa; Jed Hohlbein (Carlos McCrary 84). Substitutes not used: Kyle Dillman (GK), Keith Dangarembwa, Derek Pitts, Sam Krenzien.
AAC EAGLES: Marek Los; Miroslaw Modzelewski, Piotr Kolasinski, Derek Szewczyk, Marcin Simson; Mariusz Napiorkowski, Pawel Otachel (Eric Cervantes 71), Jacek Lechowski (Sebastian Skital 76), Marek Golik (Adrian Skital 65); Matt Kochanowski, Jakub Piotrawski. Substitutes not used: Piotr Sliwa (GK), Marcin Pieniazek, Peter Bielecki, Rafal Zalewski.
Saves: M (Jentsch) 2, AAC (Los) 7. Shots: M 15, AAC 6. Fouls: M 17, AAC 11. Corner kicks: M 5, AAC 3. Offsides: M 5, AAC 1. Discipline: M – Mani (caution-foul, 17), Wiedabach (caution-unsporting conduct, 59); AAC – Lechowski (caution-unsporting conduct, 59). Att.: 702.
Eric Anderson is the senior editor of WisconsinSoccerCentral.com. Follow him on Twitter @WisconsinSoccer.