It’s a geographic rivalry that crosses the boundaries of sports. Steelers vs. Eagles, Pirates vs. Phillies, Penguins vs Flyers, Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia. In the world of American Pro soccer however, the cities have never crossed paths in the NASL or MLS. There is one soccer competition the two cities, and regions, would get a chance to clash, the U.S. Open Cup.
Surprisingly this year’s Fifth Round matchup between the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and the Philadelphia Union is the first time in the Modern Era (since 1995) that teams from those cities have met. According to TheCup.us records, the last time the two cities squared off in the tournament was in the 1992 First Round when the United German Hungarians (Oakford, Pa.) defeated Beadling SC (Beadling, Pa.), 2-0.
Dating back to the first year of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in 1913, clubs from Pittsburgh/Western Pennsylvania and Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania have clashed more than a few times.
Here are some of the bigger US Open Cup showdowns between teams from the two regions over the years:
December 6, 1913
National Challenge Cup Second Round
Braddock FC 2:3 (AET) Bethlehem FC
Forbes Field – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Braddock: Kelly 61’, McCann 81’
Bethlehem: Tommy Fleming 12’ (PK), 82’, 118
The first US Open Cup meeting between Eastern and Western Pennsylvania took place in the Second Round of the very first edition of the tournament (then known as the National Challenge Cup) on Dec. 6, 1913 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
Bethlehem was yet to be known as Bethlehem Steel in 1913, simply as Bethlehem FC. Coming off a 16-1-0 championship season in Philadelphia’s Allied American Football League for the 1912-13 season, Bethlehem were in the middle of a 13-0-0 championship run in the AAFL for 1913-14 campaign. Similarly, Braddock were the 1912-13 champions of the Pittsburgh District Association Football League with a 15-0-3 record.
Before what the Pittsburgh Post described as “the biggest crowd that ever witnessed a club soccer game in Pittsburgh”, Bethlehem and Braddock took part in what would be called an “instant classic” today. Bethlehem scored the lone goal of the opening half, as future Hall of Famer Tommy Fleming converted a penalty kick in the 12th minute, awarded when Howe for Braddock was called for a handball.
Braddock dominated play for the first 15 minutes of the second half, leading to their tying goal when Kelly scored in the 61st minute. The goal sent the Forbes Field crowd into a frenzy. As the Pittsburgh Press described, “The spectators gave vent to their feelings and pandemonium reigned for five minutes.” Twenty minutes later, McCann beat Bethlehem goalkeeper Love from close range, and it looked as though Braddock were on their way to the Third Round.
However, just a minute later, Bethlehem were awarded a free kick with Fleming stepping up to take it. Instead of lofting the ball in the mass of players in penalty area, Flemming shot directly at goal, catching Braddock goalkeeper Marshall off guard. Each team had its chances in the remaining time, but neither could break through, and extra time was needed.
The first 15 minutes of extra time came and went without a goal, but at the start of the second period of extra time Braddock had a corner kick and for a full minute the ball never left the penalty area before being cleared. With two minutes remaining, Fleming took the ball on a 40-yard run and beat Marshall, winning it for Bethlehem with his third goal of the game.
Bethlehem would fall short of a first title, losing 1-0 in the Third Round to eventual champions Brooklyn Field Club, but they would only have to wait another year. Bethlehem would still take home some cup trophies, winning the American Cup and the Allied American League Amateur Cup, making them the first treble champions in American soccer history.
April 5, 1915
National Challenge Cup Semifinals
Bethlehem Steel 4:1 Homestead Steel Works
Taylor Field – Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem: James Ford 44’ 65’ 75’, Tommy Fleming 1H (PK)
Homestead: Crawley 8’
The next battle between Pennsylvania’s East and West came in the 1915 National Challenge Cup, this time with a spot in the Final on the line. Bethlehem switched leagues to the American League of Association Football Clubs and promptly won the championship with an 11-0-3 mark.
Their Semifinal opponents were another powerhouse from the Pittsburgh area, Homestead Steel Works, Pittsburgh and District Association Football League champions for the 1913-14 season and coming to the end of a season that would see them take the league title again.
This time Bethlehem were hosts, playing the game at Lehigh University’s Taylor Stadium. The club also changed its name to Bethlehem Steel Football Club since Bethlehem Steel owner Charles Schwab took the team professional after the 1913-14 season.
The game was scheduled to kick off on Sunday, April 4, but a surprise snowstorm caused the game to be pushed back to the following day. Unfortunately for Homestead, the game wasn’t nearly as close as Bethlehem’s game with Braddock 15 months earlier.
Once again, Bethlehem would have the aid of a hat-trick hero, this time in the form of James Ford. Ford came to Bethlehem from Brooklyn Field Club, where he scored the winning goal in the first National Challenge Cup Final the year before.
Homestead would strike first in the 8th minute when Crawley scored on a “sensational play” as described by the Allentown Democrat.
From then on it was all Bethlehem. Minutes after Crawley’s goal, Tommy Fleming converted a penalty kick to bring Bethlehem level. A minute before halftime, Ford scored his first goal with an assist from Fleming.
At the start of the second half Bethlehem peppered Homestead goalkeeper Brown with shots, who was said to have played a “sterling game” in keeping the score from being worse. Twenty minutes into the second half Ford tallied his second and ten minutes after that he made it three, with another assist from Fleming.
This time Bethlehem would win the National Challenge Cup, beating 1914’s runners-up Brooklyn Celtic 3-1. It would be the first of Bethlehem’s five Cup titles.
March 2, 1918
National Challenge Cup Quarterfinals
McKeesport FC 0:5 Bethlehem Steel
Olympia Park – McKeesport, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem: Harry Ratican 43’ 60’, Tommy Fleming 55’ 70’, Jimmy Easton 80’
By 1918 Bethlehem had solidified itself as the top team in the United States by winning the National Challenge Cup twice and the American Cup three times. After playing without a league for the 1916-17 season in favor of a schedule of exhibition and cup games, Bethlehem joined the National Association Football League. McKeesport were on their way to winning the Pittsburgh Press Soccer League for the 1917-18 season as well as the West Penn Cup.
In short, Bethlehem dominated the game, their lone blemish came midway through the first half when Tommy Fleming missed a penalty kick. The Steelmen would eventually score their first goal two minutes before halftime when Harry Ratican, who had come East a couple seasons prior to Bethlehem from Ben Miller FC of St. Louis, scored from close range after a failed clearance.
In the second half, Bethlehem poured it on. Fleming scored early in the second half off the rebound of a block by McKeesport goalkeeper Dixon. Five minutes later, Ratican struck for his second, then Fleming followed about ten minutes later to complete his brace. Jimmy Easton put a cap on the scoring ten minutes from the end.
Bethlehem would vanquish another steel team, Joliet Steel Works in the Semifinals 4-0 before claiming their third Cup championship over rivals Fall River Rovers. Bethlehem also won that year’s American Cup, becoming the first team to win both cup competitions in the same year. Only one other team, Brooklyn’s Robins Dry Dock in 1921, would accomplish the same feat.
May 15, 1949
National Open Cup Final – First Leg
Philadelphia Nationals 1:0 Morgan
Holmes Stadium – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationals: Nick Kropfelder 35’ (Bahr)
May 29, 1949
National Open Cup Final – Second Leg
Morgan 4:2 Philadelphia Nationals
Bridgeville Park – Bridgeville, Pennsylvania
Morgan: George Teyssier 23 2H, Nick DiOrio 2H, Albert Innarelli 2H
Nationals: Joe Smith 35’, Nick Kropfelder 2H (PK)
Morgan wins on 4-3 aggregate
From the 1920s to the mid-1950s, Eastern and Western Pennsylvania teams found themselves on opposite sides of the bracket, Eastern and Western. This meant the only way teams from the two regions could meet would be in the Final. This would happen twice, in 1949 and 1952.
In 1949, Morgan made its return to the Final for the first time since 1943, when they were sponsored by Strasser Jewelers and known as Morgan Strasser, their opponents were the ASL’s Philadelphia Nationals, who up to that point had played second fiddle to the more successful Philadelphia Americans.
In this era of the Open Cup, the Finals were usually played over two legs. In the first leg at Philadelphia, the Nationals took a 1-0 edge on a Nick Kropfelder goal from a Walter Bahr corner kick. The Nationals had a chance to double their lead in the second half, but Ed McIlvenny missed on a penalty kick, something that would come back to haunt Philly in the second leg.
Two weeks later in Bridgeville, Pa., the teams stood tied 1-1 at halftime, before Morgan began a scoring spree in the second half. Nick DiOrio, Albert Innarelli and George Teyssier all scored, while the Nationals could muster just one goal through Kropfelder, leaving Philly one goal — the missed first leg penalty — short.
June 1, 1952
National Open Cup Final – First Leg
Harmarville 3:4 Philadelphia Nationals
Consumer Field – Harmarville, Pennsylvania
Harmarville: Steve Grivnow 8’ 18’, Sonny Yacopec 80’
Nationals: Len Owens 19’ 39’, John Cier 24’ 2H
June 8, 1952
National Open Cup Final – Second Leg
Philadelphia Nationals 1:4 (AET) Harmarville
It was 1:2 after regulation, which forced additional OT because it was 5-5 on aggregate
Holmes Field – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Harmarville: Nick DiOrio 80’, Sonny Yakopec 88’, Don Utchel 106’, Steve Grivnow 112’
Nationals: Bennie McLaughlin 55’
Harmarville wins on 7-5 aggregate
By 1952, the Philadelphia Nationals had turned their fortunes around. After spending much of the 1940s near the bottom of the ASL they were suddenly one of the top teams in the league, winning the league championship three straight seasons from 1949-1951. Harmarville were one of the top teams in Western Pennsylvania, coming off a double championship in 1951, winning both the Keystone League and the West Penn Cup.
The first leg of the 1952 Final at Harmarville’s Consumer Field was a slugfest. The hosts jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 18 minutes on a pair of goals from Steve Grivnow. The Nats answered a minute later through Len Owens, and the tied it five minutes later through John Cier. Owen struck for his second goal five minutes before halftime to put Philly up 3-2.
Early in the second half, Cier pushed the Nationals lead to 4-2, scoring after a throw-in by Tom Oliver. Ten minutes before the final whistle Harmarville‘s Sonny Yacopec scored to cut the advantage to 4-3 heading into the second leg a week later in the City of Brotherly Love.
At Holmes Field for the second leg, the Nationals increased their advantage to 5-3 on a Bennie McLaughlin header in the 55th minute. Harmarville stormed back, cutting the aggregate lead to 5-4 on Nick DiOrio’s 80th minute goal, then Sonny Yakopec tied the aggregate at 5-5 with two minutes remaining, forcing extra time.
The first 15 minutes of the extra session came and went without a goal, but in the 106th minute Don Utchel put Harmarville ahead. Then, five minutes later, Steve Grivnow, a member of the 1948 US Olympic soccer team, put the final nail in Philly’s coffin for a 7-5 aggregate win.
Harmarville would once again topple the Nationals in the 1953 Open Cup Quarterfinals 3-1, on their way to another appearance in the Final. Financial problems led to the Nationals folding four games into the 1954 ASL season, while Harmarville would win the Open Cup one more time in 1956. In 1963, Harmarville would find themselves in the way of a new soccer dynasty, the Ukrainian Nationals.
May 5, 1963
National Open Cup Quarterfinals
Ukrainian Nationals 5:0 Harmarville
Cambria Field – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationals: Ismail Ferraro 15’ 2H, Larry Oliver 10’, Mike Noha 1H, Ricardo Mangini 2H
In 1963 the Ukrainian Nationals (or the “Uke Nats” as some would call them) were in the middle of one of the more dominant runs in American soccer. They were in the middle of the third of four straight ASL championships and had won the Open Cup in 1960 and 1961 and reached the Semifinals in 1959 and 1962. The Ukrainians were steamrolling their way through the 1963 US Open Cup, beating East Pennsylvania teams United German Hungarians and Kensington Blue Bells 5-1 and 6-1, respectively. Then they demolished Baltimore’s Italian Sports Association 13-0. Their first “close” game was a 4-1 win over NY Hota of the German American Soccer League.
Waiting in the Quarterfinals was Harmarville, the top team from Western Pennsylvania, a region that would decline through the 1960s as the top players from the 40s and 50s would gradually stop playing. The Nationals showed no mercy to their opponents from the Western half of the state, jumping out to a 3-0 first half lead on goals from Ismail Ferraro, Larry Oliver and Mike Noha. Ricardo Mangini and Ferraro, the ASL’s leading scorer at the time, pushed the final score to 5-0.
The Ukrainian Nationals would win the 1963 Open Cup, their third of four, beating New York’s Guiliana SC 5-1 over two legs, then beating a tough Armenian SC team from Los Angeles 1-0 after extra time, though technically they won via forfeit when the referee stopped the game after being struck by an Armenian player.
May 23, 1977
US Open Cup Quarterfinals
Arden SC 1:3 United German Hungarians
Washington, Pennsylvania
Arden: Jack Cardoza 21’
UGH: Chris Bahr 83’ 85’, Dave MacWilliams 2H
Before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders grabbed headlines as two-sport stars, there was Chris Bahr. Bahr, son of National Soccer Hall of Famer Walter Bahr (1949 and 1952 Open Cup Finalist with the Philadelphia Nationals), was a standout as both a soccer and football player at Penn State. After graduating, Chris chose soccer at first. Drafted by the Philadelphia Atoms in 1975 he promptly won the NASL Rookie of the Year after scoring 11 goals in 22 games.
In 1976, he decided to switch back to the gridiron after being drafted by the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals. This didn’t stop his soccer career, as he continued playing during the offseason with the United German Hungarians, one of the top amateur clubs in Eastern Pennsylvania. Along with his brother Casey, Chris would help lead UGH through a banner year in 1977, in which they would reach both the Open and Amateur Cup Finals.
On the road to the Open Cup Final, UGH had to face Arden SC of Western Pennsylvania in the Quarterfinals. Arden opened the scoring 21 minutes into the game on a goal from Jack Cardoza. Arden held UGH at bay for the rest of the half for a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, UGH turned up the heat in the second period, but Arden managed to hold. Nearing the final ten minutes, momentum seemed to swing in UGH’s favor when Arden was denied a penalty. As Cardoza was heading toward the goal, he appeared to be pushed. Referee George Allen overruled the linesman and did not allow the penalty kick, appearing to sap any momentum Arden had.
Soon after, in the 83rd minute, Chris Bahr struck with his first goal, then two minutes later Bahr broke down the middle and beat Arden goalkeeper Ron Shewcraft for a 2-1 lead. To wrap it up, Dave MacWilliams, who would later have a lengthy career in the Major Indoor Soccer League before spending 17 years coaching the Temple University men’s program, scored an insurance goal to put UGH up 3-1 in through to the Semifinals.
United German Hungarians would reach the 1977 Open Cup Final only to be overwhelmed by Maccabee AC 5-0, as the legendary Los Angeles club claimed its third Open Cup title. A month later, UGH would face the Denver Kickers at home in the National Amateur Cup Final, but would fall short once again, this time 3-1.