2010 Final

Congratulations to all of our winners of the PotHunting.com Trivia Contest.

TheCup.us would like to thank PotHunting.com for providing the shirts that each winner received.

Here are the trivia questions:

#8
There have been 20 own goals scored in US Open Cup play since 1995. Only one of them has been scored by a Sounders player. Ryan Edwards put one into his own net for the USL Sounders in 2001 against the Kansas City Wizards.

However, of those 19 remaining own goals, three of them have been scored by current members of the Seattle Sounders MLS team. Can you name the three current Sounders players who have scored on their own team in Open Cup play? One of them was particularly historic, in a bad way.

BONUS: Name the only Crew player to ever score an own goal in Open Cup play.

Answers: Osvaldo Alfonso, Tyson Wahl and Tyrone Marshall

BONUS Answer: Brian Maisonneuve

Osvaldo Alfonso scored his own goal in 2008 as a member of the Charleston Battery of the USL First Division. That year, the Battery faced the Seattle Sounders of the USL First Division, and he put the ball into his own net in the 20th minute in a match that finished 1-1 after 120 minutes. The Battery would prevail 4-3 in penalty kicks.

Tyson Wahl scored his own goal in 2005 as a member of the Orange County Blue Star. In the 42nd minute of the PDL team’s opening round match against fellow PDL side El Paso Patriots, he scored an own goal, as the OC lost 3-1.

Tyrone Marshall’s own goal was a historical one, but not the kind of history you want to make. In 2000, as a member of the Miami Fusion of MLS, Marshall became the first, and to this date, the only, player to ever score an own goal in an Open Cup Final. To make matters worse, that own goal was scored in the 88th minute to give the Chicago Fire a 2-0 lead. Miami would score a goal (by Welton) in the 90th minute, but it wouldn’t be enough. So the own goal ended up being a championship-winning goal, for the Chicago Fire.

But as I write this, he’s celebrating his team’s second straight US Open Cup championship, so I’m sure his own goal in the 2000 US Open Cup Final is the furthest thing from his mind.

Brian Maisonneuve scored his own goal in the fourth round of the 2003 US Open Cup, in a 4-3 loss to the Metrostars. The own goal was scored in the 24th minute, but he would make up for it in the 43rd minute, when he put one past Jonny Walker to put the Crew up 3-1. But the sad ending is that Columbus gave up three unanswered goals to end their quest to repeat as Open Cup champions.

Winner: Steve Holler from Tampa, Florida

#7
In the 97-year history of the tournament, which city has hosted the most US Open Cup finals?

A.) Los Angeles, California
B.) St. Louis, Missouri
C.) Chicago, Illinois
D.) New York, New York

Answer: D.) New York, New York

New York has hosted 25 US Open Cup finals. St. Louis is a close second with 22, followed by Chicago (including Bridgeview) with 17 and Los Angeles (including Carson and Torrance) with 13.

New York didn’t host its first championship game until 1926, and the game didn’t even involve a New York, or even a New Jersey team. That year, Bethlehem Steel (Bethlehem, PA) defeated Ben Miller SC (St. Louis) 7-2 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

The city of New York has not hosted an Open Cup final since 1991 when the Brooklyn Italians defeated the Richardson Rockets (Houston, TX) 1-0 at Brooklyn College.

It’s important to note that many of those games were Open Cup tournaments involving home/away legs. In fact, Chicago hosted twice in 1931 and St. Louis hosted twice in 1934 because they were three-leg finals.

Other fun facts:

* Los Angeles didn’t host their first Open Cup final until 1955.
* St. Louis hasn’t hosted the final since 1989.
* After St. Louis hosted the first leg of the 1957 final, the championship game didn’t return to the city until 1984 when it began a six-year run of hosting the title game.
* The legendary Comiskey Park in Chicago (the long-time home of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball) hosted the second leg of the 1946 final. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Tiverton, Rhode Island, a week later, Viking AA of Chicago prevailed 2-1 over Ponta Delgada at Comiskey.
* The Polo Grounds in New York hosted the final in 1928, 1930,1931, 1944. The New York Nationals forced a replay with a 1-1 draw with Bricklayers FC (Chicago) in 1928, while Brooklyn Hispano defeated Morgan Strasser (Pittsburgh) 4-0 in 1944. Fall River Marksmen. In 1930 and 1931, the Fall River Marksmen (Fall River, MA) essentially won the championship. Both years, they played the first leg at the Polo Grounds, defeating Bruell Insurance (Cleveland) 7-2 in 1930, and Bricklayers FC (Chicago) 6-2 in 1931. They would go on to win both championships by the same aggregate score of 9-3.
* Wrigley Field hosted the final twice, the first leg of the 1961 final and the second leg of the 1964 final. However, this isn’t the Wrigley Field you’re thinking of. The stadium, located in South-Central Los Angeles, was named after the same owner, William Wrigley, who owned the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. The Los Angeles stadium was actually given the name Wrigley Field in 1925, a year before the famous ballpark on the north side of Chicago got its name. The stadium was demolished in 1966.

Winner: Logan Wangsgard of Boston, MA

#6
In the Professional Era (1995-present), there are two players who are tied for the biggest gap in between Open Cup goals. Name at least one of them for a chance to win. If you can name both of them, then you get an extra entry into the drawing.

Hint: One of them scored in 2009, the other in 2007.

Answer: Diego Serna scored for Miami FC in 2009 and prior to that scored eight years ago in 2001 for the Miami Fusion of MLS. The second player with an eight-year gap in between Open Cup goals is Stephen Armstrong, who currently plays for the Charleston Battery. He scored three goals for the Battery in 2007, and also bagged a goal for the Mid-Michigan Bucks of the PDL in 1999. Armstrong’s goal for the Bucks was scored in the third round when they hosted MLS’ Tampa Bay Mutiny at White Pine Middle School in Saginaw, Mich. The Bucks gave the Mutiny a run for their money, but the professional side would prevail 2-1. Armstrong’s goal cut the 2-0 lead in half in the 74th minute, but the Bucks couldn’t find the equalizer in the final 16 minutes.

Winner: Brendan Haigh from Tacoma, Washington.

#5
The four players at the top of the Professional Era goalscoring list are all foreign-born players.

T-1. Johnny Menyongar (Liberia) – 13 goals
T-1. Jaime Moreno (Bolivia) – 13
2. Melvin Tarley (Liberia) – 12
3. Sebastien Le Toux (France) – 11

What two players are tied for the most US Open Cup goals scored by an American-born player with 10 goals?

Answer: Byron Carmichael, who currently plays for Ocean City FC of the PDL, and Dante Washington, who scored Open Cup goals for the Columbus Crew (MLS), Virginia Beach Mariners (A-League) and Dallas Burn (MLS) before retiring, are the two highest-scoring American-born players in the Professional Era. Each player has 10 Open Cup goals in their career.

Carmichael scored nine of his goals with Ocean City FC (formerly South Jersey Barons and Ocean City Barons) in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009. He opened his Open Cup account in 2003 with the Wilmington Hammerheads (Pro Soccer League, now USL-2) in the club’s 2-1 upset of the A-League’s Atlanta Silverbacks.

Washington won two Open Cup titles, one with the Dallas Burn in 1997 and the other with the Columbus Crew in 2002. He scored three for Dallas in 1997 and 1998, four for Columbus in 2001 and 2002, and three for Virginia Beach in 2003 and 2004. And if you followed our earlier trivia question, he is one of five players to score goals in four straight tournaments (2001-2004).

Winner: Michael Lively from San Francisco

#4
In the Professional Era, only one player has scored a goal for a team at all four levels of soccer in the United States. Can you name that player?

Answer: Jamie Watson is the only player in the Professional Era (1995-present) to score a goal for a team at every level of American soccer.

Division 1: Real Salt Lake (MLS) – 2005
Division 2: Austin Aztex (USSF Division 2) – 2010
Division 3: Wilmington Hammerheads (USL-2) – 2009
Division 4: Austin Aztex (PDL) – 2008

Winner: Renee  Marquardt from San Francisco, California

#3
Since the Pro Era began in 1995, only five players have scored goals in four consecutive US Open Cup tournaments (not tournaments they appeared in, but a team they played on qualified four years in a row and he scored at least one goal in each competition). Name at least one of them. For every player that you correctly name, you will get that number of entries thrown into a hat for a chance to win a shirt from PotHunting.com.

Answer: Here are the five players who have scored goals in four consecutive tournaments:

Dante Washington – Columbus Crew (2001-2002), Virginia Beach Mariners (2003-2004)
David Bulow – Cape Cod Crusaders (2006), Richmond Kickers (2007-2009)
Abe Thompson – FC Dallas (2007-2008), Kansas City Wizards (2009), Miami FC (2010)
Chris Albright – DC United (1999-2001), Los Angeles Galaxy (2002)
Jason Kreis – Dallas Burn (1997-2000)

As you probably noticed, one of these players holds an active streak. If Abe Thompson scores a goal in the 2011 US Open Cup, he’ll hold the record all to himself with goals in five straight tournaments.

David Bulow could have scored in six straight tournaments, but the Cape Cod Crusaders of the PDL failed to qualify for the 2005 tournament. He had scored in 2004, and then in 2006-2009.

In response to some of the answers we received, Jaime Moreno has scored in a record eight different tournaments, but spaced his goalscoring out a bit. Moreno scored three in 1996, one in 1997, one in 1999, four in 2000, and one in 2001. But United did not participate in the 1998 tournament, so he missed out. Byron Carmichael of Ocean City FC (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007) fell short of five straight tournaments because his club (then known as the Ocean City Barons) failed to qualify in 2006.

We had a lot of Sounders guesses, but Roger Levesque has only scored in three tournaments (2005, 2007, 2009), and Sebastien Le Toux only spent three seasons in Seattle, but did score every year he was there (2007-2009). Also, Doug Miller from the Rochester Raging Rhinos scored four in 1996, and scored a goal in 1998 and in 1999, including the game-winner in the final. But Miller failed to find the scoresheet in 1997.

Winner: John Dicken from Germantown, Maryland who selected a shirt of Bethlehem Steel FC shirt, the team that won the 1915, 1916, 1918, 1919 and 1926 Open Cup (or “Challenge Cup” as it was called back then).

#2
In the Professional Era (1995-present), there’s only one player who has scored a US Open Cup goal for FIVE different teams. Name that player. (This one might take a little research)

Answer: David Hayes, who currently plays for the Carolina RailHawks, is the only player in the Professional Era (1995-present) to score US Open Cup goals for five different clubs. What’s most interesting about this is that Mr. Hayes is a defender and no other defender has more career goals in the tournament since 1995. (Note: Chris Albright has seven career goals, but most of those goals were scored early in his career when he was an attacking player). His six career Open Cup goals came while playing for the Milwaukee Rampage (A-League), Rochester Raging Rhinos (A-League), Richmond Kickers (A-League), Atlanta Silverbacks (USL-1), and the Portland Timbers (USL-1).

Here is the US Open Cup goalscoring resume for David Hayes:

2001 – Milwaukee Rampge (2-0 second round win vs. Utah Blitzz)
2003 – Rochester Raging Rhinos (4-1 third round win vs. New Hampshire Phantoms)
2004 – Richmond Kickers (1-0 third round win vs. Cape Cod Crusaders)
2005 – Atlanta Silverbacks (5-1 third round loss vs. Des Moines Menace)
2008 – Atlanta Silverbacks (2-2 first round draw vs. Austin Aztex U-23s — Atlanta advanced on PKs 5-4)
2009 – Portland Timbers (3-0 first round win vs. Kitsap Pumas)

Note: Hayes also has also scored twice in penalty kick shootouts, but obviously those are not included in his career total.

Hayes is also one of four players in the Pro Era to score in six different tournaments, joining Jaime Moreno (who has scored in a Pro Era record eight different tournaments), Ronald Cerritos (six), and Dante Washington (six).

Winner: Cris Pannullo from New Jersey, who chose an LA Aztecs shirt.

#1
Sebastien Le Toux scored five goals in back-to-back tournaments (2007, 2008) while playing for the Seattle Sounders USL franchise. He remains the only player in the Professional Era (1995-present) to lead the Open Cup in scoring two years in a row. His 10 Open Cup goals for the Sounders is the highest career total in franchise history. New Sounders fans know all about Le Toux, but can anyone name who ranks second on the list?

Answer: Eric Storkson, who played 7 seasons for the Sounders, ranks second with five career Open Cup goals. In 1995, he scored a goal in Seattle’s 9-2 destruction of the Everett BigFoot (USISL Pro League, which was essentially the USL Second Division for 1995) in the opening round, and he followed that up with a pair of goals in Seattle’s 5-0 quarterfinal win over the Chico Rooks (USISL Pro League). His three goals that year tied him for second-most in the tournament, with teammate Shawn Medved topping the list with four. In 1999, Storkson scored twice in the Sounders’ 3-1 second round win over the Spokane Shadow (PDL).

Winner: Brendan Vaughn from Seattle, Wash. (Twitter: @BMVaughn) – Brendan won a Paterson Silk Sox shirt. The Silk Sox, based in Paterson, NJ, won the 1923 US Open Cup at Harrison Field in Harrison, NJ. (Fun fact: Paterson actually tied 2-2 in the final with Scullin SC from St. Louis. The United States Football Association ordered a replay to be held on the East Coast, but Scullin withdrew because they had three key players injured and a number of others couldn’t make the trip because they had already departed for Spring Training as the baseball season was about to begin.)