Complete U.S. Open Cup Coverage

2011 Player of the Round

2011 US Open Cup: Finalists for TheCup.us Player of the Tournament unveiled

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The top four finalists for TheCup.us Player of the Tournament (from top left, clockwise): Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders), Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle Sounders), Ronnie Pascale (Richmond Kickers) and David Bulow (Richmond Kickers)

The 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament will undoubtedly go down in history with the Seattle Sounders and Richmond Kickers as the leading stories. Both clubs made history, resulting in two players from each club as the four finalists for TheCup.us Player of the Tournament honors. The duo of Osvaldo Alonso and Fredy Montero are up for the award from the champion Sounders and David Bulow and Ronnie Pascale are in the running from Richmond.

The award, to be announced Thursday, October 13, is voted on by the staff of the definitive US Open Cup site TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters, which also selects the MLS Player of the Week. The panel previously honored Alonso, Pascale, Bulow as TheCup.us Players of the Round along with Dominic Oduro (Chicago Fire), Mike Fucito (Seattle) and Zach Lubin (Kitsap Pumas).

Also receiving votes for the honor were Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson and Pumas netminder Bryan Meredith.

Alonso, Player of the Round for the Final, started in all four matches of Seattle’s historic run to the championship, leading the team defensively along the way and capping it off with a goal in stoppage time of the 2-0 championship against Chicago. Leo Gonzalez was the only other Sounder to start all four contests while Jeff Parke and Mike Fucito were the only two others to see action in all four games.

Montero scored the game-winning goal in each of the last three contests in guiding the Sounders to the historic championship, also topping in addition to the Fire, fellow league Champions League sides Los Angeles Galaxy and FC Dallas in the Quarterfinal and Semifinal rounds.

Bulow finished as the tournament’s leading scorer with six goals, becoming the career leading in US Open Cup goals in the modern professional era (1995-present) with 14. With a hat-trick in the First Round, two goals in the Second he tied Johnny Menyongar and MLS great Jaime Moreno at 13. He notched the table-leading goal in a 2-0 Quarterfinal win against Sporting Kansas City.

The venerable Pascale added yet another accolade to his fantastic lower division career, earning Player of the Round honors in leading Richmond to the shutout win in Kansas City. The victory made the Kickers the first lower division club to win back-to-back road games versus MLS opposition in the history of the tournament.

Osvaldo Alonso leads Seattle Sounders to 2011 US Open Cup title, earns TheCup.us Player of the Round honor

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Osvaldo Alonso (center) celebrates his third straight US Open Cup trophy with Seattle Sounders teammates Lamar Neagle (left) and Fredy Montero (right). Photo: Gerald Barnhart | TheCup.us

The American Dream. That is something that most Americans whose families have been in the United States for generations take for granted. In 2007, Osvaldo Alonso defected while playing for the Cuban National Team during the CONCACAF Gold Cup. On Tuesday, he helped lead the Seattle Sounders to a historic third consecutive US Open Cup trophy, setting an American soccer record as an individual player and earning TheCup.us Player of the Round honors.

The award is voted on by the staff of the definitive US Open Cup site TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters, which also selects the MLS Player of the Week. Alonso was challenged for the award by teammates Fredy Montero and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado.

With the Sounders leading and running out the clock in stoppage time, Alonso put the cap on the match with a fantastic goal six minutes into the additional play, driving through the Fire defense at the edge of the box and creating an open goal for a euphoric conclusion for a record crowd of 35,615 at CenturyLink Field.

It was a perfect finish for a record-setting night for Alonso, who became the first player in the modern professional era of the tournament (1995-present) to play in four consecutive US Open Cup championship games. He has yet to miss the tournament final since his career in US soccer began with the Charleston Battery in 2008.

In fact, in order to get to his first US Open Cup Final, Alonso helped lead the Battery past the USL-1 Sounders in the 2008 Semifinals. It was a quixotic start to the historic run as Seattle’s goal in the 1-1 draw came courtesy of an Alonso own goal in the 20th minute with Charleston’s Randi Patterson equalizing in the 32nd. Alonso would redeem himself by converting his penalty kick in the tiebreaker as the Battery advanced 4-3 to the Final, where they fell in a close contest to DC United, 2-1.

Alonso is one of a dozen players that have played in four US Open Cup championships, a list led by Andy Williams, Tyrone Marshall and Peter Vagenas with five appearances. He tops the list though in consecutive finals played, a ledger where behind him are six players that have played in three straight championships. With their third appearances, his Seattle teammates Kasey Keller, Roger Levesque, Fredy Montero and James Riley joined former Richmond Kickers 1995 champions Brian Kamler and Richie Williams, who both went on to play in the next two finals with DC United.

As a defensive midfielder Alonso often goes unheralded. When his American career began in 2008 his compatriot Maykel Galindo, who defected during the 2005 Gold Cup, was the more talked about Cuban in MLS courtesy of his goal scoring exploits.

The path of the two players, not surprising due to their backgrounds, intertwines and has coincidences. Both were forced to begin their careers in the USL First Division. Despite a trial and developmental contract offer with Galindo’s Chivas USA, Alonso opted for the potential for more playing time with the Battery. The move proved wise as he was named the team MVP as well as the league’s Rookie of the Year. Even better, his performance was seen up close in the Open Cup Semifinal meeting and league campaign by the then USL-1 Seattle Sounders, the club that gave Galindo his professional start for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. That led to a transfer that sent Alonso to the northwest in January of 2009.

At the time, Battery coach Mike Anhseuser wished his player well in the future, perhaps underestimating exactly how well he would do. “This is a fantastic opportunity for Osvaldo to expand his career at the next level. We would have loved to keep him but understand the economics for both parties. We wish him all the best and are hopeful that he will bring success to Seattle Sounders F.C.”

That hope was not only realized, but one could argue that the Cuban international and American soccer record holder Osvaldo Alonso has achieved the American Dream.

2011 TheCup.us Player of the Round winners

Round 1: Zach Lubin – Kitsap Pumas
Round 2: David Bulow – Richmond Kickers
Round 3: Michael Fucito – Seattle Sounders
Quarterfinals: Ronnie Pascale – Richmond Kickers
Semifinals: Dominic Oduro – Chicago Fire
Final: Osvaldo Alonso – Seattle Sounders

Player of the Tournament: TBA

Dominic Oduro’s game-winner, edges Fredy Montero’s game-winner for Semifinal Player of the Round honors

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Dominic Oduro's game-winner against the Richmond Kickers was his 7th career US Open Cup goal. Photo: Brian Kersey | Chicago Fire

For Dominic Oduro, it has been a long six years in his MLS career. For the Chicago Fire, it has been a long 2011 season. In the past, however, both seem to be finding their stride with one another. Part of that dynamic performance includes the Chicago Fire’s 2-1 victory over USL Pro’s Richmond Kickers in the US Open Cup Semifinal in which Oduro netted the game-winning goal, earning the nod from TheCup.us as Player of the Round.

The honor is voted on by the staff of the definitive US Open Cup site TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters, which also selects the MLS Player of the Week. Oduro beat out Seattle’s Fredy Montero, who scored a similar game-winning goal against FC Dallas, for the award. Zach Scott and Mauro Rosales of the Sounders also received consideration.

Previous Players of the Round in 2011 have been Seattle’s Mike Fucito (Third Round), Kitsap’s Zach Lubin (First Round) and Richmond’s duo of Ronnie Pascale (Quarterfinals) and David Bulow (Second Round). Oduro is the first Fire player to earn the honor since TheCup.us began selecting the award in 2006, naming Calen Carr and Andy Herron as the recipients in the Semifinals and Final, respectively, that year.

Already leading courtesy of a 32nd minute Sebastian Grazzini penalty kick, the Fire broke the game open in the 61st minute with an impressive goal from Oduro. Patrick Nyarko passed to Oduro on the left wing, and the speedy forward dribbled forward, cut back to his right foot and bent the ball out of the reach of a diving Ronnie Pascale into the side netting at the far post. It was a fitting reward for the striker, who continually pressed the defense and forcing the Kickers to bring a second defender in to cover him on the attack.

With William Yomby scoring seven minutes later as the Kickers attempted to rally, Oduro’s tally proved to be the game-winner. While Oduro has 10 goals on the year in MLS, his second goal of the current US Open Cup campaign carried deep personal connections as the Ghanaian striker played for the 2005 Richmond Kickers Future, a USL Premier Development League side the club operated from 2002-09 to develop players. The 2005 campaign was the lone year in which the team qualified out of the PDL for the US Open Cup, advancing to the Second Round with Oduro scoring his first two career tournament goals in a 3-0 win over USASA side Baltimore Colts. They would be eliminated the following round, 3-0, by the USL-1 Virginia Beach Mariners. In addition to his ties to the club, the goal came against a former coach in Pascale, who was on the coaching staff at Virginia Commonwealth University when Oduro went to school there 2004-05.

Pascale would joke after the game saying that he “taught him that finish.”

Oduro’s next two career Open Cup tallies would come in 2009 with Houston, finding the net against USL’s Austin Aztex and Charleston Battery in the Third Round and Quarterfinals, respectively. His fifth, also for Houston, was a consolation tally in a 3-1 Quarterfinal loss to Chivas USA in 2010.

Dominic Oduro's goal in the 61st minute proved to be the game-winner to send the Chicago Fire to their sixth US Open Cup championship game. Photo: Brian Kersey | Chicago Fire

Enter 2011. After playing just one game for the Dynamo, Oduro was traded to the Fire for Calen Carr, who has played only 129 minutes in five games with one goal due to post-concussion syndrome. The trade made Chicago Oduro’s fourth home in six seasons. He spent his first three years in Texas with FC Dallas from 2006-08 before heading to New York via a trade prior to the 2009 season. After just three games played, Oduro returned to the Lone Star State in another trade, joining the Dynamo. Things appeared to be moving upward in 2010 with five goals in 19 starts (27 appearances) only to see the early season trade this year.

Oduro would join a Fire squad that was coming off a 2010 season in which they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2004 and only the second time ever in franchise history. In addition, the four-time Open Cup champions had not advanced past the tournament Quarterfinals since last winning the title in 2006.

The 2011 campaign, in retrospect, may turn out to be the season in which both Oduro and the Fire find themselves. Both continued along a path of mediocrity throughout much of the campaign with Oduro goals coming sparingly along the way as the team travelled frustrating path. The Fire have a respectable tally of only eight losses on the year through 20 games. What has proven exhaustingly elusive has been victory; the team has only five in comparison to a league-high 15 draws.

Along the way, things warmed up through the middle of the campaign. Chicago rattled off a 10-game run without a loss in all competitions, qualifying for the Open Cup with a penalty kick decision on the road over the San Jose Earthquakes in the final tournament qualifier May 24. The result kicked the streak off and maintained the club’s status of competing in the tournament every year. The unbeaten run stretched through June and into July, including a narrow 1-0 win in Rochester against the USL Rhinos in the Third Round.

As the calendar turned to August the Fire and Oduro got hot. With six goals on the year entering August, Oduro went on a run of good form, scoring in a 4-2 loss at Vancouver and a 2-2 draw in New York in back-to-back games. Two matches later, he notched the game-winning goal to end the team’s five-game winless run with a 2-0 victory against Toronto. The match marked the start of the team’s current run of blazing form that has seen them win four of five overall. They posted another 2-0 win over Colorado before the semifinal victory over Richmond August 30.

The club cooled down with a week off after the tournament win, falling 2-0 in San Jose, but Oduro put them back on path, scoring a game-winner in the 85th minute of a 3-2 decision against Chivas USA, and adding his 11th of the season in a 3-2 win over New England last weekend. The goal was his seventh in nine games and he has five game-winning goals to his credit in 2011. In fact, Oduro, prior to the game against the Revolution, had scored the winning tally in each of the Fire’s last five victories in both competitions, including the team’s 4-0 drubbing of the Red Bulls in the Open Cup Quarterfinals. The run of great form has put Oduro in the running for the MLS Golden Boot, sitting two back of  Dwayne De Rosario along with three others at 11.

Heading toward the US Open Cup Final in Seattle, the Fire will also be chasing a postseason berth in a hotly contested race. Chicago currently sits six points back with six games remaining, including a match on the road against Oduro’s former Dynamo side three days before the championship match.

2011 US Open Cup Quarterfinals: Ronnie Pascale leads Richmond Kickers to historic victory, earns TheCup.us Player of the Round

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The Richmond Kickers continue to be the Cinderella story of the 2011 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup after a 2-0 historic upset of Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City in the Quarterfinals (SEE HIGHLIGHTS BELOW). At the heart of their Open Cup run is veteran goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale, who made five saves to help the Kickers become the first lower division team to defeat back-to-back MLS teams on the road. For his efforts, Pascale has been voted as TheCup.us Player of the Round for the Quarterfinals.

The Player of the Round award is voted on by the staff of the definitive US Open Cup site TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters, which also selects the MLS Player of the Week.

After cruising through the first two rounds against fellow USL Pro teams, the Dayton Dutch Lions and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (both 4-1 wins), Richmond upset the Columbus Crew 2-1 in Columbus in Round 3.

With the Kickers in the Quarterfinals for the fifth time in team history, they met a Sporting Kansas City team who put out a lineup full of starters with every intention of holding serve at home and moving on to the final four.

“To be honest, we didn’t talk much about beforehand,” said Pascale. “It was our fourth game in nine days, and we had back-to-back games the weekend before and when we saw their lineup and saw that they were playing a lot of their starters we thought it was nice to see them respecting us.”

The Kickers, due to their busy weekend, were resting a few starters, including leading scorers David Bulow and Matthew Delicate, who suffered an injury the previous Friday.

“The plan was to limit their chances, crowd their midfield and just get to halftime 0-0 and see what happens from there,” said Pascale.

The first half went exactly to plan as the Kickers were in the locker room at the break in a scoreless draw. The second half kicked off and the two teams were still deadlocked when lightning literally struck in the 66th minute, bringing the game to a halt.

Pascale and his teammates were starting to wonder if they were ever going to catch a break. On Friday, their home game against the Charlotte Eagles (broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel) suffered a two-hour lightning delay, which required the team to get special permission from the city of Richmond to resume the game later than is usually allowed. The game ended with Charlotte scoring a 90th minute game-winner. The next day, the two teams played again in Charlotte with Richmond winning 2-1.

During the delay, the Kickers were loose. The players were talking about the game and before they were about to return to the field, manager Leigh Cowlishaw walked in and told his players to “just go for it,” and that they “were not going into overtime.”

After a delay that lasted almost 90 minutes, Richmond’s Shaka Bangura shocked the soaking wet crowd with a goal less than a minute after the game restarted.

“After we scored, I looked at the clock and said to myself ‘we scored way too early,’” said Pascale. “Usually when you score against MLS teams, sometimes it just wakes them up.”

Ronnie Pascale’s Career Open Cup stats
(2002-present)
Overall record: 15-8-0
23 GP – 2,104 minutes played
30 GA (1.28 GAA) – 6 shutouts
Record vs. MLS: 4-5-0

Wins vs. MLS
2004 (Rd 4): 2-1 win vs. DC United
2007 (Rd 3): 1-0 win vs. LA Galaxy
2011 (Rd 3): 2-1 win at Columbus Crew
2011 (QF): 2-0 win at Sporting KC

The goal did wake up Kansas City, but the back four continued to do a solid job limiting the home team’s chances, despite the heavy pressure.

“The defense in front of me did a phenomenal job, and not just backline – but it was a great team effort defensively,” said Pascale. “A team is always going to have a couple of decent chances, but the guys in front did a great job. Yomby and Henry are the best central defenders in the league and they stepped up when they had to.”

After Jamel Wallace drew a penalty kick, David Bulow converted to make it 2-0 and Pascale would make two key saves to preserve the shutout and the victory. The win ended a SKC’s 12-game unbeaten streak in all competitions and was the club’s first ever loss at the new stadium.

Pascale is no stranger to the US Open Cup. The Furman graduate, who also spent time coaching at Virginia Commonwealth, began his professional career with the Atlanta Silverbacks in 1999, but joined the Kickers the following year. He got his first exposure to the tournament that year, but he had to watch from the bench as starting goalkeeper Mike McGinty (and a young Dwayne De Rosario) helped the Kickers upset the Colorado Rapids 3-0.

In 2002, Pascale took over as the full-time starter and has played in every Richmond Open Cup game since (15-8-0), which includes 9 games against MLS foes , 4 of them victories (DC United in 2004, Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, Columbus Crew and Sporting Kansas City in 2011).

Pascale credits his experience of playing MLS teams in the past with some of the success he’s had this year.

“Early in my career, in 2002, we went into Columbus Crew stadium,” said Pascale. “I was pretty awestruck, being on the field with players like Brian McBride and Dante Washington, but as you do it more and more often, you just go out there and enjoy it.”

Twenty Open Cup games later, Pascale looked anything but awestruck at LiveStrong Sporting Park. He will shift his focus to the Chicago Fire in what could be considered the biggest game in the club’s history since they lifted the Dewar Trophy at the 1995 Open Cup Final in El Paso.

“They’re a dangerous team with a lot of speed,” said Pascale. “They’re starting to play better and I think we’ve proven to ourselves that if we come in with a good game plan and we execute it, anything can happen.”

Quarterfinal Video Highlights: Richmond Kickers 2:0 Sporting KC

2011 US Open Cup Third Round: Michael Fucito finds spotlight for Sounders, earns TheCup.us Player of the Round honor

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For three years Michael Fucito has been buried deep in the Seattle Sounders depth charts behind numerous star strikers, seeing very limited time on the field. In the Third Round Tuesday night he made his US Open Cup debut and scored both Sounders goals in a 2-1 victory, feeling the limelight many of his teammates have experienced the past two years.

Fucito earned the honor in a two-person race with Matthew Delicate, who led the Richmond Kickers to the lone upset in the Third Round. The Player of the Round award is voted on by the staff of the definitive US Open Cup site TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters, which also selects the MLS Player of the Week.

Photo: Seattle Sounders

The Harvard graduate has had to show an enormous amount of patience in his young career, waiting for rare opportunities to step into the lineup. Those chances have typically come in situations with the club looking to rest its starters. His first year in 2009 was wiped out by the conclusion of his academic collegiate responsibilities along with injury, resulting in no appearances. In 2010, he made only four appearances during the season and tallied just one goal.

His first big break, though, came under unfortunate circumstances as the club enlisted its reserves for the CONCACAF Champions League last fall after losing its first two group contests. Fucito came off the bench in the third match, a 2-0 loss in Costa Rica, and went on to start the next three with positive results. He forced an own goal and tallied one of his own in his first pro start as they lost 3-2 in Mexico to eventual CCL champion Monterrey and went on to tally two in a 2-0 victory at home against Marathon, the club’s lone win in the group.

His success led to a postseason appearance, though under trying circumstances again coming off the bench in the second leg as the team trailed by three goals versus the LA Galaxy.

After only playing 483 minutes in nine appearances (six starts) so far this season, Fucito finally may be ahead of the curve, starting in the club’s first game of a quest to three-peat.

Facing the local Kitsap Pumas who ventured across the Puget Sound via ferry, the Sounders found a new Open Cup hero courtesy of its previous one. Continual pressure from the top flight club finally found a result in the 39th minute when Nate Jaqua, who scored five goals in the three previous Open Cup games at Starfire Sports Stadium the past two years, knocked the ball down for Fucito.

Rushing into the box, Fucito left his feet to send the volley from the left corner of the area inside the right post for the opening marker.

Fucito would double the advantage in the 62nd minute by dancing through the Kitsap defense and around the goalkeeper, 2011 Sounders draft pick Bryan Meredith, before finding the back of the net. He started the play with the ball in the upper left corner of the box again, beating a defender and then Meredith, who had come well out on the play, in the center of the 18 before letting loose what proved to be the game-winner. The player of the game would leave the contest six minutes later in favor of defender Jeff Parke.

Fucito’s honor marks the sixth time in the past three tournaments in which a Sounder has been recognized as TheCup.us Player of the Round. Only three other players have managed to knock Seattle from the spotlight in their nine rounds of play thus far. Jaqua was honored in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals with two-goal performances with Sanna Nyassi taking the honor with two strikes in the Final. In 2009 it was Sebastien Le Toux in the Semifinals and Fredy Montero in the Championship.

2011 US Open Cup Second Round: David Bulow of Richmond Kickers flying high as TheCup.us Player of the Round

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Richmond Kickers striker David Bulow was selected as TheCup.us Player of the Round for his Second Round brace en route to leading the club to a 4-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

A candidate the week before for a hat-trick in a 4-1 win against the Dayton Dutch Lions, Bulow’s double put him in rarified air on the career scoring list for the Professional Era (1995-present) of the US Open Cup, making him the leading choice for the honor.

The Player of the Round award is voted on by the staff of the definitive US Open Cup site TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters which also selects the MLS Player of the Week.

This Week

Photo: Richmond Kickers / Suz Kitsteiner

Bulow delivered the opening score 17 minutes in when he stationed himself at the six and drove in a low cross from Edson Elcock. He nearly doubled the lead two minutes later on a fantastic diving header only to see it slide wide of the far post.

Pittsburgh would level terms on the half-hour mark, but Bulow restored the advantage four minutes before the break, finishing off another low cross at the six on a ball from Sascha Gorres.

Bulow is the first player for the Kickers to be named Player of the Round by TheCup.us, which has selected the honor since 2006.

Historically

Bulow’s five goals in the past two rounds lifted him from being tied for 11th in goals since 1995 to a tie for first with Johnny Menyongar and all-time MLS leading scorer Jaime Moreno. When he entered the tournament he was level with former MLS greats Ronald Cerritos and in the process of leading Richmond to a pair of wins, passed MLS stars Josh Wolff, Carlos Ruiz, Dante Washington and Sebastien Le Toux among several of his USL peers. All of the mentioned MLS players but Le Toux, who is only in his third MLS campaign, rank among the league’s top 25 in the all-time scoring table for the league.

Playing more than four games is a rare occurrence in the US Open Cup where lower division clubs are, for the most part, eventually eliminated by the Major League Soccer teams, who themselves are limited to four matches by entering in the Third Round. That makes being a scoring leader on the all-time list for the Pro Era a lofty list. A player must either have two or three standout tournament performances or tally in a vast number of different tournaments.

David Bulow and the Richmond Kickers
In 2004, Bulow made his US Open Cup debut with the Cape Cod Crusaders of the PDL. The amateur side had a nice run (along with teammates who also went on to play professionally like Kurt Morsink, Scott Palguta and David Mahoney), where they
reached the Third Round. He scored a goal in a 4-1 win over NY Greek American Atlas (USASA) to start the tournament and added two more in a 3-2 upset of the Western Mass Pioneers (3rd Division) in Round 2. In their Round 3 match on June 30, 2004, the Crusaders fell short of a date with D.C. United when the A-League’s Richmond Kickers eliminated them 1-0 on a David Hayes golden goal in the fourth minute of extra time. Ronnie Pascale was in net for the Kickers that night, and playing opposite Bulow for the Kickers was current strike partner Matthew Delicate.

Bulow is becoming a mixture of the two. After scoring three goals in his debut campaign in 2004 with the PDL Cape Cod Crusaders, he had scored only five more goals in four further appearances. In comparison, Menyongar scored the bulk of his goals, 12, in his first three campaigns while Moreno scored more than one goal only twice (3 in 1996, 4 in 2000) in his eight campaigns. Retiring this past offseason and now coaching in DC’s youth academy, his last came a year ago, joining Menyongar, who had moved to the top in 2008.

In a stroke of coincidence, the Kickers drew the Columbus Crew for the Third Round contest in which Bulow could surpass Moreno as the Pro Era scoring leader for the tournament. The Crew are the club of Jeff Cunningham, who is currently one tally back of Moreno in the all-time MLS scoring table, leaving Moreno in a position where he could see both honors disappear in one week. Cunningham, though listed as questionable by the Crew for Sunday’s match against Colorado with a right hamstring strain, came into the game for the final 15 minutes but saw few opportunities as the club led 4-1 already. The next Columbus match is at Dallas Saturday.

Odds are in Bulow’s favor to also finish as the tournament’s leading scorer. Only four tournaments since 1995 have seen a scoring leader reach six goals in a given tournament on a total of six occasions. Five players have led four different tournaments with five goals. Last year, Miami FC’s Paul Araujo Jr. (now with Real Salt Lake) and Nate Jaqua of Seattle Sounders FC both netted five goals to tie for scoring honors.

It was not a case of Richmond getting a favorable draw against amateur clubs that allowed Bulow to run up his tally. Instead, the Kickers have played two fellow USL Pro clubs thus far, and the midfielder has only three goals in 13 league appearances, scoring his last April 30.

Professional Era Scoring Leaders (1995-present)

# – Player – Last Goal
13 – Johnny Menyongar – 2008
13 – Jaime Moreno – 2010
13 – David Bulow – 2011
12 – Melvin Tarley – 2009
11 – Sebastien Le Toux – 2009
10 – Byron Carmichael – 2009
10 – Dante Washington – 2004
9 – Tomas Boltnar – 2006
9 – Randi Patterson – 2009
9 – Carlos Ruiz – 2007
9 – Matthew Delicate – 2011
9 – Josh Wolff – 2005
8 – Ronald Cerritos – 2006
8 – Brian McBride – 2002

Bold – Playing for a 2011 Open Cup team

Professional Era Leaders Among 2011 Open Cup Participants

13 – David Bulow (Richmond Kickers)
9 – Matthew Delicate (Richmond Kickers)
7 – Chris Albright (NY Red Bulls)
7 – Nate Jaqua (Seattle Sounders)
6 – Paulo Araujo Jr (Real Salt Lake)
6 – Jeff Cunningham (Columbus Crew)
6 – Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)
6 – Jamie Watson (Orlando City)
5 – Davy Arnaud (Sporting KC)
5 – Dominic Oduro (Chicago Fire)

Leading Scorers by Year

Year – Goals – Players
2010 – 5 – Nate Jaqua (Seattle Sounders), Paulo Araujo Jr (Miami FC)
2009 – 3 – Five players
2008 – 5 – Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle Sounders)
2007 – 5 – Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle Sounders)
2006 – 4 – Four players
2005 – 6 – Herculez Gomez (LA Galaxy), Melvin Tarley (Minnesota Thunder)
2004 – 4 – Julian Nash (Chicago Fire Reserves)
2003 – 4 – Amado Guevara (Metrostars)
2002 – 4 – Johnny Menyongar (Minnesota Thunder)
2001 – 5 – Abdul Thompson Conteh (DC United)
2000 – 6 – Josh Wolff (Chicago Fire), Welton (Miami Fusion)
1999 – 6 – Mugurel Dimitru (San Diego Flash)
1998 – 4 – Jason Acres (Chicago Stingers)
1997 – 6 – Marquis White (San Francisco Bay Seals)
1996 – 4 – Doug Miller (Rochester Raging Rhinos)
1995 – 4 – Shawn Medved (Seattle Sounders)

2011 US Open Cup First Round: Zach Lubin of Kitsap Pumas comes off bench to win Player of the Round

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Zach Lubin of Kitsap Pumas - 2011 Player of the RoundKitsap Pumas goalkeeper Zac Lubin has been voted as TheCup.us Player of the Round.

Lubin was their penalty shoot out hero in his professional debut in their First Round match at Chivas El Paso Patriots. Recap [+]

First team selection Bryan Meredith withdrew late with a foot injury.

Lubin kept a clean sheet for the regulation ninety minutes and kept his side in the Cup with a double save in extra time defying Rodrigo Morin with a sensational fingertip save, and then being alert enough to prevent the rebound. But it was his performance in the penalty kick shoot out as he saved Ariel Chavez’s attempt in the ninth round to help Kitsap advance to the First Round, 6-5. The heroics of the youngster making his debut in 90 degree heat that took the voter’s imaginations and the award.

The Player of the Round award is voted on by the staff of the definitive US Open Cup site TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters which also selects the MLS Player of the Week.

Lubin edged out two other players with some big-time goalscoring performances in the opening round.

David Bulow of the Richmond Kickers and Jhonny Arteaga of FC New York each had hat tricks in their teams’ respective wins.

The award is voted on by the staff of TheCup.us and a selected panel of members of the North American Soccer Reporters (www.soccerreporters.com).

Lubin edged out a couple of players with some big-time goalscoring performances. David Bulow of the Richmond Kickers and Jhonny Arteaga of FC New York each had hat tricks in their teams’ respective wins.

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