Complete U.S. Open Cup Coverage

Colorado Rapids

2023 US Open Cup Round of 16: Real Salt Lake capitalizes on Rapids’ mistake to reach Quarterfinals

by

Photo: Real Salt Lake
Photo: Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake topped the Colorado Rapids, 1-0, on Wednesday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to advance to the US Open Cup Quarterfinals for the first time since 2015.

Jefferson Savarino dribbled uncontested from midfield after a sloppy Rapids turnover for the game’s only goal at the half hour mark. This was Savarino’s first Open Cup appearance for RSL in 2023.

Wednesday was the second meeting between the two clubs in four days. Last Saturday, in league play, RSL beat the Rapids 3-2. On Wednesday night, both teams fielded a mixture of last weekend’s starters and reserves for tonight’s Open Cup match. It was the first meeting between the two rivals in the US Open Cup proper since their first one back in 2006 (a game Colorado won 1-0 on a Jacob Peterson goal assisted by Clint Mathis)

“After our tough start to the campaign we wanted to prioritize the Open Cup,” said RSL head coach, Pablo Mastroeni. “We found that giving some of the guys who weren’t getting a lot of minutes has inspired them to become better teammates and better players. It feels so good to have so many people contribute.”

With the win, RSL will host LA Galaxy the week of June 6 or 7.

“We drew a tough LA Galaxy team that I’m sure is going to bring a fantastic group to AFF. It will be a great challenge for us,” Mastroeni said.

The Rapids nearly gave the game away in the third minute when a poorly weighted back pass from Moise Bombito forced Marko Ilić to scramble to clear the ball away with his feet from inside the six-yard box, just beating Carlos Gomez to the ball.

The Rapids best chance of the first half came in the 23rd minute off a prolonged possession when Michael Barrios found Sam Nicholson streaking down the middle of the park. Nicholson smashed the ball from outside of the penalty area. RSL’s 18-year-old goalkeeper Gavin Beavers got just enough on the shot to push the ball off the crossbar.

Beavers finished with four saves to earn his first clean sheet in his four professional appearances. He started in all three of RSL’s previous 2023 Open Cup matches.

“The Open Cup is a big opportunity for young players,” Mastroeni said. “Starting off with Las Vegas gave him a lot of confidence and belief in himself. He’s a young man with a very high ceiling. Goalkeeping is such a nuanced position with positioning, seeing the plays. You can see these plays at a lower level and your positioning isn’t going to kill you. At this level, with the players he is up against, everything has to be spot on. Tonight, he had a fantastic performance.”

RSL made the Rapids pay for more sloppy play at the half-hour mark when Anderson Julio forced a Rapids turnover at midfield. Savarino collected the ball and sauntered unchallenged down the field, slotting the ball past Ilić, who was slow to come off his line. It was his first career US Open Cup goal.

“The first goal came from a great defensive effort, Mastroeni said. “Ando blocked it in the midfield, created the turnover, and Sava did the rest. We need Sava performing at the top level, with intensity, with the quality that he displayed tonight. His quality speaks for itself.”

Moments before the halftime Barrios nearly ceased a half-opportunity, just missing from a tight angle.

Five minutes into the second half RSL nearly doubled the lead. Maikel Chang’s header back to the far post off a Savarino cross glanced off the crossbar and back into play.

After a flurry of substitutions by both teams in the final 20 minutes the Rapids threw everything forward. With eight minutes to play in regulation Jonathan Lewis earned a free kick just outside the penalty area. The Rapids could not make anything of the opportunity, or any of the half-chances that followed.

“At the moment, it feels good to be where we are, but we haven’t won anything yet,” Mastroeni said. “The onus is on us to play together, work hard, and continue to get results.”

2023 US Open Cup Round 4: Colorado Rapids pulls away from Sacramento Republic to end “Curse of the Rhinos”

by

Jonathan Lewis of the Colorado Rapids dribbles the ball against the Sacramento Republic FC in the 2023 US Open Cup. Photo: Colorado Rapids
Jonathan Lewis of the Colorado Rapids dribbles the ball against the Sacramento Republic FC in the 2023 US Open Cup. Photo: Colorado Rapids

Under the lights of a cool spring evening, Sacramento Republic FC played host to Colorado Rapids in the Round of 32 of the 2023 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup at Heart Health Park.

Colorado Rapids We Want The Cup shirt US Open Cup
Support TheCup.us and its coverage of the US Open Cup by purchasing a “We Want The Cup” shirt in your team’s colors. Visit THECUP.US SHOP

Behind early goals from Rapids forward Jonathan Lewis and Michael Edwards, Colorado held on to knock out last year’s Open Cup runner up 4-2 in an entertaining, back and forth match.

With the win, Colorado erased a seven-game road losing streak in Open Cup play as well as the infamous ‘Curse of the Rhinos.” Since the Rapids lost the 1999 US Open Cup Final to the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they had failed to win multiple games in 17 straight tournaments. Tuesday’s win is only their sixth road win in the competition across 21 tournaments, and despite getting past Republic FC, they still have a losing record against second division teams in the tournament (7-8-1, 0-1 PK) and hold the record among MLS teams who have been upset 11 times by a lower division side.

“Obviously, happy to advance,” said Colorado manager Robin Fraser. “As I’ve been saying all week, we certainly intend to take this tournament seriously, and we’ve talked a lot about mentality, we talked about what it’s like to play in an arena like this. And were every bit as good as I thought they would be. After giving up a couple of early goals, they really applied a lot of pressure late in the game. I was certainly pleased with how we handled it, and then obviously, to relinquish the lead, and then come back in and find two more goals to win it. I was really proud of the group for that. But as I said, the bottom line is we’re happy to have gotten through and advance to the next round.”

Jonathan Lewis opened the scoring for the Rapids in the 4th minute following a nice through ball from Daniel Leyva to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage. Eleven minutes later (15th minute), Rapids defender Michael Edwards slid under the Republic defense and headed in a corner from Alexander Gerbach to make it 2-0.

After the shock of going down two early goals, Republic FC were able to gain composure and work themselves back into the match. The effort would pay off in the 30th minute, when Sebastian Herrera pulled one back for the Quails on a beautiful cross from forward Keko Gontan on the right side capping off a solid build up of play.

Looking to level the match out of halftime, Republic FC got what they needed in the 52nd minute when Herrera got his brace after heading in a cross from defender Jack Gurr to send Heart Health Park into a frenzy. Unfortunately for the Republic, the excitement of fighting back to level at 2-2 would be short-lived.

Colorado regained the advantage in the 56th minute when substitute Sam Nicholson gathered the rebound following a blistering right-footed shot from Michael Barrios that hit the left post, ricocheted near the right post where Nicholson was crashing in. He calmly tapped it in to give the Rapids a 3-2 advantage.

The game would change when Republic defender Shane Wiedt picked up two yellow cards in a span of 90 seconds (61st and 62nd minute) and was sent off with 30 minutes left in the match. Down a man, Republic FC fought hard and continued to mount pressure and create chances, however, the game was put away in the 81st minute by Barrios off a cross from substitute Braian Galvan to make it 4-2, which is where the game would finish.

With the loss, Republic’s home unbeaten streak ends at 14 (second longest in the Modern Era). However, they still hold an impressive 18-2-1 (1-0 PK) home record in the Open Cup. For Colorado, Tuesday’s win means a trip to the Round of 16 and an opportunity to do something special in this tournament and change the direction of their history in the Open Cup. Lewis and his teammates are embracing the moment.

“If you tell somebody you can win a trophy in five or six games, then I think most people will take that,” said Rapids forward Jonathan Lewis. “You’ve got to win six games, so for us, it’s like that focus and that mentality right there to win or go home. And, you know, we have that in the back of our heads, and we know that this could be an opportunity, a tournament that we can actually win, so I think everybody’s just putting their head down. We know whoever we get next, again, it’s going to be just another game, but there’s going to be a lot more urgency in these games right now than even maybe an MLS game.”

2023 US Open Cup Round 3: Jonathan Lewis carries Colorado Rapids past Hailstorm to end USOC drought

by

Colorado Rapids players celebrate after scoring a goal against Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC in the 2023 US Open Cup. Photo: Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids players celebrate after scoring a goal against Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC in the 2023 US Open Cup. Photo: Colorado Rapids

The Colorado Rapids broke a seven-year Lamar Hunt US Open Cup winless streak Wednesday, rolling past the Northern Colorado Hailstorm 3-1 in Third Round play.

Jonathan Lewis scored in the fifth minute, and broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 55th minute with his second. Max added the third goal ten minutes later to put give the Rapids its first Open Cup win since 2017, which was a span of four straight tournament games without a win.

Jackson Dietriech leveled the score at 1-1 for the visiting Hailstorm in the 40th minute.

“At the end of the day it was a good result, a pretty well-played game. We advance in the tournament, which is very important, while being mindful of the game coming up on Saturday,” said Rapids coach Robin Fraser.

Fraser very much mixed the lineup of regular starters, reserve players, and Rapids II call-ups versus the USL League One side that was previously unbeaten in all competitions.

“The second goal they scored was the killer blow. It was a lovely goal from their part with the interplay,” said Northern Colorado coach Éamon Zayed. “No disrespect but you don’t really see those moments very often in USL League One. Obviously, it is a big step up in quality playing against MLS teams.”

The disparity was probably the greatest in the opening quarter of an hour of the match. The Rapids seized control of the match at the opening whistle, creating several half-chances early on in the match.

Central midfielder Ralph Priso set up the opening goal, finding Lewis with space in the left channel outside of the penalty area. Lewis set up his right foot and slotted a low shot to the far post to put the Rapids in the lead. It was Lewis’s first goal since September, 2022.

“For me, it feels good just to get a goal. I haven’t scored yet this year,” Lewis said. “We have to take that confidence as a team and keep being creative in the final third and the goals will come.”

Around the half-hour mark is when the wheels started to come off for the Rapids.

“We took our foot off the gas a little bit and let them get back into the game,” Fraser said.

After a couple of close calls, Northern Colorado pulled level in the 40th minute when Dietriech floated unmarked to the far post, slamming a Trevor Amann cross past Rapids goalkeeper Marko Illić.

Colorado Rapids We Want The Cup shirt US Open Cup
Support TheCup.us and its coverage of the US Open Cup by purchasing a “We Want The Cup” shirt in your team’s colors. Visit THECUP.US SHOP

It was Illić’s first team debut for the Rapids. He had not registered a save before he conceded his first goal as a Rapid, though he could hardly be blamed for the goal he gave up.

“Things were said to us in the locker room at halftime,” Lewis said. “In the second half we started to play better.”

Early in the second half Darren Yapi forced Northern Colorado goalkeeper Edward Delgado to save brilliantly when he put a driven Anthony Markanish cross to the far post.

Five minutes later Lewis got his second goal on the night thanks to some spectacular interplay with Max. After winning the ball, Lewis slotted the ball to Max in the middle of the field. Lewis kept his run going, receiving a perfectly weighted give-and-go pass from Max. Lewis slotted it past the charging Delgado for his second on the night.

Ten minutes later it was Lewis and Max again. Lewis chased down a ball on the left flank and found a charging Max at the top of the penalty area. Delgado got a hand to Max’s first-time strike but it was not enough.

“I was able to link up with him today really well,” Lewis said. “We both bring the ability go one-on-one with players. He opens up a lot of gaps for people.”

The win was the Rapids’ first Open Cup win since 2017, a 3-2 comeback win over USL Championship side Oklahoma City Energy at Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park.

“I think sometimes teams take these early Open Cup games off,” Fraser said. “We’re taking this competition seriously. Guys have to see it as an opportunity to get into the team and prove themselves. It is an opportunity for us to prove ourselves, to keep moving forward.”

American soccer’s greatest modern underdog story: Rochester Raging Rhinos win 1999 US Open Cup

by

The Rochester Raging Rhinos celebrate their 1999 US Open Cup championship after defeating the Colorado Rapids 2-0 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH. Photo: Rochester Rhinos

A version of this story by Josh Hakala originally appeared on FourFourTwo.com

Every sport has its go-to underdog story. Hockey has the “Miracle on Ice”, college basketball has N.C. State in 1983, baseball has the “Miracle Mets” in 1969, and boxing has Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson. World soccer has plenty to choose from with Leicester City (2015/16 Premier League champions) being the most recent example.

For American soccer, it’s the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos, who became the first and, to date, the only lower division club to win the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup since Major League Soccer launched in 1996. Fans of domestic cup competitions like the FA Cup (England) know that anything can happen, and in 1999, the Rhinos of the A-League (Div. 2) upset four MLS teams en route to lifting the trophy.

The last team to come close to repeating their accomplishment was the 2008 Charleston Battery who reached the Final in 2008, but lost to D.C. United. More recently, FC Cincinnati, then of the USL, let a 2-0 lead on their home field slip away in the 2017 Semifinals, falling to the New York Red Bulls. If they would have held on for the win, they would have had a chance to join the Rhinos in the American soccer history books.

However, looking back at the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos (they dropped the “Raging” part of their name prior to the 2008 season), their magical Open Cup run almost didn’t happen. Multiple times.

Round 2: Rochester Raging Rhinos 2, New York Freedoms 1 (OT)

The Rhinos began the tournament in Round 2 and their opening game was against the New York Freedoms, an amateur team from the Premier Development League (PDL, now known as USL League Two). To put the mismatch in perspective, the US Soccer Federation assigned seedings to the teams for the 1999 US Open Cup and the Rhinos were the No. 9 seed and the Freedoms were 28th out of the 32-team field. 

Mauro Biello of the Rochester Raging Rhinos battles for the ball against the New York Freedoms in the Second Round of the 1999 US Open Cup. Photo: Democrat & Chronicle

The New York Pancyprian Freedoms were three-time US Open Cup champions (1980, 1982, 1983) and long-time members of the New York’s famed Cosmopolitan League. They launched a PDL team in 1999 under the name “New York Freedoms” and qualified for the Open Cup in their debut season.

More than 7,000 fans showed up at the Rhinos’ Frontier Field to cheer on the defending A-League (Div. 2 pro) champions. In the first half, it looked like it was going to be a one-sided affair when New York’s Ronan Wiseman, who was on loan from the Long Island Rough Riders, received a straight red card for a hard tackle in the 35th minute.

“I’m very disappointed,” Freedoms manager Tony Noto told the Democrat and Chronicle after the game. “The referee made a difference. He changed the destiny of the Freedoms. You don’t (throw) players out on the first foul.”

Despite being down a man, the Freedoms walked into the locker room at halftime scoreless against the Rhinos.

According to Rhinos head coach Pat Ercoli, his team’s smaller field dimensions at Frontier Field may have helped the visiting team stay in the game as they bunkered down once they were down a man.

In the 57th minute, New York’s Rodney Rambo stunned the announced crowd of 7,131 by giving the 10-man Freedoms the lead. The former University of Portland star stole the ball from Rhinos midfielder Kirk Dietrich near the Rochester penalty area, dribbled in and put the ball past goalkeeper Bill Andracki, who was filling in for injured starter Pat Onstad.

“ was certainly a wake-up call,” said Rhinos head coach Pat Ercoli. “When you’re playing the amateur teams, sometimes you take them for granted, just like the MLS teams have done in certain cases with lower division teams. The lower division teams tend to up their game and the higher division teams tend to play down to .”

That lead would be short-lived as Mauro Biello, the team’s top scorer, received a pass just outside the box from Doug Miller, the A-League’s 1997 MVP. Biello launched a shot from a little more than 20 yards out to tie the game in the 62nd minute.

The match would head into golden goal extra time where Biello played provider, delivering a corner kick to the head of Darren Tilley who nodded home the game-winner in the 110th minute. The Freedoms gave the Rhinos a scare despite Rochester outshooting New York 22-7 and earning 19 corners to the Freedoms’ four. New York’s goalkeeper Roberto Sir kept his team in the game, making seven saves over 110 minutes of action.

After the game, Tilley told Jeff DiVeronica of the Democrat and Chronicle that the team was just happy to advance.

“We didn’t play to our best, as I think everyone would acknowledge, but it’s all about winning in Cup competitions.”

The headline in the July 15, 1999 edition of the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY) after the Rochester Raging Rhinos upset the defending MLS Cup and US Open Cup champion Chicago Fire.

ROUND 3: Rochester Raging Rhinos 1, Chicago Fire 0

In the next round, the Rhinos found themselves in a battle worthy of a Final. Rochester, the defending A-League champions welcomed the defending MLS Cup and US Open Cup champions in the Chicago Fire. With two major trophies already added to Chicago’s trophy case after its inaugural season, the Rhinos were not intimidated.

Photo: Democrat & Chronicle archives

After Yari Allnutt headed home a Michael Kirmse corner kick to put the Rhinos ahead in the 51st minute, the more than 10,000 fans in attendance at Rochester’s Frontier Field saw the game’s physical play cranked up to another level.

“We had a mentality that we don’t care where you play, we’re going to come and take it to you and compete on any given day and make sure we’re going to be successful,” said Rhinos forward Doug Miller. “Other teams, they had given more respect and time for these guys to play … we were very hard-nosed and very chippy.”

That hard-nosed approach produced a tournament-high 45 fouls between the two teams, but the cards didn’t start coming out until about 20 minutes into the second half.

With roughly 15 minutes left in the game, Chicago’s Lubos Kubik got into a confrontation with multiple Rhinos players which led to him putting Rochester’s Scott Schweitzer in a headlock. Kubik and Schweitzer, who were the previous year’s Defender of the Year in their respective leagues, were both sent off.

Despite missing their top defender, goalkeeper Pat Onstad and the Rhinos were able to keep the Fire’s high-powered offense off the scoresheet. Rochester’s defense held Chicago to just eight shots with Onstad, a Canadian international, only needing to make three saves to earn the clean sheet. With the win, the Rhinos were moving on to the Quarterfinals, 1-0.

“We had that swagger where we knew we could win. They came in with their best team and we came in with our best team and it was a fight,” said Ercoli.

“Some of those things we did in that game, you wouldn’t get away with today. You would have seen four or five red cards ,” Ercoli added with a chuckle.

QUARTERFINALS: Rochester Raging Rhinos 2, Dallas Burn 1 (OT)

The sports page in the Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, NY) on Aug 12, 1999 as the Rochester Raging Rhinos defeated the Dallas Burn in the Quarterfinals of the 1999 US Open Cup.

In the Quarterfinals, the Rhinos hosted the 1997 US Open Cup champion Dallas Burn in front of another crowd of more than 10,000 fans. This was nothing new for the Rhinos faithful who’s attendance figures had made Rochester a strong candidate to join Major League Soccer. The match against Dallas drew an announced crowd of 10,730, which was the seventh time that a US Open Cup match cracked the 10,000 mark in the Modern Era. Of those seven games, four of them were hosted by the Rhinos at Frontier Field, one of them was the 1998 Final, and the record of 20,376 was a Colorado Rapids game at Mile High Stadium against the Seattle Sounders (A-League) that was given a significant boost as being the opening match of a doubleheader with the US Men’s National Team playing against Derby County of the English Premier League.

After a scoreless first half, Mauro Biello opened the scoring by redirecting a Tim Hardy shot past Dallas’ All-Star goalkeeper Matt Jordan in the 71st minute. Jason Kreis, who would finish tied as MLS’ leading goalscorer that year and win the MLS MVP award, rescued the Burn with an 85th minute equalizer on a cross from Paul Broome.

Just like the match against the Freedoms in Round 2, it came down to extra time and another golden goal from the Rhinos. Michael Kirmse was at the right place at the right time. In the 110th minute, Biello sent in a free kick that Tilley headed off the crossbar. The rebound fell right to Kirmse who put it into the back of the net to send Rochester back to the Semifinals for the second time in four years.

The game was satisfying for the Rhinos because of the criticism directed at them by members of the Dallas Burn before the game. Chief among them was outspoken Dallas head coach Dave Dir saying that Rochester played like “11 Dennis Rodmans”, referring to the physical style of play of the NBA star. While Dir attacked the players’ style of play, Kreis mocked the size of the Rhinos’ Frontier Field, saying “when they play on a real field, they’re going to get their butts beat.”

“That was definitely fodder for the locker room,” said Ercoli. “Scott Schweitzer was one of the guys on our team that made sure everyone knew about it.”

SEMIFINALS: Rochester Raging Rhinos 3, Columbus Crew 2

The Rhinos played away from home for the first time as both Semifinals were scheduled at a neutral venue at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex (Va.) on Sept. 1. Both games featured an A-League vs. MLS match-up, however, the event was overshadowed, quite literally, by the weather as Hurricane Dennis was bearing down on the region. The game was able to move forward because Dennis was downgraded to a tropical storm, but it still brought high winds and heavy rain to the doubleheader.

Rochester Raging Rhinos head coach Pat Ercoli celebrates his club’s 1999 US Open Cup title. Photo courtesy of Pat Ercoli

Earlier in the evening, the Colorado Rapids (MLS), the team the Rhinos beat in the 1996 Semifinals, punched their ticket to the Final with a 3-0 win over the A-League’s Charleston Battery. All the scoring came in the second half with Jorge Dely Valdes accounting for two of them and Paul Bravo adding another. Wolde Harris assisted on two of the three goals, while Ian Feuer made four saves to earn the clean sheet. After the match, Rapids head coach Glenn Myernick had the quote of the night: “It was a great night, if you’re a duck.”

It was already announced that the tournament’s championship game two weeks later would be held at the Crew’s new soccer-specific stadium in Columbus. So when the Rhinos kicked off against a star-studded Crew team in the pouring rain, they would play spoiler in the most dramatic way possible.

With wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour, it was not a fun night for anyone but especially the goalkeepers.

“I’ve never played in wind like that before in my life,” said Rhinos goalkeeper Pat Onstad, who was the A-League Goalkeeper of the Year in his debut season the year before. “I would try to hit a goal kick as hard as I possibly could and it would get about 30 yards out and it would be coming back at our center backs and they would be heading it out. It was crazy.”

After a scoreless first half, the game opened up with the Rhinos answering everything the Crew fired at them. Despite facing 8 Rochester players in the wall, Columbus’ Robert Warzycha connected on a stunning free kick in the 56th minute to give the Crew, one of the top teams in MLS, a 1-0 lead. The Rhinos nearly equalized in the next few minutes as Darren Tilley had a goal disallowed for offside and Bill Sedgewick launched a shot from distance that hit the post.

Rochester would finally level the match in the 68th minute when Tilley headed home a Tommy Tanner cross. Just under ten minutes later, the Crew’s speedy winger Brian West put his team back in front, only to see Schweitzer take a rare free kick from 25 yards away that took a deflection off of Tanner and ended up in the back of the net.

It looked like Rochester was headed to its third extra time match in four matches, but three minutes into stoppage time, another Rhinos defender came to the rescue. Tim Hardy, cut inside his defender on the wing, took a shot that caught a gust of wind that carried into the corner of the goal, out of the reach of MLS goalkeeper wins leader Mark Dougherty.

It remains one of the most exciting finishes of the US Open Cup’s Modern Era (1995-present).

Mali Walton of the Rochester Raging Rhinos celebrates after winning the 1999 US Open Cup with a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rapids.

“At that point, we knew we were destined to win this thing,” said Ercoli.

FINAL: Rochester Raging Rhinos 2, Colorado Rapids 0

The hopes of a sold-out Crew Stadium for the Final were dashed as soon as the Rhinos eliminated Columbus in that rainy Semifinal in Virginia Beach. The vast majority of the announced crowd of 4,555 were cheering for the Rhinos against the Rapids, with many of those fans making the roughly 400-mile trip from Rochester on a Tuesday night. Those unable to make the trip were able to watch the game live on ESPN2, giving fans around the country a taste of the drama that the US Open Cup is capable of.

After three upsets of MLS teams, Rhinos beat writer Jeff Di Veronica wrote in his recap of the Columbus Crew game that “it might be time to stop calling Rochester’s wins over MLS teams upsets.”

After a scoreless first half, the Rhinos were struggling to create chances and needed to add some speed to the attack, so Coach Ercoli brought on a not-so-secret weapon in the 62nd minute. The club’s all-time leading scorer Doug Miller, who was frustrated because he had been the odd man out of the starting lineup in recent weeks, gave the Rhinos the spark they needed.

Rochester Raging Rhinos: 1999 US Open Cup champions
Rochester Raging Rhinos: 1999 US Open Cup champions

Three minutes after entering the game, Miller received the ball on the left wing, beat Rapids defender Peter Vermes and fired a shot through the legs of Colorado goalkeeper Ian Feuer to give the Rhinos the lead. Pat Onstad made some big saves down the stretch and Yari Allnutt put the game away with a goal in the 90th minute to kick off a long night of celebrations for the Rhinos and their traveling fans.

Miller used that moment to spark the rest of his season as he played a big role in the team’s playoff run as he scored six goals in the team’s seven playoff games as Rochester reached the A-League championship game before losing 2-1 to the Minnesota Thunder.

For Miller, looking back on his career, the US Open Cup title is something he will never forget.

“I’ve got four championships, two indoor, two outdoor, and I’ve got an amateur championship, but that ranks right up there at the top for many reasons,” said Miller. “To win the US Open Cup and to beat all those MLS teams in the fashion that we did was special.”

 

 

FULL MATCH REPLAY

“WHEN MLS DIDN’T WIN THE US OPEN CUP”

SOCCER SAM RECAP: 1999 US OPEN CUP FINAL

LOCAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

US Open Cup history: A final four with teams without a title game appearance is rare

by

The 2019 US Open Cup Semifinals offer up a fresh and unique field of potential champions. Not only have none of the remaining teams ever won a US Open Cup championship, but none of them have ever been to a Final either. This is just the second time this has happened since MLS joined the competition in 1996, and it’s just the 10th time in the 106-year history of the tournament that fans are not only guaranteed a first-time champion, but none of the semifinalists have even reached a Final before.

We take a look back at the previous nine Semifinals that featured teams all seeking their first Open Cup title.

1920 National Challenge Cup
Robins Dry Dock (New York, NY) vs. Fore River FC (Quincy, MA)
Ben Miller FC (St. Louis, MO) vs. Packard FC (Detroit, MI)

It’s no real surprise the 1920 Semifinals lacked teams with Finals experience, for many reasons. For the 1920 edition, there were many teams returning to the competition after a two-year absence. World War I enlistments had greatly reduced the field of teams for the 1918 and 1919 tournaments, as many teams had to suspend operations due to a lack of players. Detroit’s Packard FC was one of those clubs, having participated in the National Challenge Cup from 1915-17, the club skipped the 1917-18 and 1918-19 competitions. Packard had achieved moderate success in their previous cup runs, but never got as far as the Third Round.

Fore River avoided the fate of many clubs and were able to field a team through the war since it’s home base of Quincy, Mass. was home to several shipyards, becoming an important employer during the war years. The Quincy shipbuilders had reached the Quarterfinals in 1919, where they fell to eventual runners-up Paterson FC (New Jersey) 2-1, in a replay of their scoreless draw.

Jimmy Miller of Ben Miller FC (Date unknown)
Jimmy Miller of Ben Miller FC (Date unknown)

The 1920 tournament was just the second for Robins Dry Dock, as the team was put together at the start of the 1918-19 season. The Robins club also contributed to the inexperience of the Semifinals by eliminating the Fall River Rovers (4-0 in Round 4) and Bethlehem Steel (1-0 AET in Quarterfinals). Bethlehem had appeared in the previous five Cup finals, while Fall River joined the Steelmen in the title game from 1915-17. The elimination of these two powerhouses greatly increased the chance of new clubs reaching the final in 1920.

 

The final piece of the puzzle was the Ben Miller FC from St. Louis. 1920 was the first year that clubs from St. Louis entered the tournament, leading to the Gateway City becoming a dominant force in the national tournament for the next 17 years.

In the Semifinals, Fore River overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to stage a dramatic 2-1 win over Robins, with Tommy Underwood and Jack Kershaw each scoring in the final 15 minutes. Ben Miller reached its maiden cup final with a 4-2 win over Packard FC. Rube Potee and Larry Riley each scored twice for the Millers. In the Final, at Handlan’s Park in St. Louis, Ben Miller and Fore River traded goals in the first half, Hap Marre for the home team and Kershaw for the visitors. Future National Soccer Hall of Famer Jimmy Dunn scored what proved to be the winning goal in the 63rd minute, giving St. Louis the National Challenge Cup crown in their debut year.

1920 National Challenge Cup Semifinals

April 10, 1920
Coats Field – Pawtucket, RI

Fore River Rovers 2:1 Robins Dry Dock

Robins: Harry Ratican – 45’
Fore River: Tommy Underwood (Farquar) – 75’
Fore River – Jack Kershaw (Underwood) – 85’

April 25, 1920
Federal League Park – St. Louis, MO

Ben Miller FC 4:2 Packard FC

Ben Miller: Rube Potee (PK) – 8’
Ben Miller: Larry Riley (Rooney) – 10’
Packard: Mercer – 30’
Packard: John Hunter – 43′
Ben Miller: Larry Riley (Rooney) – 68’
Ben Miller: Rube Potee – 2nd Half

1920 National Challenge Cup Final

May 9, 1920
Handlan’s Park – St. Louis, MO

Ben Miller FC 2:1 Fore River Rovers

Ben Miller: Hap Marre 22′ (Potee)
Fore River: Jack Kershaw 37′
Ben Miller: Jimmy Dunn 63′ (Potee)

***********************************

1925 National Challenge Cup Semifinals
Abbot Worsted (Fore Village, MA) vs. Shawsheen Indians (Andover, MA)
Thistles FC (Cleveland, OH) vs. Canadian Club (Chicago, IL)

The 1925 National Challenge Cup Eastern Final. Newspaper archive: Boston Globe
The 1925 National Challenge Cup Eastern Final. Newspaper archive: Boston Globe

If there ever was a tournament of underdogs, it was the 1925 National Challenge Cup. Not because of any overachieving clubs, but rather a lack of heavyweights in the field. Frustrated with how the tournament was being run, the owners of the American Soccer League teams decided to boycott the 1925 competition. One concern raised by the owners was the fact that their clubs were forced to play early round games against amateur clubs, in which the gate receipts sometimes did not cover the cost of travel if the ASL teams were drawn away. Perhaps the biggest issue for the owners was the 33 1/3% cut the USFA took from the gate receipts from each cup game. The four professional clubs from St. Louis also joined in the boycott, leaving the 1925 National Challenge Cup devoid of all the major contenders.

Abbot Worsted, sponsored by the Abbot Worsted Yarn Company of Fore Village, MA was easily the most experienced team among the semifinalists. Worsted reached the semifinals in 1922, and notched quarterfinal appearances in 1923 and 1924. The Shawsheen Indians of Andover, MA were a familiar opponent for Worsted, as the clubs met in the first round in 1924. After a 3-3 draw, Worsted eliminated Shawsheen two weeks later in the replay, 3-1. A year later, it was Shawsheen’s turn, as the Indians took a 2-0 lead through goals from Peter Purden and Alex Carrie in each half. Worsted’s Dan Cummings scored with two minutes remaining, but it was too late to catch the winners.

Chicago’s Canadian Club and Cleveland’s Thistles FC had a closer affair at DePaul Field in the Windy City. Thistles’ Swede Johnson scored in the 40th minute, but the Canadians answered two minutes later through a Bob Hannah penalty kick. With eight minutes remaining, Joe Phillips put the Canadians on top for good, 2-1.

Played at Mark’s Stadium, home of the boycotting Fall River Marksmen, the 1925 Cup Final was a dismal affair at the gate. Only 2,300 turned up, with a reported 953 paid. In contrast, the Boston Wonder Workers of the ASL and St. Louis’ Ben Miller FC played a three-game “American Professional Soccer Championship” series that drew 18,000 fans over three games. Back in Fall River, with goals from Edmund Smith, Peter Purden and Alex Carrie, Shawsheen lifted the Dewar trophy for the only time.

The new champs then achieved their overall goal of being included in the American Soccer League, but their story would not have a happy ending. The team struggled in league play, and in mid-season the teams’ backers, the American Woolen Company, pulled their support after company owner William Wood died. The team finished 10th out of 12 teams in the 1925-26 season and ceased operations in March of 1926.

1925 National Challenge Cup Semifinals

March 22, 1925
DePaul Field – Chicago, IL

Canadian Club 2:1 Thistles FC

Thistles: Swede Johnson 40′
Canadian Club: Bob Hannah 42′ (PK)
Canadian Club: Joe Phillips 82’

April 4, 1925
Balmoral Park  – Andover, MA

Shawsheen Indians 2:1 Abbot Worsted

Shawsheen: Peter Purden 17’ (PK)
Shawsheen: Alex Carrie (2nd half)
Abbot Worsted: Dan Cummings 88’

1925 National Challenge Cup Final

April 19, 1925
Mark’s Stadium, Tiverton, RI

Shawsheen Indians 3:0 Canadian Club

Shawsheen: Edmund Smith (Blyth) 35′
Shawsheen: Peter Purden (PK) 41′
Shawsheen: Alex Carrie 50′

Madison Kennels and Sparta A&BA battle in the 1929 National Challenge Cup Semifinals. Newspaper archive: St. Louis Post Dispatch
Madison Kennels and Sparta A&BA battle in the 1929 National Challenge Cup Semifinals. Newspaper archive: St. Louis Post Dispatch

1929 National Challenge Cup Semifinals
Sparta A & BA (Chicago, IL) vs. Madison Kennels (St. Louis, MO)
New York Giants (New York, NY) vs. Hakoah All Stars (New York, NY)

Just four years after the ASL and St. Louis pro clubs skipped the 1925 National Challenge Cup, the ASL once again skipped the competition. This time the St. Louis pro clubs did not join.

The rift began when the ASL owners looked to break away from the United States Soccer Football Association. In 1927, the league came under scrutiny from FIFA for poaching players from Great Britain, and the ASL owners did not agree with the limitations set by the USFA to satisfy FIFA. In retaliation, the ASL forbid its teams from entering the 1929 National Challenge Cup, but Bethlehem Steel, Newark Skeeters and the New York Giants broke ranks with the league and entered the Cup anyway. The ASL suspended the three teams, and in turn the USFA suspended the ASL. The three renegade teams joined five teams from the Southern New York Soccer Association’s Eastern Soccer League, while the remaining ASL clubs played on as an outlaw league. With that said, the previous two Cup champions, Fall River Marksmen (1927) and New York Nationals (1928) were out of the running for the 1929 title.

However, Bethlehem Steel wouldn’t be one of the teams representing the ESL in the semifinals, having been eliminated by the New York Giants in the Quarterfinals.  The Giants’ semifinal opponents were the Hakoah All Stars, also of the ESL. Hakoah was founded in the fall of 1928 by several former players from Hakoah Vienna. The Austrian club came to the United States for a tour in 1926, and several of the players decided to stay in the United States. Several of those players played for the Giants from 1926-28 before forming their own team. In front of 12,000 fans at Brooklyn’s Dexter Park, a 78th minute goal from Hungarian international Josef Eisenhoffer was just enough for Hakoah to edge the Giants and earn a sport in the Final.

In the Western final, two new teams from familiar locations squared off. St. Louis’ Madison Kennels were a “new” club in the St. Louis Pro League for the 1928-29 season, having changed sponsors when the Morgan Haulers were sold to new owners. Madison knocked off 1926 Cup champions Ben Miller FC in the first round and made their way to the semifinals as the latest threat from St. Louis. Their opponents were Sparta Athletic and Benevolent Association (A & BA for short). Founded in 1915 by Czech immigrants, the club made their debut in the Cup in 1922, and by 1927 became one of the strongest clubs in the west.

The game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis featured 11 goals in total. Madison took a quick 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes, and by halftime held a 4-2 advantage. Sparta and Madison alternated goals in the second half until the score was 5-4, but Madison eventually pulled away with two late goals for a 7-4 victory. Madison’s Buddy Grennon had a hat trick and assisted on two other goals.

The 1929 Final made history on many levels. It was the first Final to be scheduled for multiple games, a best-of-three format replacing the single game championship. The tournament’s attendance record also fell, as an estimated 15,000 (13,937 paid) fans witnessed the first game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, setting a new mark for soccer in that city.  Madison held off Hakoah for most of the game, but in the 80th minute Josef Eisenhoffer broke through for the first score. Two minutes later, Siegfried Wortmann doubled Hakoah’s lead for a 2-0 win in the first leg.

A week later, 21,583 fans packed Dexter Park in Brooklyn for the second leg, an Open Cup Final attendance record that would stand until the 2010 Final in Seattle which saw a crowd of 31,311. Madison proved no match for Hakoah, as future US National Team manager Erno Schwarz, Max Gruenwald and Austrian international Mortiz Haeusler provided the home side with a 3-0 win and a National Challenge Cup title. The Hakoah squad would stay together until the collapse of the original ASL in the summer of 1933, but never reach the heights of an Open Cup championship again.

1929 National Challenge Cup Semifinals

March 17, 1929
Sportsman’s Park – St. Louis, MO

Madison Kennels 7:4 Sparta A & BA

Madison: Dinty Moore (Hanson) 1’
Madison: Johnny Worden (Oster) 8’
Sparta: Joe Kratochvil (Karbec) 18’
Madison: Buddy Grennon (Flavin) 1st half
Madison: Buddy Grennon (Hanson) 31’
Sparta: Adolph Berger (PK) 44’
Sparta: Adolph Berger (Karbec) 65′
Madison: Charley Oster (Grennon) 2nd half
Sparta: Charley Oster (Own goal) 2nd half
Madison: Eddie Flavin (Grennon) 2nd half
Madison: Buddy Grennon (Flavin) 88’

March 24, 1929
Dexter Park – Brooklyn, NY

Hakoah All Stars 1:0 New York Giants

Hakoah: Josef Eisenhoffer 78’

1929 National Challenge Cup Final

First Leg
March 31, 1929
Sportsman’s Park – St. Louis, MO

Madison Kennels 0:2 Hakoah All Stars

Hakoah: Josef Eisenhoffer (Nicholsburger) 80′
Hakoah: Siegfried Wortmann 82′

Second Leg
April 7, 1929
Dexter Park – Brooklyn, NY

Hakoah All Stars 3:0 Madison Kennels

Hakoah: Erno Schwarz (Gruenwald) 22′
Hakoah: Max Gruenwald (Haeusler) 50′
Hakoah: Moritz Haeusler (Gruenwald) 70’

***********************************

1941 National Open Cup Semifinals
German Hungarian SC (New York, NY) vs. Pawtucket SC (Pawtucket, RI)
Chrysler (Detroit, MI) vs. Gallatin-Dunlevy (Pittsburgh, PA)

By 1941, the landscape of American soccer had changed drastically. Ravaged by the effects of the Great Depression, the American Soccer League was forced to fold in the spring of 1933 and re-emerge as a semi-pro circuit by the fall. Teams from Philadelphia and Baltimore joined the league, and the New England teams had their own division with a separate schedule. Former cup champions such as Bethlehem Steel, Fall River Marksmen and New York Nationals faded away into history.

After the Stix, Baer & Fuller dynasty ended in 1938, St. Louis’ dominance of the Cup came to an abrupt halt and wouldn’t re-emerge until the 1950s. Teams from Detroit, Chicago and Western Pennsylvania filled the void in the west. With World War II looming on the horizon, only 71 clubs put their names in the hat, and the entry total would not surpass 100 clubs again until 1947. No teams from St. Louis even entered the 1941 Open Cup. On top of this, Philadelphia’s Passon SC was the only non-New England ASL club to enter, meaning none of the ASL teams that made Finals appearances in the past five years were in contention.

With most of the ASL clubs out of the competition, the door was open for teams from the German American Soccer League (GASL). The German Hungarian SC made their way to the Semifinals to represent the GASL and found themselves opposing the top club in the New England division of the ASL, Pawtucket FC. The New York amateurs proved to be no match for Pawtucket, as the ASL pros took the first leg 3-0 at Pawtucket and left Starlight Park in the Bronx with a 5-1 win in the second leg for an 8-1 aggregate victory.

In the Western half of the semifinals, Western Pennsylvania’s Gallatin-Dunlevy was making the most of an unusual partnership. At the start of the 1940-41 season, the managers of the two clubs agreed to combine their teams in order to field a contender in both cup and league play. Gallatin reached the National Amateur Cup final in 1939, but neither club had seen much success in the Open Cup. Detroit’s Chrysler SC had been participating in the Cup since 1934 but had only recently found success, reaching the Quarterfinals in 1940. Chrysler prevailed in convincing fashion over two legs, a 3-1 win at Bridgeville, Pa. followed by a 2-0 triumph at home. Having failed in their bid to win a league or cup championship, Gallatin and Dunlevy went their separate ways the following season.

The Pawtucket-Chrysler final turned out to be one of the more thrilling championships in the history of the Cup. Pawtucket won the first leg at home 4-2 on May 5. In the second leg a week later in Detroit, Chrysler held a 3-0 lead in the second half, and just as Detroit looks to claim its first Open cup title, Ed Valentine scored for Pawtucket to even the aggregate score at 5-5. Pawtucket dominated the 30 minutes of extra time, scoring three goals to push the aggregate to 8-5 to claim the Open Cup. Chrysler would only last one more season, disbanding after a lengthy and bitter controversy with Chicago’s Sparta A & BA in the 1942 tournament.

1941 National Open Cup Semifinals

Eastern Final – First Leg
April 13, 1941
Coats Field – Pawtucket, RI

Pawtucket Rangers 3:0 German Hungarian SC

Pawtucket: Ed Valentine – 1st half
Pawtucket: Dave McEwan (Florie) – 67’
Pawtucket: Walter Dick – 86’

Eastern Final – Second Leg

April 20, 1941
Starlight Park – Bronx, NY

German Hungarian SC 1:5 Pawtucket Rangers

German Hungarian: Eddie Zbuchalski
Pawtucket: Ed Valentine
Pawtucket: Ed Valentine
Pawtucket: Mino Rebello
Pawtucket: Walter Dick

Pawtucket Rangers advance on 8-1 aggregate

Western Final – First Leg

April 6, 1941
Charleroi Stadium – Bridgeville, PA

Gallatin-Dunlevy 1:3 Chrysler FC

Chrysler: Tony Barra (Campbell) 20′
Gallatin-Dunlevy: Charley Lyons (Chislagi) – 23’
Chrysler: George Borg – 53′
Chrysler: Neil Campbell – 88′

Western Final – Second Leg

April 13, 1941
Chrysler Field – Detroit, MI

Chrysler FC 2:0 Gallatin-Dunlevy

Chrysler: John Lenard – 40′
Chrysler: Neil Campbell (Borg) – 81′

Chrysler FC advance on 5-1 aggregate

 

1941 National Challenge Cup Final

First Leg
May 4, 1941
Coats Field – Pawtucket, RI

Pawtucket Rangers 4:2 Chrysler SC

Pawtucket: Mike Souza – 3′
Chrysler: Tommy Ferrans (PK) – 1st Half
Pawtucket: Ed Valentine (Florie) – 1st Half
Pawtucket: Walter Dick – 1st Half
Chrysler: Tony Barra – 2nd Half
Pawtucket: Dave McEwan – 2nd Half

Second Leg
May 11, 1941
Chrysler Field – Detroit, MI

Chrysler S.C. 3:4 (AET) Pawtucket Rangers
(3-1 FT, aggregate 5-5 after full time)

Chrysler: Neil Campbell (Molly) – 1st Half
Chrysler: John Lenard (Molly) – 2nd Half
Chrysler: Tony Barra – 2nd Half
Pawtucket: Ed Valentine (McEwan) – 90’
Pawtucket: Dave McEwan (Anderson) – 97′
Pawtucket: Tommy Florie (Quinn) – 114’
Pawtucket: Dave McEwan – 119′

Pawtucket Rangers win National Challenge Cup 8-5 aggregate

***********************************

1958 National Challenge Cup Semifinals
UASC Lions (Chicago, IL) vs. Los Angeles Kickers (Los Angeles, CA)
Pompei SC (Baltimore, MD.) vs. Beadling (Beadling, PA)

Like the other Semifinals detailed so far, the 1958 National Open Cup final four featured four teams who had little previous success in the tournament or were newcomers to the competition. In addition to that, three of the heavyweight Cup contenders, Eintracht, Kutis and Harmarville, were eliminated ahead of the semis.

A scene from the 1958 National Open Cup Final between the Los Angeles Kickers and Pompei SC of Baltimore. Newspaper archive: Baltimore Sun
A scene from the 1958 National Open Cup Final between the Los Angeles Kickers and Pompei SC of Baltimore. Newspaper archive: Baltimore Sun

The Los Angeles Kickers got their start in 1951, but the teams from the state of California did not see Open cup action until 1954. The exclusion of California clubs in the cup prior to 1954 was largely a matter of travel costs, as commercial air travel was still in its infancy, and traveling to the west coast by train would take too much time. The LA Scots (1952) and McIlwaine Canvasbacks (1953) each had intentions of making their cup debuts before 1954, but both withdrew for financial reasons. In 1954, both Los Angeles and San Francisco held qualifying tournaments with the winners playing for a spot in the Semifinals. The Kickers dismantled AAC Teutonia 13-2 over two legs to reach the 1958 Semifinals.

The UASC Lions (Ukrainian American Soccer Club) were also a relatively new club, having been founded in 1949. The Lions cleared the path to its maiden semifinal berth by upsetting Kutis SC (St. Louis) 4-3 on aggregate over two legs in the Quarterfinals. In the matchup with the Kickers in Los Angeles, the Lions wilted in the 90 degree heat and fell 3-0. Future US international Willie Carson, Future US international and Hall of Famer Al Zerhusen and Pete Rumohr scored for Los Angeles.

Pompei SC began as the Baltimore Rockets in 1953 as a new American Soccer League club and changed its name to Pompei for the 1957-58 season. As the Rockets, the team found no real Open Cup success, but with the new name came new fortunes. Pompei outlasted perennial favorite Sport Club Eintracht (New York, NY) in a 9-8 aggregate Quarterfinal win. The second leg would go down as perhaps the longest game in US Open Cup history, as the teams played 180 minutes in an attempt to earn a semifinal berth. Bob Swinski put the game to rest with a 177th minute goal for Pompei.

MORE: 1958 US Open Cup Quarterfinals: Baltimore’s Pompei SC wins one of the longest, greatest Cup games of all-time

By far the longest tenured of the four clubs was Beadling, having been founded in 1898. While Beadling only had two quarterfinal appearances (1951 & 1955) in the years leading up to 1958, the club won the 1954 National Amateur Cup and were runners-up in the 1958 edition. Their path to the final four was opened up by an early round upset of by Rochester’s Redmonds SC over 1956 Cup champion Harmarville. Wins over Buffalo’s Simon Pure and Detroit’s Ukrainian SC led to a two leg affair with Pompei. The first leg went Beadling’s way, as two goals from Jerry Bressanelli cancelled Bob Lezenski’s 11th minute goal for Pompei in a 2-1 win. In the return game in Baltimore, the home club came out on top 3-1 on two goals in each half from Ray Surrock, and an additional score from Ed DeFonso. George Watson converted a penalty for Beadling in the first half. It was the first finals appearance by a Baltimore team since 1940, when Baltimore SC and Chicago’s Sparta A & BA infamously could not decide a winner when the clubs could not come to terms on a tiebreaking third game.

In the final at Kirk Avenue Stadium in Baltimore, 4,500 fans witnessed Pompei and the LA Kickers battle into extra time to determine a winner. Willie Carson drew first blood for the Kickers in the 8th minute, but just eight minutes later Joe “JoJo” DeFonso scored what sounds like a bicycle kick to tie the score. The Baltimore Sun described DeFonso’s goal as “a boot over his head with his back to the goal.” Neither team could score for the remaining 74 minutes, as each team’s leading scorers Al Zerhusen (Kickers) and Larry Surrock (Pompei) failed to find the net.  With ten minutes remaining in extra time Willie Carson struck again, pouncing on a rebound from a blocked shot to drive home the winning goal.

Pompei would go on to make one more quarterfinal appearance in 1960, but wound up folding early in the 1960-61 season. The Kickers would go on to win another Open Cup title in 1964 as the LA Kickers-Victoria after merging with the Victoria Soccer Club. The UASC Lions, Beadling and LA Kickers (now LA Soccer Club) are all still around today.

1958 National Open Cup Semifinals

Eastern Final – First Leg
May 4, 1958
Beadling, PA

Beadling 2:1 Pompei SC

Pompei: Bob Lezenski – 11′
Beadling: Jerry Beressanelli – 2nd Half
Beadling: Jerry Beressanelli – 2nd Half

Eastern Final – Second Leg
May 18, 1958
Kahler’s Park – Baltimore, MD

Pompei SC 3:1 Beadling

Pompei: Ray Surock – 33’
Beadling: George Watson (PK) – 1st Half
Pompei: Ed DeFonso (Cross) – 2nd Half
Pompei: Ray Surock – 78’

Western Final
April 20, 1958
Sentinel Field – Los Angeles, CA

LA Kickers 3:0 UASC Lions SC

Kickers: Willie Carson (Zerhusen) – 1st Half
Kickers: Pete Rumohr (Tyrell) – 2nd Half
Kickers: Al Zerhusen – 2nd Half

1958 National Open Cup Final

June 8, 1958
Kirk Avenue Stadium – Baltimore, MD

Pompei SC 1:2 (AET) LA Kickers

Kickers: Willie Carson – 8’
Pompei: Joe DeFonso – 16’
Kickers: Willie Carson – 110’

 

New York Hota from 1971

1971 National Open Cup Semifinals
Hamm’s (St. Louis, MO) vs. Yugoslav American SC (Los Angeles, CA)
Danube Swabian (Cleveland, OH) vs. New York Hota (New York, NY)

By 1971, the American soccer landscape had changed yet again. The North American Soccer League was in it’s fourth season, but despite pressure from the US Soccer Federation, the NASL clubs were not entering the Open Cup. By 1971, the ASL, which was down to five teams, had moved to a spring/summer schedule a few seasons prior. As a result, almost none of the ASL teams entered the cup because many of their players were cup-tied with clubs they played for in the fall/winter months.

One major difference separated this semifinal field from all the others covered here: Only one of the two semifinals games were played. The western half of the semifinals came down to Hamm’s of St. Louis and the Yugoslav American SC of Los Angeles. The game was set to be played in Los Angeles, and the controversy arose due to a change the USSF made during the offseason. Previously, it was up to the hosts to pay for the visiting team’s travel and lodging, and the change was made that required the visiting team to handle their own expenses or offer a guarantee, or the visiting team could offer a travel guarantee to host the match. The Hamm’s club took issue with this, and after going back and forth with the USSF, failed to appear at Rancho Cienega Stadium in Los Angeles on May 2, forfeiting the match to Yugoslav American.

New York Hota’s path to the Semifinals also featured a bit of controversy. In their 4-1 quarterfinal win over Taunton Sport, the Massachusetts side protested the eligibility of several of Hota’s players. Manager Gordon Bradley and five other players had played for the NASL’s New York Cosmos the day before in their season opener in St. Louis, then flew to Fall River, Mass. for the Open Cup game the next day. Taunton argued that the players could not be registered with two separate teams, thus making them ineligible. Hota argued that had the Open Cup not been behind schedule, the conflict would have been avoided.

The USSF ruled in favor of Hota and they were off to face another surprise semifinal entrant, Danube Swabian of Cleveland, who had upset the Ukrainian Nationals in the Quarterfinals with a 2-1 extra time win. The game was originally set to be played in Cleveland, but for unknown reasons was switched to Franklin Square. New York held a 2-0 lead on goals from John Delano and Karl Minor before Paulo Ramos scored for Swabian in the 75th minute. Five minutes later, Cosmos player Ceyhan Yazar put the game away for Hota by converting a penalty kick. The Clevelanders also protested the eligibility of the Cosmos players, to no avail.

The Final at Rancho Cienega Stadium in Los Angeles proved to be a wild affair and remains the highest-scoring Open Cup Final in history. The Yugoslavs opened the scoring through Jose Bergitas but was soon answered by Paul Delano of Hota. Bergitas scored once again for a 2-1 lead, but Hota drew level before halftime on a Horst Kneissl goal. Felipe Ruvalcaba put the Yugoslavs back in front in the 60th minute on a free kick, but with less than a minute remaining Karl Minor scored for Hota to send the game into extra time.

Two minutes into the extra session Randy Mitrovic put Hota ahead 4-3, and Minor netted his second to extend the lead to 5-3. Bergitas got his third goal of the game to give the Yugoslavs a glimmer of hope, but Kneissl put the game to rest with his second of the game for a 6-4 Hota victory.

1971 National Open Cup Semifinals

Eastern Final
May 3, 1971
Park Stadium – Franklin Square, NY

NY Hota 3:1 Danube Swabian

Hota: John Delano – 14′
Hota: Karl Minor – 66′
Hota: Ceyhan Yazar (PK) – 80′
Danube: Paulo Ramos – 75′

Western Final
May 2, 1971
Rancho Cienega Stadium – Los Angeles, CA

Yugoslav American SC vs. Hamm’s

Hamm’s forfeit, failed to appear

Hamm’s did not show for game against San Pedro because of no travel guarantee (for a traveling party of 18) to Hamm.

Yugoslav American refused a $2000 bid by Hamm’s to play in St. Louis

1971 National Open Cup Final
May 16, 1971
Rancho Cienega Stadium – Los Angeles, CA

Yugoslav American SC 4:6 (AET) NY Hota

Yugoslav: Jose Bergitas – 1st Half
Hota: Paul Delano – 1st Half
Yugoslav: Jose Bergitas – 1st Half
Hota: Horst Kneissl – 1st Half
Yugoslav: Felipe Ruvalcaba – 60’
Hota: Karl Minor – 90’
Hota: Randy Mitrovic – 92’
Hota: Karl Minor – Extra Time
Yugoslav: Jose Bergitas – Extra Time
Hota: Horst Kneissl – Extra Time

***********************************

1987 National Open Cup Semifinals
Mean Green (Dallas, TX) vs. Club Espana (Washington D.C.)
Mitre Eagles (Seattle, WA) vs. Busch Under-22 SC (St. Louis, MO)

By 1987, the Open Cup had been contested exclusively by amateur and semi-pro clubs for almost 15 years. The ASL folded in 1983 and the NASL followed in 1984, although the teams for each league began to skip the tournament in the early 1970s. Clubs from “non-traditional” areas of the nation such as Texas, Florida, and Washington rose to prominence in the Open Cup. Another new twist was that the USSF had begun to play all of its cup semifinals and finals on one central location, and for a few years that would be the St. Louis Soccer Park in Fenton, Missouri.

This semifinal field included teams that had gone deep in the tournament before. The Mitre Eagles of Seattle, whose roster included a mix of former Settle Sounders and University of Washington players, made a few deep runs in the Open Cup prior to 1987. Starting with a quarterfinal appearance in 1982 when the team was known as Croatian SC. The Eagles followed up with quarterfinal runs in 1983, 1985 and 1986. Finally, in 1987, the team finally won the Region IV title with a 2-1 extra time win over San Francisco’s Greek American AC.

The Eagles opponents were another team that had some Open Cup success, sort of. The Busch Seniors Soccer Club had the bad luck to have to qualify from the same state as the powerful Kutis SC, who had made finals appearances in 1983, 1985 and 1986. The lone gap in that run was stopped by Busch with a 5-0 win in the Missouri qualifying final, although Busch fell in the national quarterfinals to eventual Open Cup runners-up Croatian SC of Chicago. In 1987, Busch would stop Kutis once again in the Missouri final, but it wasn’t the Seniors who took the honors, but Busch’s Under-22 team. The Seniors squad fell in the second round of qualifying, but the Busch-22s kept going. After nudging past Milwaukee Sport Club on penalties in the quarterfinals to set a date with the Mitre Eagles.

The game was a high-scoring, extra time affair, in which Busch tied the game on Steve Trittschuh’s 85th minute goal. They would rally from a 4-2 deficit in extra time to tie the game in the 118th minute on Kevin Hundelt’s second goal of the game. A minute later, John Klein scored his second goal of the game to send the Eagles to the Open Cup Final.

The other semifinal featured Mean Green a team from just outside of Dallas, who took their name from the University of North Texas, where many of the players played college soccer. The Mean Green started as an independent club in 1984 before joining the Lone Star Soccer Alliance in 1987. The team mad an immediate impact, winning the National Amateur Cup in 1984, and reaching the semifinals of the Open Cup in 1985.

Opposing them was Washington, D.C.’s Club Espana, the 1985 National Amateur cup champions and a team that had already made plans to join the third version of the American Soccer League in 1988 as the Washington Diplomats. The contest was all Espana, as two goals from Richard Burks and another from Fernando Iturbe sent the future pros to the final with a 3-0 win.

Despite coming from opposite sides of the country, Club Espana and Mitre Eagles were quite familiar with each other. The two teams previously met in the 1985 National Amateur Cup final that Espana won 2-1. In a nod to the club’s future, Espana wore their Washington Diplomats shirts for the game. Each team finished down a man as Abdulwhad Al-Khaldi (Espana) and Stephen Englebrick (Eagles) were sent off in the 54th minute. The teams pushed through regulation and extra time without a goal, the 75th edition of the Open Cup Final would be the first to finish scoreless, as well as the first final to be decided on penalty kicks. Espana only needed to convert on their first three shots, as the Eagles missed each of their attempts.

1987 National Open Cup Semifinals

June 20, 1987
St. Louis Soccer Park – Fenton, MO

Club Espana 3:0 Mean Green

Espana: Fernando Iturbe – 11′
Espana: Richard Burke (PK) – 55′
Espana: Richard Burke (PK) – 84’

Mitre Eagles 5:4 (AET) Busch U-22s

Eagles: John Klein – 1st Half
Eagles: Eddie Kruger – 1st Half
Busch: Unknown goalscorer – 1st Half
Busch: Steve Trittschuh – 85′
Eagles: Peter Klein – Extra Time
Eagles: Andy Churlin – Extra Time
Busch: Kevin Hundelt
Busch: Kevin Hundelt – 118’
Eagles: John Klein – 119’

*other goal times not available

1987 National Open Cup Final

June 21, 1987
St. Louis Soccer Park – Fenton, MO

Club Espana 0:0 (AET) Mitre Eagles

Club Espana wins National Open Cup, 3-0 on penalty kicks

 

1995 US Open Cup champions: Richmond Kickers
After playing the El Paso Patriots to a 1-1 draw, the Richmond Kickers captured the 1995 US Open Cup title by defeating the Patriots on penalty kicks 4-2. Photo: Richmond Kickers

1995 US Open Cup Semifinals
El Paso Patriots (El Paso, TX) vs. Seattle Sounders (Seattle, WA)
Richmond Kickers (Richmond, VA) vs. Chicago Stingers (Chicago, IL)

1996 US Open Cup Semifinals
Dallas Burn (Dallas, TX) vs. D.C. United (Washington D.C.)
Rochester Raging Rhinos (Rochester, NY) vs. Colorado Rapids (Denver, CO)

In 1995 and 1996 the US Open Cup underwent perhaps the most drastic change in its history. For the first time since 1973, teams from the top two professional leagues in the country entered the competition. For its entire existence, none of the NASL teams ever took part in the Open Cup, and the last confirmed entry of an American Soccer League club was in 1973.  Starting in 1991, teams from the newly-founded Southwest Independent Soccer League (later to become the USISL, and then the United Soccer Leagues), although teams from the American Professional Soccer League continued to skip the tournament until 1995.

With Major League Soccer’s debut season coming in 1996, the APSL (a Division 2 pro league known as the A-League at this point) entered the Open Cup in 1995, ready to clash with the up and coming USISL (Division 3 pro). All four quarterfinal matchups were A-League vs. USISL affairs, and the USISL emerged victorious in three of the games. For all four clubs it wasn’t just their debut in the semifinals, but their debut in the Open Cup as a whole.  The first contest took place on July 30 as the USISL’s El Paso Patriots played host to the Seattle Sounders, the last remaining A-League club. Playing in 103 degree heat, the Patriots’ Gabino Amparan scored the lone goal in the 36th minute to sweep away the Sounders and earn a spot in the final. A week later in Richmond, the amateur Richmond Kickers of the USISL Premier League (which later became the Premier Development League, and currently known as USL League Two), played host to the professional Chicago Stingers, both members of the USISL but in separate leagues.

Players from D.C. United celebrate the club's 1996 US Open Cup championship.
Players from D.C. United celebrate the club’s 1996 US Open Cup championship.

The Kickers got off to a quick start with an opening minute goal from Brian Kamler, but Chicago answered ten minutes later through Don D’Ambra. The Stingers went into halftime with a 2-1 lead thanks to a 38th minute penalty kick from Steve Morris. Ben Crawley and Scott Snyder struck for two quick goals for Richmond midway through the second half for a 3-2 lead, but Chicago tied the game yet again when D’Ambra scores his second in the 88th minute. With extra time looming, Richmond’s Rob Ukrop was brought down in the penalty area in the 89th minute, and Crawley stepped up for his second goal of the game to put an end to a wild semifinal. The 1995 final in El Paso was a tight affair. Rob Ukrop put Richmond ahead in the first half, and Gabino Amparan scored late in the game for El Paso to force extra time. After a scoreless extra time, the Kickers won the penalty shootout as goalkeeper Jeff Causey saved the final two penalty kick attempts from the Patriots.

In 1996, it was time for Major League Soccer to make its Open Cup debut. Only four MLS teams entered, all entering in the Quarterfinals. However, the Colorado Rapids made an impromptu debut when they replaced the A-League’s Colorado Foxes, who were forced to withdraw when five of their starters were called up to the Jamaican National Team for World Cup qualifying. Kansas City, Dallas and D.C. United advanced to the Semifinals, but Tampa Bay fell 4-3 in extra time to the new sensation of American soccer: the A-League’s Rochester Raging Rhinos. The Rhinos drew the Colorado Rapids and wound up blowing by their MLS competition. Two goals from Doug Miller and another from Lenin Steenkamp sent 12,179 at Frontier Field in Rochester home happy. On the other side of the bracket, D.C. United only needed a pair of goals from Jaime Moreno to overcome the Dallas Burn, 2-0.

In the Final on October 30, D.C. United put an end to the Rhinos’ fairytale run 3-0 behind behind goals from Raul Diaz Arce, Eddie Pope and Moreno. D.C. United would appear in four more Open Cup finals, but their next title wouldn’t come until 2008. The Rhinos would make another cinderella run in 1999, knocking off four MLS teams to become the only non-MLS club to win the Open Cup since 1996.

1995 US Open Cup Semifinals

July 30, 1995
Dudley Field – El Paso, TX

El Paso Patriots 1:0 Seattle Sounders

El Paso: Gabino Amparan (Lorenzo Baeza) – 36’

August 4, 1995
Univ. of Richmond Stadium – Richmond, VA

Richmond Kickers 4:3 Chicago Stingers

Richmond: Brian Kamler (Scott Synder) – 1’
Chicago: Don D’Ambra (Unassisted) – 11’
Chicago: Steve Morris (PK) – 30’
Richmond: Ben Crawley (Assist?) – 64’
Richmoond: Scott Snyder (Assist?) – 69’
Chicago: Don D’Ambra (Steve Morris) – 88’
Richmond: Ben Crawley (PK) – 89’

1995 US Open Cup Final

August 27, 1995
SISD Student Activities Complex – El Paso, TX

El Paso Patriots 1:1 (AET) Richmond Kickers

Richmond: Rob Ukrop (Leigh Cowlishaw) – 49’
El Paso: Gabino Amparan (Sal Mercado) – 80’

Richmond wins US Open Cup, 4-2 on penalty kicks

***********************************

1996 US Open Cup Semifinals

October 12, 1996
Frontier Field – Rochester, NY

Rochester Ragin’ Rhinos 3:0 Colorado Rapids

Rochester: Lenin Steenkamp (Hector Marinaro) – 32’
Rochester: Doug Miller (Henry Gutierrez) – 56’
Rochester: Doug Miller (Hector Marinaro) – 85’

October 27, 1996
Cotton Bowl – Dallas, TX

Dallas Burn 0:2 D.C. United

D.C. United: Jaime Moreno (Marco Etcheverry) – 12’
D.C. United: Jaime Moreno (Unassisted) – 82’

1996 US Open Cup Final

October 30, 1996
RFK Stadium – Washington, D.C.

D.C. United 3:0 Rochester Ragin’ Rhinos

D.C. United: Raul Diaz Arce (Unassisted) – 45’
D.C. United: Eddie Pope (Tony Sanneh) – 63’
D.C. United: Jaime Moreno (Tony Sanneh) – 89′

 

2019 US Open Cup Round 4: New Mexico United uses late equalizer, PKs to upset Colorado Rapids

by

Kevaughn Frater of New Mexico United celebrates his game-tying goal in second half stoppage time against the Colorado Rapids in the Fourth Round of the 2019 US Open Cup. Photo: Corbin Elliott | Prost Soccer | Twitter: corbinse69
Kevaughn Frater of New Mexico United celebrates his game-tying goal in second half stoppage time against the Colorado Rapids in the Fourth Round of the 2019 US Open Cup. Photo: Corbin Elliott | Prost Soccer | Twitter: corbinse69

Kevaughn Frater’s late equalizer would prove to be the biggest moment of the night as New Mexico United forced extra time tied at 2-2 and defeated the Colorado Rapids 4-2 in a penalty kick shootout to advance to the Round of 16 in the 2019 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

New Mexico United joins Saint Louis FC as the only two remaining USL Championship (Div. 2 pro) clubs remaining in the 106th edition of the US Open Cup. United will travel to FC Dallas (MLS) in the Fifth Round on June 19. The winner of that game will play on the road against Minnesota United FC (MLS) or the defending Open Cup champions Houston Dynamo.

In a fast and brilliant start by both teams, it would take just three minutes for Devon Sandoval to open the scoring in the game. Off a corner kick, Santi Moar’s header fell to Sandoval’s left foot, who slotted near post in the goalmouth scramble.

Despite the early setback, Colorado spent mere seconds in trying to craft a response.

Taking the kickoff straight down the field they would set up a corner of their own. From there, Colorado would apply the pressure for the next 15-20 minutes. In the 24th minute, Axel Sjoberg was booked for the first time for a tackle on Chris Wehan on a breakaway.

Sam Hamilton of NMU would be booked in the 34th minute for a tackle that would set up a free kick for Colorado near the center circle. From that free kick, Lalas Abubakar would flick a centering ball straight to Diego Rubio, who made no mistake with his free header to level the score from about seven yards away.

The Rapids would go into halftime on the front foot, but play was almost even for the first 45 minutes.

The second half start was nearly the photo negative of the first half, Nicolas Mezquida found the back of the net on the stroke of the 47th minute. In a another goalmouth scramble, the ball popped on to Mezquida’s foot and found its way past three defenders and goalkeeper Cody Mizell, to put the home side in front.

In what was ultimately a very chippy contest – five yellow cards per team – the disciplinary moment of the night was Axel Sjoberg’s second yellow card in the 72nd minute for another challenge on a breakaway, this time the fouled player was Kevaughn Frater.

Cody Mizell of New Mexico United makes a save in the penalty kick shootout against the Colorado Rapids in the Fourth Round of the 2019 US Open Cup. Photo: Corbin Elliott | Prost Soccer | Twitter: corbinse69
Cody Mizell of New Mexico United makes a save in the penalty kick shootout against the Colorado Rapids in the Fourth Round of the 2019 US Open Cup. Photo: Corbin Elliott | Prost Soccer | Twitter: corbinse69

The Rapids would not be quite the same side they had been for the first 72 minutes. Colorado did have a few chances to seal it but without their big man, Sjoberg, none came to fruition.

The man advantage allowed Wehan, Frater, Moar, Sandoval and Bruce to take turns creating chances, the last two having disappeared for noticeable chunks of the game. United had started dominating the middle third in the lead up to the red card; they would own it outright after that.

Sandoval missed a chance right as the game ticked into stoppage time, with the help of a Clint Irwin save. A few minutes later, Frater would pick up the ball 45 yards out and start a steaming, determined run to the top of the box and lash a low shot into the back of the net five minutes into stoppage time.

New Mexico controlled all 30 minutes of extra time, with the Rapids having seven or eight players behind the ball at times. With no more scoring, it was off to penalty kicks.

After Acosta and Frater traded goals in the opening round, the Rapids’ Danny Wilson had his shot saved by Mizell to give the visitors a 2-1 lead after two rounds. Keegan Rosenberry (Colorado) and Devon Sandoval (New Mexico) each converted their third round attempts, so when Sam Nicholson skied his shot over the bar, it proved to be costly. Chris Wehan followed that up with United’s fourth penalty kick goal which punched their ticket to the Round of 16 by the score of 4-2.

2018 US Open Cup Round 4: Nashville SC’s first MLS upset adds to Colorado Rapids’ misery

by

USOC-COL-NVL-FINALNashville SC advanced to the Fifth Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with a 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids at Vanderbilt Stadium on Wednesday night.

Ropapa Mensah’s 78th minute goal propelled the upstart USL squad to its first-ever competitive win over an MLS franchise and extended an unbeaten run to nine games across all competitions.

The loss extends Colorado’s winless run to eight games, but it also added to a pair of unfortunate records they already hold. This marked the 15th consecutive tournament that the Rapids have failed to win multiple games in a tournament, and this was the tenth time that a lower division team knocked them out of the competition. Both of those are Modern Era (1995-present) records.

Mensah wasted little time finding the net after being subbed on for Brandon Allen just one minute prior. Liam Doyle’s cross found Mensah near the back post and the attacker rose above Colorado’s Deklan Wynne, finishing the chance with a header to the lower right corner to beat keeper Zach MacMath and send the Nashville crowd into a frenzy.

Nashville coach Gary Smith praised Mensah’s immediate energy and awareness off the bench.

“He comes onto the pitch like a crazy person,” Smith said. “He’s so keen to make a mark.
“I’ve got good players on the line that can either help us win a game or change a game and the second goal was key.

“To score the second goal at that time really deflated them and the writing was on the wall from that moment,” Smith added.

The Rapids controlled nearly 60 percent of possession, yet totaled just three shots on the night.
The lone true threat to Nashville’s goal was a 26th-minute scramble that was cleared near the line by Nashville’s Justin Davis.

“It was a tough one,” said Rapids forward Dominique Badji. “We were on top of it for most of it but we just didn’t create enough quality chances and didn’t put away the few chances we had.”

Nashville goalkeeper Matt Pickens, who helped Colorado hoist the MLS Cup in 2010, said it was more of the same for one of the USL’s best defensive teams.

“Probably the easiest game of the year for me,” Pickens said. “I just tried to keep guys tuned in. They held the possession but the guys put in the work and also played smart. We didn’t give up any stupid fouls around the box and we kept everything in front of us. It’s good see we’re staying disciplined to that.”
Nashville drew first blood in the 38th minute when Rapids defender Michael Azira turned in a Justin Davis cross into his own net.

“I was just trying to put it in a difficult spot for them,” Davis said. “Playing on this turf it’s not ideal for a back line so when facing their own goal stuff like that happens.”

Smith said he felt his squad turning up the heat on the visitors before the eventual breakthrough.

“We had started to turn the screw a little bit,” Smith said. “It’s about putting players under pressure. If you can deliver to good areas and you can build some pressure and get bodies in dangerous areas, defenders are concerned and they do strange things.”

The own goal coupled with Nashville’s stingy defense held until Mensah’s goal gave the hosts the final winning edge. But Smith, who coached that 2010 MLS Cup-winning Rapids team before being relieved of his duties just a season later, hinted the edge may have come well before the match kicked off.

“You’ve got guys in that locker room who have, at certain times, been passed up at the MLS level,” he said. “You’ve got guys that have achieved something at that level and you’ve got guys that want to be at that level. Any way you look at it, you’ve got a group of guys out there that were going to give absolutely everything from where they were at tonight.”

The win by Nashville SC was made even more impressive by the fact that it was the first time that a Tennessee-based club defeated a Major League Soccer team since 1998. Twenty years ago, the Nashville Metros eliminated the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City), 3-1.

2017 US Open Cup Round 5: FC Dallas back in Quarterfinals after win over shorthanded Colorado Rapids

by

FC Dallas defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-1 in the Fifth Round of the 2017 US Open Cup. Photo: Jessica Tobias | FC Dallas
FC Dallas defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-1 in the Fifth Round of the 2017 US Open Cup. Photo: Jessica Tobias | FC Dallas

FC Dallas advanced to the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Quarterfinal for the 16th time in the club’s history with a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids.

“Obviously, we are very pleased and happy with the result and the performance,” FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja said. “That was one of the more consistent games we had in the year, in terms of the precision in the players.”

The game in Frisco opened up with Roland Lamah and Ryan Hollingshead terrorizing the wings, combining on some early opportunities. In the 13th minute, the duo combined and Hollingshead broke through on net, but struck the outside of the post.

Early injuries hurt Colorado, as Axel Skolberg went down after a Paxton Pomykal challenge and could not continue, forcing a sub in the 18th minute. Dylon Powers also went down with an injury and Colorado had to use their second substitution of the first half, bringing on Joshua Gatt in the 34th minute.

Dallas had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the first half as Reggie Cannon dribbled past a defender and found open space. Cannon then crossed the ball to a wide open Lamah in the box, but his header landed straight into the gloves of Zac MacMath.

The breakthrough happened in the 44th minute, as a quick free kick by Mauro Diaz came to Ryan Hollingshead. Hollingshead played it to Lamah, who found Diaz on the run, Diaz went into the box and was taken down by Colorado defender Bismack Boateng, drawing a penalty.

Diaz took the penalty and gave Dallas a 1-0 lead. It is his first goal since the 2016 US Open Cup Final against New England. Last year, Diaz was named TheCup.us Player of the Tournament.

The second half began quick, as newly subbed on Micheal Azira took a shot and with a Maynor Figueroa deflection, went past Chris Seitz to give Colorado the equalizer and tie the game at one in the 46th minute.

From then on, Dallas began to pile on the pressure. Bringing on Michael Barrios and Tesho Akindele, the team began to attack through the right wing, with Reggie Cannon and Barrios connecting multiple times and wrecking havoc on the Colorado defense.

Dallas would take the lead in the 57th minute, as Diaz found Cannon making a run behind the defense. Cannon would center the ball and Hollingshead tapped it in to make it 2-1.

Hollingshead had one of his more complete games of the season, going the full 90 minutes and scoring a goal. His performance was singled out by Pareja in the post-match press conference.

“I was hesitating a bit in the prior games because of the injury and his rhythm and not seeing him perform,” Pareja said. “Sometimes that creates doubt on a coach. But Ryan today showed that he’s in tact in well. He produced a lot of volume on that side, giving us a lot of players going forward.”

Hollingshead has only made five MLS appearances for the team, but the Cup game was important to help building back his fitness and confidence.

“Those games are sometimes hard to get up for,” Hollingshead said. “The way our team approaches it, we want to win the whole cup. These games are really important and I was trying to take it very seriously. For me, it’s also just a great chance to get 90 minutes and try to get some of my fitness back. It’s something I have been missing just being out for so long. I was happy with my performance.”

Dallas would continue to dominate the game, pushing for a third goal that would put the game out of reach. The Rapids looked as if they were on the back foot multiple times, having limited chances in the second half. Akindele would almost grab that third goal, going past defenders but striking the post and MacMath’s head in the 86th minute.

Colorado would go down to 10 men in the 88th minute, as Kortne Ford would take down Cristian Colman as a clear professional foul. Ford would receive his second yellow and set up a free kick outside the box.

Javier Morales, who had come on for Diaz in the 73rd minute, stood over the free kick and took a shot. Barrios, who was in an onside position due to Colorado having a man on the post, would try to knock it in unmarked but would miss. Fortunately, the ball snuck past MacMath adding a third for Dallas and sealing the game.

Dallas added to a number of streaks that date back to last year, including a six-game winning streak, and a seven-game unbeaten streak. Dallas has also accumulated a home unbeaten streak of eight games, which was started in the opening game of the 2014 US Open Cup.

For Colorado, it is their 14th tournament in a row that they have failed to win multiple games. The last time they had done that was in 1999, when they reached the final, falling to the Rochester Raging Rhinos (A-League) 2-0.

The win sends Dallas to the Quarterfinals for the 16th time, which ranks second in the 104-year history of the tournament. With 17 Quarterfinal appearances, Kutis Soccer Club from St. Louis are the only team that has more than them.

Dallas will await the winner of Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo in the next round.

2017 US Open Cup Round 4: Colorado Rapids pull off historic comeback in win over OKC Energy

by

Dillon Powers of the Colorado Rapids delivered the corner kick in the 89th minute that Dennis Castillo headed in for the game-winning goal against the OKC Energy FC in the Fourth Round of the 2017 US Open Cup. Photo: Bart Young/Colorado Rapids
Dillon Powers of the Colorado Rapids delivered the corner kick in the 89th minute that Dennis Castillo headed in for the game-winning goal against the OKC Energy FC in the Fourth Round of the 2017 US Open Cup. Photo: Bart Young/Colorado Rapids

The Colorado Rapids (MLS) needed a dramatic, come-from-behind effort to defeat the Oklahoma City Energy FC (USL) 3-2 in the Fourth Round of the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The go ahead goal came off a Dillon Powers corner that connected with Dennis Castillo in the 89th minute.

The Rapids have been competing in the US Open Cup since the club’s inaugural season in 1996 and Tuesday night’s contest marked the first time in the Rapids’ tournament history that they have overcome a two-goal deficit.

With both sides missing or resting regular starters, Oklahoma City appeared to start the game content to sit back and defend, willing to wait for counter attacking opportunities. The Rapids almost made them pay early, when Dillon Serna had a rocket miss just wide in the 8th minute.

Oklahoma City’s patience paid off in the 38th minute when Daniel Jackson found Daniel Gonzalez to open up the scoring.

Things went from bad to worse for the Rapids when in the 40th minute, defender Bobby Burling appeared to take a knock on his leg, and headed straight to the locker room. The Rapids were forced to play with 10 men while a Dominique Badji prepared to be subbed in. Oklahoma City took quick advantage, with Philip Rasmussen scoring off another assist by Daniel Jackson.

At halftime, the lower division Energy had the top flight Rapids reeling with a 2-0 lead.

The Rapids came out from halftime with an increased sense of urgency, and found joy in the 49th minute when a Dennis Castillo cross found Badji at the top of the six-yard box to cut the deficit in half.

Oklahoma City dodged a bullet shortly after when in the 53rd minute, it appeared that Energy defender Kyle Hyland pulled down Rapids’ midfielder Josh Gatt in the box. Referee Karen Abt was not impressed however and did not call for a penalty kick.

The Rapids continued the pressure into the second half, and found the equalizer off a corner kick in the 66th minute when Eric Miller redirected a header from Alan Gordon into the net. The game appeared to be destined for extra time, knotted up 2-2 until the 89th minute when Dennis Castillo scored off of a Dillon Powers corner kick. The final whistle blew shortly after, completing the desperate 3-2 victory for the Rapids.

Statistically, the Rapids dominated the game, in both in shots (12-8) and possession (56.4%-43.6%) The Rapids also held a decisive advantage on corner kicks for the night, shutting out the visitors 7-0.

The Rapids move on to the Fifth Round of the US Open Cup looking to break a streak of 13 straight US Open Cup tournaments without multiple wins, a Modern Era record.

In MLS league play, they will welcome the Portland Timbers to Dicks Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT.

The Oklahoma City Energy will return to USL league play on Friday night, as they visit the Timbers USL affiliate, T2, in Portland Friday night at Providence Park.

2016 US Open Cup Round 5: FC Dallas needs OT to edge Colorado Rapids, earn 15th trip to Quarterfinals

by

FC Dallas logoIn a battle of the teams with the two best records in Major League Soccer, FC Dallas came out on top thanks to a 96th minute goal from offseason acquisition Maximiliano Urruti. The game went to extra time after the teams traded goals in regulation; one in the first half from Colorado’s Dominique Badji and one the second half from Dallas’ Mauro Diaz.

With the win, FC Dallas advances to the Quarterfinals for the 15th time in club history. Only one club in the 103-year history of the tournament has more appearances in the Quarterfinals (Kutis SC from St. Louis with 17 from 1953-1986.)

The game was a bit lackluster given the league records of both teams and Colorado only brought four outfield substitutes with them to go with a backup goalkeeper. They were also missing midfield stalwart Jermaine Jones, who did not travel upon returning from international duty with the US Men’s National Team at the Copa America. Urruti didn’t even come off the bench for Dallas until the 77th minute.

There were goals to be had right from the start. Dallas got things going in the eighth minute when Diaz played striker Tesho Akindele through into the box, only for Akindele’s shot on goal to be denied by Rapids goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

Not too long afterwards, Colorado homegrown product Dillon Serna was fouled hard by Dallas defender Agustin Jara, who earned a yellow card for the play in question. Colorado fullback Jared Watts had words with Jara and got a little too heated in defense of his teammate and earned a yellow card himself. Serna was forced exit and was replaced by Hairston in the 21st minute, several minutes after the initial foul.

The Rapids had a pair of chances shortly thereafter, including a Marco Pappa free kick that ended up being hit right at Dallas goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez. Dallas responded in the 30th minute with a chance of their own as defender Atiba Harris, a former Rapids player, found himself inside the box on the right side with options. Instead, he skied a shot over the crossbar.

Colorado had a couple more half chances before the 38th minute when Hairston got free down the right hand side and played a low cross far post to Badji for the goal. Dallas threatened just once again before halftime when Mauro Diaz had a free kick opportunity, but it failed to find a red shirt in the box.

The second half got off to a rough start Badji was shaken up after a foul right out of the break, but stayed in the game.

Dallas didn’t wait long to bring on super sub Michael Barrios in the 52nd minute and he made his presence felt two minutes later when he played Fabian Castillo into the box, only for MacMath to get to it first.

Pappa and Badji tried to mimic the play at their end of the field, only for Gonzalez to the ball first as well. The second half continued with both teams trading similar half chances until the 64th minute. Fabian Castillo made an excellent play on the counter to keep the ball in play in front of his team’s bench and beat two Colorado defenders at the same time. The Colombian winger streaked in alone and played a crisp centering pass to Diaz for the easy finish. It was the kind of individual effort that has kept Castillo’s name in various transfer rumors as the international transfer window prepares to open this Friday.

Colorado went for the win in the 83rd minute, bringing on Designated Player Kevin Doyle, who got his head on a cross in the box but saw his effort skim wide of the goal. The deadlock remained and the game went to extra time.

Doyle missed near post on another chance in the 93rd minute after extra time got underway and would rue the chance he missed. Three minutes later Urruti got into the box and took his chance near post from what seemed like an impossible angle. The ball seemed to take an awkward deflection off the near post that left MacMath stranded as the ball skipped past him into the net.

Colorado emptied its bench and brought on Conor Doyle at the extra time break, but Dallas kept the pressure up throughout the final 15 minutes and came away with the win.

The loss by Colorado means the Rapids have now gone 13 straight US Open Cups without winning multiple games; a Modern Era record. Dallas will take the trip down I-45 to Houston to battle in-state rivals Houston Dynamo in the Quarterfinals next month.

FULL MATCH REPLAY

Copyright © 2025 • Built by Jacob Martella Web Development