Dario Sala

2008 Quarterfinals: Third time’s the charm for Battery against FC Dallas

July 8, 2008 by

In 2006 and 2007, FC Dallas crushed the hopes of the Charleston Battery in the US Open Cup Quarterfinals. This year, it was the Battery’s turn to exact revenge, winning 3-1 in Frisco after waiting out a weather delay.

FC Dallas came out with a relatively strong lineup as they played most of their regulars for the match. They looked the stronger of the two teams out of the gate, controlling play early.

However, in the 28th minute, it was the Battery who struck first. Former Dallas player Lazo Alavanja blocked a clearance by the Dallas defense near the top of the 18 and put it past keeper Dario Sala to give Charleston the 1-0 lead.

In the 39th minute, lightning struck. One hour and ten minutes later, play finally resumed after 9:00 local time. FC Dallas came flying out of the gate once again, with Arturo Alvarez hitting a shot off the post almost immediately out of the dressing room. But once again, it was Charleston who came through. On the counter attack resulting from the play, Ian Fuller received a pass at the edge of the box from Stephen Armstrong, beat his man, and placed the ball inside the near post, giving the Battery the 2-0 advantage.

To be absolutely sure that the Battery would move on, Randi Patterson took the ball all the way from the midfield stripe in the 90th minute and put away Dallas for good. FC Dallas would finally find a way to scrape together a goal and avoid the shutout in stoppage time when Dax McCarty served up a ball inside the box to Kenny Cooper, who made a lunging header into the back of the net, to make the final score 3-1 in favor of Charleston.

The Battery now move on to host USL-1 foe Seattle Sounders in the Semifinals, assuring that a non-MLS team will make the US Open Cup final for the first time since the Rochester Raging Rhinos won it all in 1999.

2007 US Open Cup Final: First time for everything; New England Revolution win first trophy, 3-2 over FC Dallas

October 3, 2007 by Josh Hakala

The New England Revolution captured the club’s first-ever US Open Cup championship (and the first championship of any kind) with a 3-2 win over FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, a stadium where they had lost the last two MLS Cup championship games. Photo: Rick Yeatts

Pat Noonan scored a goal and assisted on two others to help the New England Revolution win their first U.S. Open Cup title, and their first championship of any kind in the club’s 12-year history. The Revolution defeated FC Dallas 3-2 to win the Open Cup at Pizza Hut Park, a stadium where they’ve lost the last two MLS Cup championships.

In the tournament’s first MLS vs. MLS game of the year, the Revs won their first title in their fifth championship game appearance. They lost the 2001 Open Cup final, and fell short three times in the MLS Cup final, and can finally get that monkey off their back.

Noonan opened up the scoring in the 21st minute when Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala failed to control a deflection inside the six-yard box. The ball found its way to Noonan at the post and he tapped it out of the air from point blank range to make it 1-0. The Hoops would equalize nine minutes later on an impressive individual effort by Arturo Alvarez. He dribbled to the top of the box and bent a shot past a diving Matt Reis, which deflected off the post and into the back of the net.

Twellman would send the Revs into the halftime break with a lead when Steve Ralston’s corner kick found Noonan’s head which eventually found its way to Twellman in front who volleyed home his fourth goal of the tournament.

Twellman helped create what turned out to be the game-winner from the left wing where he sent a low cross into the box where it found Noonan, who flicked a pass to Wells Thompson. The rookie from Wake Forest beat Adrian Serioux and blasted a shot past Sala to give the Revs a 3-1 lead.

Dallas would not give up. Less than a minute after entering the match as a substitute, Abe Thompson tapped in a ball that was headed into the area by Clarence Goodson to bring the home side within a goal in the 64th minute.

New England’s defense held on for the 3-2 win in the highest scoring Open Cup final since 1993 when CD Mexico (San Francisco) defeated the United German Hungarians (Philadelphia), 5-0.

The Revolution earned $100,000 for winning the Open Cup, while FC Dallas walks away with $50,000 for second place. The team that advances the furthest from each lower division earns prize money as well, with results against higher level competition as one of the tiebreakers.

The Carolina RailHawks and the Seattle Sounders both advanced to the semifinals, but the Sounders were awarded the $10,000 prize money because they defeated two MLS teams, one more than the RailHawks did. For the USL Second Division, the Richmond Kickers went home with the cash thanks to the tiebreaker over the Harrisburg City Islanders. In the amateur division, which includes the USASA and the Premier Development League teams, the El Paso Patriots earned the prize money by defeating a USL First Division team (Miami FC) in the first round. The Ocean City Barons (PDL) and Bavarian SC (USASA) both earned wins against USL Second Division teams, and fell just short.

Scoring Summary:
NE — Pat Noonan 1 (unassisted) 21
DAL — Arturo Alvarez 1 (David Wagenfuhr ) 30
NE — Taylor Twellman 1 (Pat Noonan ) 41
NE — Wells Thompson 1 (Pat Noonan ) 57
DAL — Abe Thompson 1 (Clarence Goodson ) 64

New England Revolution — Matt Reis, Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, James Riley, Andy Dorman, Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston, Khano Smith, Wells Thompson (Adam Cristman 78), Pat Noonan, Taylor Twellman,

Substitutes Not Used: Gary Flood, Kyle Helton, Marshall Leonard, Abdoulie Mansally, Sainey Nyassi, Doug Warren

FC Dallas — Dario Sala, David Wagenfuhr (Kenny Cooper 76), Clarence Goodson, Adrian Serioux, Drew Moor, Dax McCarty, Pablo Ricchetti (Alex Yi 46) (Abe Thompson 63), Juan Toja, Dominic Oduro, Carlos Ruiz, Arturo Alvarez.

Substitutes Not Used: Ray Burse, Chris Gbandi, Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine

FC Dallas / New England Revolution
total shots: 12 (Carlos Ruiz 4) 13 (Taylor Twellman 6)
shots on goal: 4 (Arturo Alvarez 2) 6 (Taylor Twellman 4)
fouls: 16 (Clarence Goodson 4,
Pablo Ricchetti 4) 13 (Jeff Larentowicz 4)
offsides: 7 (Dominic Oduro 4) 3 (Taylor Twellman 2)
corner kicks: 4 (Dax McCarty 4) 5 (Steve Ralston 4)
saves: 3 (Dario Sala 3) 2 (Matt Reis 2)

Misconduct Summary:
NE — Jeff Larentowicz (caution; Tackle from Behind) 74
NE — James Riley (caution; Delaying a Restart) 86

referee: Alex Prus
Referee’s Assistants: George Gansner; Kermit Quisenberry
4th official: Terry Vaughn
time of game: 1:51
attendance: 10,618
weather: Clear -and- 84 degrees

2007 Semifinals: FC Dallas headed to Final after OT battle with Seattle

September 4, 2007 by

For the second time in three years, FC Dallas will return to the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final after a 2-1 overtime win against the USL First Division’s Seattle Sounders. In front of over 10,000 fans at Qwest Field in Seattle, the second-biggest crowd in modern Sounders history, the two teams battled to a scoreless draw at the end of regulation. The best scoring chance of the evening came in the second half when Seattle defender Taylor Graham nodded a corner kick delivery toward goal, and had it rattle off the crossbar.

In extra time, Carlos Ruiz broke the deadlock with a goal less than two minutes int on an assist by Arturo Alvarez. Both teams continued to push for another goal, but failed to produce until the 119th minute when Dallas forward Abe Thompson was brought down in the penalty area by Zach Scott. After Seattle’s Noah Merl was shown a red card for something that happened away from the play, Thompson converted the penalty kick to give the visitors a two-goal cushion heading into the final minutes.

The Sounders were able to pull one back during stoppage time, on a goal by Leighton O’Brien, but the clock would eventually run out on them.

FC Dallas will host the New England Revolution in the Open Cup Final at Pizza Hut Park on October 3 at 8 p.m. EST.

Scoring Summary:
DAL – Carlos Ruiz (Arturo Alvarez) 91
DAL – Abe Thompson (penalty kick) 119
SEA – Leighton O’Brien (Andre Schmid) 120+

FC Dallas: Dario Sala, David Wagenfuhr, Alex Yi (Aaron Pitchkolan 56), Clarence Goodson (Adrian Serioux 46), Drew Moor, Denilson (Dax McCarty 94), Juan Toja, Pablo Ricchetti, Arturo Alvarez, Carlos Ruiz (Bobby Rhine 109), Abe Thompson.

Subs not used: Ray Burse (GK), Chris Gbandi, Anthony Wallace.

Seattle Sounders: Chris Eylander, Kevin Sakuda, Danny Jackson (Craig Tomlinson 106), Taylor Graham, Zach Scott, Kenji Treschuk (Greg Howed 100), Leighton O’Brien, Josh Gardner (Noah Merl 78), Hugo Alcaraz, Sebastian LeToux, Roger Levesque (Andre Schmid 100).

Subs not used: Ben Dragavon (GK), Jake Besagno, Santa Maria Rivera.

Disciplinary Summary:
DAL – Pablo Ricchetti (Caution) 88
DAL – Carlos Ruiz (Caution) 113
SEA – Noah Merl (Ejection)

Referee: Abiodun Okulaja
Assistant Referees: Will Niccolls, Mike Rottersman
Fourth Official: Cory Dean
Attendance: 10,385

2007 US Open Cup Round 3: FC Dallas reaches Quarterfinals with PK win over Atlanta Silverbacks

July 9, 2007 by Aaron Stollar

FC Dallas needed six rounds of penalty kicks to finish off the USL First Division’s Atlanta Silverbacks at Pizza Hut Park in a Third Round Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match. The two teams finished regulation tied 1-1 and after 30 minutes of scoreless extra time, the home team moved on to the Quarterfinals with 4-3 shootout win.

Carlos Ruiz of Dallas scored the opening goal on a counterattack in the 74th minute on an assist by goalkeeper Dario Sala. This marked just the third time in the US Open Cup’s Modern Era that a goalkeeper earned an assist.

Four minutes later, Atlanta’s Dan Antoniuk tied the game up on an assist by David Hayes, however, four minutes from then Antoniuk would exit the game he helped save. The team’s leading scorer was sent off in the 82nd minute, leaving the Silverbacks a man short for the remainder of the match.

Despite being shorthanded, Atlanta managed to keep Dallas off the scoresheet for the remainder of regulation and extra time. Ryan McIntosh of Atlanta, and Dario Sala of FC Dallas both made big saves throughout the match, but it came down to a shootout where Silverbacks midfielder Scott Buethe missed high in Round 6, and Arturo Alvarez converted to send the MLS side through to the next round.

PK Shotout Summary
ATL 1 – Rios (Goal)
DAL 1 – Ruiz – (Goal)
ATL 2 – Moore – (Save)
DAL 2 – Richetti – (Save)
ATL 3 – O’Brien – (Wide Left)
DAL 3 – Toja – (Save)
ATL 4 – Rivillo – (Goal)
DAL 4 – Gbandi – (Goal)
ATL 5 – Hayes – (Goal)
DAL 5 – Thompson – (Goal)
ATL 6 – Buete – (High)
DAL 6 – Alvarez – (Goal)

Lineups

Atlanta’s starters: Ryan McIntosh, David Hayes, Matt Bobo, Martyn Lancaster, Justin Moore, Rodrigo Rios, Tony McManus, Scott Buete, Rafique Hassim (John Queeley – 66) (Angel Rivillo – 114), Daniel Antoniuk, Warren Ukah (Corey Woolfolk – 74) (Dayton O’Brien – 119).
Goals: Antoniuk – 78 (Hayes)
Cautions: McManus – 72; Rios – 82; Lancaster – 92; Bobo- 96
Ejections: Antoniuk – 82

Dallas’ starters: Dario Sala, Chris Gbandi, Pablo Richetti, Juan Toja, Ramon Nunez (Dominic Oduruo – 69), Clarence Goodson (David Wagenfuhr – 113), Arturo Alvarez, Drew Moor (Abe Thompson – 91), Aaron Pitchkolan, Bobby Rhine (Michael Dello-Russo – 117), Carlos Ruiz.
Goals: Ruiz – 74 (Sala)
Cautions:
Ejections: