Chivas USA

2009 Third Round: Battery make history with win; Chivas USA’s Open Cup misery continues

June 30, 2009 by

Blackbaud Stadium – Charleston, SC | 7:30 p.m.
Match Reports: Charleston | Chivas | Post and Courier | LA Times

	3	FT	1
Randi Patterson 9’, 45’+ Tsuyoshi Yoshitake 90’+				28’ Jesse Marsch

The Charleston Battery reach the Quarterfinals by defeating Chivas USA 3-1 at Blackbaud Stadium. For the Battery, they become the first USL team to reach the round of eight three consecutive years. The first of Randi Patterson’s two goals came in the 9th minute, when a failed Jim Curtin clearance landed in front of him. He volleyed it into the net to give Charleston the early 1-0 lead. However, in the 28th minute, a Sasha Victorine’s cross to Jesse Marsch equalized the game for Chivas USA.

That would be as close as they would get in their attempt to win their first Open Cup game since 2005.Randi Patterson scored his second goal mere seconds before the halftime whistle as he received a pass beyond the Chivas back line. He then proceeded to bend it past goalkeeper Lance Parker to give the Battery a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Charleston closed out the victory in second half stoppage time as Tsuyoshi Yoshitake finished a spectacular volley from 25 yards out.

Chivas USA continues to struggle in the US Open Cup, losing their fifth straight Cup match. Since their inaugural season in 2005, they have a tournament record of 1-4-1, with the draw ending in a historic shootout loss to Dallas Roma FC of the USASA. Their only win came in their first Open Cup game in the Third Round of 2005 when they scored the game-winning goal in the 120th minute of extra time to beat the Charlotte Eagles of the USL Second Division.

Charleston moves on to the Quarterfinals next week to play the Houston Dynamo at Blackbaud Stadium. The game on July 7 will be the third consecutive tournament where the two clubs will have met with Charleston winning the first two (one in extra time, the other in penalty kicks).

2008 Third Round: Deja-vu all over again as Sounders oust Chivas USA

July 1, 2008 by

Chivas USA will be one MLS club that will be happy to see the Sounders, at least this version, move to Major League Soccer.

For the second year in a row, the USL First Division’s Seattle Sounders ousted Chivas USA from the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with a 2-0 victory at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash.

It all started to go downhill for Chivas just before halftime. Seattle defender Taylor Graham nodded home the opening goal from a Josh Gardner corner kick, which was gained when Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan made a slide save on a shot from Kenji Treschuk.

With ten minutes remaining, Seattle sealed the win. Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander punted the ball downfield to Sebastien Le Toux, who then beat an onrushing Guzan to place the ball in the empty net. The goal was Le Toux’s tournament-leading fifth.

In 2007, the Sounders defeated Chivas USA in the Third Round, by a score of 3-1. Seattle will host the Kansas City Wizards next Tuesday at Qwest Field for a spot in the Semifinals.

2007 Third Round: French connection helps Sounders knock out Chivas USA

July 18, 2007 by

A bad bounce put the Seattle Sounders behind early in Wednesday night’s US Open Cup Third Round match, but the duo of Sebastien Le Toux and Roger Levesque made sure the USL First Division team still bounced Chivas USA from the tournament. It was the second year in a row that Chivas had been eliminated in the opening round, and their third straight Open Cup loss.

Le Toux converted passes from Levesque into goals in the 44th and 52nd minutes, then let Levesque score a goal of his own in the final minutes as host Seattle posted a 3-1 victory over the MLS team in front of 3,589 fans at Qwest Field.

The Sounders advanced to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2003. They will play host to the Colorado Rapids, one of just three MLS sides remaining in the competition, on Aug. 7.

Frenchman Laurent Merlin scored his first goal for Chivas USA, opening the scoring on a strange play in the 16th minute. His shot deflected off Sounders defender Danny Jackson, bounding up and over Seattle goalkeeper Chris Eylander. Jackson suffered a bruised left heel on the play and had to leave the match 10 minutes later.

The combination of Levesque, an American from Maine with a French name, and Le Toux, a Frenchman, hooked up for the equalizer in the 44th. Levesque received the ball from Leighton O’Brien, passing up a potential shot and leaving it for Le Toux, who beat Chivas USA goalkeeper Preston Burpo.

Burpo, who starred for the Sounders for nine years before signing with Chivas USA last year, was victimized by his former team again in the 52nd, with O’Brien again starting the sequence. Levesque got a long ball from O’Brien, then touched it over to Le Toux, and the Frenchman finished for his fourth goal of this year’s Open Cup.

Twice, Levesque nearly tallied a third goal for Seattle. First, his blast from the right side was deflected out by Francisco Mendoza for a corner kick in the 66th. Three minutes later, Levesque’s header off a cross from second-half sub Greg Howes sailed over the crossbar.

Levesque finally got his goal in the 82nd, thanks to Le Toux. Josh Gardner blazed down the left side, beating his defender, and played a cross into the box. Le Toux, sitting on a hat trick, let the ball roll between his legs to Levesque, behind him all alone on the back side, and he had an easy finish for his first goal of this year’s competition.

Chivas USA ended up with the advantage in shots (14-8), but had few dangerous scoring chances. Eylander turned in a nice save on a header by Maykel Galindo, another former Sounders player, in the 34th minute, and made a diving stop on a shot in the 75th. Eylander and Burpo each finished with four saves on the night.