Three well-earned goals sealed a convincing victory for Crossfire Redmond over Project 51O in the First Round of the 2023 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The 3-0 win in their tournament debut led to a satisfied feeling on their long bus ride home from the Bay Area to Redmond, Wa.
With the win, Crossfire Premier earn a long-awaited first victory in the tournament. They qualified for the first time for the 2020 US Open Cup, which was ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They will have a big task ahead of them in Round 2 as they will travel to Sacramento where they will face Republic FC, last year’s tournament runner-up.
In the first half, it was Project 51O, a development team for the USL Championship’s Oakland Roots, who had most of the ball. This was due to some clever passing in the defense and midfield. Captain Abdulahi Mohamed in particular provided a strong sense of calm when passing out of the back.
Despite not having a majority of the possession, Crossfire looked to be more efficient with their time on the ball especially when going forward. They approached the final third with intensity and purpose which kept the 51O keeper busy throughout the first 45 minutes. However, it wasn’t until the second half where Crossfire’s precision began to pay off.
Lucas Hauswirth was the player to open the scoring on the night. After receiving the ball on the right side of the pitch, Hauswirth beat his defenders and attempted a low driven cross which deflected off the keeper and by good fortune found its way into the back of the net. A goal which not only gave Crossfire the lead early on in the second half, but also gave them the confidence to continue being a threat until the final whistle.
As the game went on, Project 510 would continue to showcase their passing ability as well as their great movement off the ball but would continuously fall short when approaching the final third. Early balls in behind to their forwards were repeatedly either cut out or swept up by the Crossfire goalkeeper.
Despite looking dangerous, it wasn’t until the 84th minute that Crossfire were able to get another point on the board. After a scrap for the ball near the half moon circle outside 510’s box, the ball fell to Eric Howard who launched a shot off the post and in to score the second goal of the match.
It wasn’t long after when Crossfire found their third and final goal following a fast breakaway by substitute Hamza Haddadi in the 94th minute. A ball over the top found Haddadi on the right side of the pitch, giving him the opportunity to show his pace as he outran his defender and placed his shot across the face of the goal, where it hit the post and went in to finish the game off once and for all.
