FC Tulsa put just three shots on target but they all went in, and Tulsa goalkeeper Bryan Dowd made six saves as the USL Championship side held off a scrappy Forward Madison squad for a 3-1 win in Madison to advance to the third round of the US Open Cup on Wednesday evening.
The game nearly took on a very different complexion in the seventh minute, when a long through ball from Madison winger Ferrety Sousa played Garrett McLaughlin in behind the Tulsa backline, but Dowd made a kick save to keep the game scoreless.
Tulsa displayed a preview of what was to come in the 19th minute, as Khalil ElMedkhar tapped an easy pass from Owen Damm into the back of the net, but Damm was flagged offside.
The visitors got it right just two minutes later, though. Taylor Calheira played a cutback into a pocket of space in the center of the penalty area, where Damm’s trailing run allowed an easy chip over Madison goalkeeper Owen Finnerty to open the scoring.
ElMedkhar doubled the lead in the 31st, taking a well-weighted through ball from Stefan Lukic and slotting it past Finnerty.
Finnerty kept the game within reach with a point-blank save on Calheira in the closing moments of the first half, but Tulsa put any doubts to rest just moments after the break.
It was Calheira one-on-one with Finnerty again, and Finnerty took Calheira’s legs out from under him, prompting a point to the spot. Calheira converted to make it 3-0.
The hosts got one back in the 68th on a well-worked training ground set piece – Jacob Crull looped a free kick toward the far post, where Timmy Mehl headed it back across the face of goal to the head of substitute Nazeem Bartman.
That was the last good look Madison would get against the USL Championship’s stingiest defense. Bartman’s tally was only the second goal Tulsa has allowed in the first six matches of the season.
FC Tulsa will head into the third round without midfielder Boubacar Diallo, who earned a second yellow card and was sent off in the 88th minute.
“The difference in the game was that they were clinical with their chances, and we weren’t,” Madison head coach Matt Glaeser said after the match.
“At the start of the game, there was a bit of a feeling out process,” said Tulsa’s first-year head coach Luke Spencer. “I thought both teams had chances. Brian Dowd came up big for us with a big-time save, kept it nil-nil. And then I thought as the first half went on, we were able to gain some momentum and obviously score some goals. It was just sticking to the plan, and having belief in what we were doing.”
Tulsa, currently sitting in second place in the Championship’s Western Conference, came into Madison riding the high of its first-ever win over Sacramento Republic on the weekend.
“We’re just trying to take it game by game. You know, our focus is on the next game,” Spencer said. “Yes, it’s nice to have momentum from the start of the season, and belief in what we’re doing, but you can lose that quick. For us, it’s staying focused and taking that one game at a time.”
While they await the third round draw, Tulsa will prepare to host Oakland Roots on April 12. Madison will head to Charlotte to resume USL League One play on April 11.