Complete U.S. Open Cup Coverage

Nic Platter

2009 Second Round: Minnesota Thunder roll 4-0 in rainy game vs. PDL’s Chicago Fire

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National Sports Center – Blaine, Minn. | 8:05 p.m.Media coverage: Minn. Star-Tribune
4
FT
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Leonel St. Preux (Dyachenko) 23’
Brian Cvilikas (Arango) 39’
Melvin Tarley (Peterson) 78’
Melvin Tarley (Dyachenko) 82’
        

Not even the rain could cool off the Minnesota Thunder.

Leonel St. Preux and Brian Cvilikas scored in a 16-minute span in the first half, and perennial US Open Cup scorer Melvin Tarley came off the bench and added two late goals as the Thunder rolled past the PDL’s Chicago Fire 4-0 at the National Soccer Center in Blaine, Minn.

US Open Cup Leading
Goalscorers – Pro Era

(active players in BOLD)
13 – Johnny Menyongar, Roch./Minn.
11 – Jaime Moreno, DC United
11 – Melvin Tarley, Minnesota
10 – Dante Washington, three teams
10 – Sebastien Le Toux, Seattle (USL1/MLS)
10 – Josh Wolff, Chicago/Kansas City
10 – Byron Carmichael, Ocean City/Wilm.

Minnesota had been winless on the season heading into its First Round match against Nebraska’s 402, but won its third straight game overall to advance to the Third Round for the first time since reaching the semifinals in 2005. Tonight’s win was the second win of the tournament, and it’s only the third time (2004, 2005) in franchise history that they have won more than one Open Cup game in a season.

Rod Dyachenko nearly opened the scoring in the 5th minute for the Thunder, but he couldn’t get a foot on a cross from St. Preux. Fifteen minutes later, though, the roles were reversed and St. Preux finished a cross from Dyachenko — and went sliding into the net along with the ball.

Cvilikas doubled the lead in the 39th, and Tarley finished things off with goals in the 78th and 82nd — the 10th and 11th goals of his career in US Open Cup play. His 11 Open Cup goals moves him into a second place tie with DC United’s Jamie Moreno for the most goals during the Professional Era (1995-present).

Goalkeeper Nic Platter finished with seven saves on the wet night for his fourth shutout of the season, all coming in the past six matches.

Lineups

MINNESOTA: Platter, Arango (Kallman 45), Clements, Greenfield, Peterson, Olum, Bass, Sanchez, Dyachenko, Cvilikas (Tarley 63), Saint-Preux.

CHICAGO FIRE PDL: Schwartz, Sinovic, Ream, Ruthven, Rice, Morrow (Cutshaw 53), Braun, Campbell (Garcia 67), Millien, Adlard (Gehrig 82), Akpan.

Saves: M (Platter) 7; C (Schwartz) 4.
Yellow cards: M Clements (41), M Dyachenko (68), C Adlard (79).
Shots: M 14, CF 6. Fouls: M 7, C 2. Offside: M 1, C 4. Corner kicks: M 7, C 1. Att. — 359.

2009 First Round: Late red cards ruin 402’s comeback attempt as Thunder win 3-2

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NationalSports Center – Blaine, Minn. | 8:05 p.m.
Match reports: Minnesota Thunder
Photos: Jeremy Olson
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FT
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Brian Cvilikas 30’
Leonel Saint-Prioux 40’
Brian Cvikikas (Saint-Prioux) 46’
      
12’ Andrei Gotsmanov (Torres)
57’ Tony Schmidtz
84’ Tony Schmitz (SENT OFF)
90’ Tim Walters (SENT OFF)

The Minnesota Thunder survived the challenge of Nebraska’s 402 with a 3-2 victory to advance to the Second Round.

402, named after Eastern Nebraska’s telephone area code, struck first when former Thunder player Johnny Torres assisted on Andrei Gotsmanov’s 12th minute goal. Minnesota nearly tied the score twice shortly after, but attempts from Brian Cvilikas and Rod Dyachenko could not cross the goal line.

Cvilikas finally broke through in the 31st minute when he drilled home a pass from Dyachenko. Leonel Saint-Preux gave the Thunder a halftime lead when he chipped a shot over 402 goalkeeper Ross Kaufman. The USL-1 club increased their lead in the 47th minute when Cvilikas scored his second of the game, when Saint-Preux fed him for the score. Just ten minutes later, 402 closed the gap back to one as Tomy Schmitz sent a 25-yard shot past goalkeeper Nic Platter.

Toward the end of the game, 402 were reduced to ten men when Schmitz was shown his marching orders for a hard foul on Saint-Preux. Minnesota will host the Chicago Fire PDL club next Tuesday in Round 2.

Starting Lineups:

Minnesota: Nic Platter; Quavas Kirk, Chris Clements, Jon Greenfield, Andrew Peterson; Lawrence Olum, Jeremiah Bass, Rod Dyachenko (Ricardo Sanchez 66); Melvin Tarley (Geoffrey Myers 66), Brian Cvilikas, Leonel Saint-Preux (Marco Terminesi 89)

402: Ross Kaufman; Matt Thomas (Andrew Watts 88), Chris Brunt (Matt Wadleigh 45), Ryan Junge, Jay Mims, Tim Walters, Tim Bohnenkamp (Jace Peters 45), Andre Gotsmanov, Joshua Moran, Tony Schmitz

Game Statistics

Minnesota: Shots 21, Fouls 8, Offside 0, Corners 1
402: Shots 12, Fouls 6, Offside 1, Corners 7

Goalkeeper Statistics
Platter (Minnesota): Shots faces 12, Saves 4, Goals Allowed 2
Kaufman (402): Shots faces 21, Saves 5, Goals Allowed 3

Cautions:
MIN: Saint-Preux, 25 ‘,Thomas, 83 ‘
402: Schmitz, 38’, Gotsmanov 84 ‘

Ejections: 402: Schmitz, 84’, Walters, 90 ‘
Attendance: 245
Referees: Elias Bazakos, Fotis Bazakos Troy Cohrs , Jorge Oncontrillo

2008 Second Round: Cleveland’s Floyd Franks scores 2 in OT, leaves Minnesota seeing stars

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The Cleveland City Stars booked a date next Tuesday with the Chicago Fire, thanks to a 2-0 extra-time victory over the Minnesota Thunder.

After the teams played the first 90 minutes to a scoreless draw, Cleveland finally opened the scoring near the end of the first 15-minute extra time period.

Anthony Stovall found Floyd Franks with a pass, and Franks chipped a shot past Minnesota goalkeeper Nic Platter for the 1-0 advantage. Just a few moments later, Stovall was sent off for striking the Thunder’s Ricardo Sanchez in the face. Sanchez spent several minutes on the ground before being helped off the field. After seeking medical attention, Sanchez was back on the pitch for the second half of extra time.

With the clock winding down in extra time, Cleveland got the goal to seal the victory. Ian Liebbrandt was taken down by Platter in the box, and Franks stepped to the spot and put away the penalty kick for the 2-0 win.

Cleveland will travel to Toyota Park to face the four-time Open Cup winners Chicago Fire, Franks’ former team.

2008 First Round: Tarley’s brace helps Thunder tame St. Louis Lions, 4-1

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Melvin Tarley opened the scoring and then squelched any hopes of a comeback by the St. Louis Lions, as the Thunder beat the PDL side 4-1 in Blaine, Minn.

With the Thunder up 2-0 after Ricardo Sanchez’s 57th minute goal, Tommy Heinemann got the Lions on the board and sliced the lead to 2-1 in the 79th minute. But a minute later, the lead was back to two thanks to Tarley, who scored his seventh and eighth career Open Cup goals. The Liberian striker scored six goals in the 2005 tournament, tying him for the top total in the competition. Six goals also ties him for the most goals scored in a single tournament during the Professional Era (1995-present).

Dayton O’Brien set up Tarley’s second goal, then set up Aaron Paye for an insurance goal in the 89th minute as Minnesota earns a Second Round game against the Cleveland City Stars of the USL Second Division.

Starting Lineups:
Minnesota: Platter; Kallman, Taylor, Arango, Friedland; Greenfield, Barron (O’Brien, Dan 83), Sanchez (Gibson 74), deRoux (O’Brien, Dayton 78); Gonzalez (Paye 79), Tarley.

St. Louis: Sailor; Gelven, Mueller, Merrick, Gregory (Dyson 70); Angus, Clayes, Patterson, Speiss (Plow 76); Holmes, Heinemann.

Scoring Summary:
MIN: Tarley 45 (deRoux)
MIN: Sanchez 57 (Kallman)
STL: Heinemann 79 (Patterson)
MIN: Tarley 80 (O’Brien, Dayton)
MIN: Paye 89 (O’Brien, Dayton)

Game Statistics:
Minnesota: Shots 15, Fouls 5, Offside 5, Corners 6.
St. Louis: Shots 7, Fouls 3, Offside 2, Corners 7.

Goalkeeper Statistics:
Platter (Minnesota): Shots faced 3, Saves 2, Goals allowed 1.
Sailor (St. Louis): Shots faced 7, Saves 3, Goals allowed 4.

Cautions:
STL: Gelvin 45
STL: Merrick 45
STL: Heinemann 70
MIN: O’Brien, Dan 88

Attendance: 483

2007 Second Round: After four red cards, California earn hard-fought 1-0 win over Minnesota

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In a match that sometimes resembled a wrestling battle royal, the California Victory defeated the Minnesota Thunder 1-0, just two days after Minnesota prevailed over the Victory by the same score in a USL-1 league match.

The Thunder wasted no time jumping on attack, forcing Victory goalkeeper Eric Reed to thwart two breakaway attempts in the first twenty minutes. The Thunder also struck the crossbar during this time, off a shot from Brian Farber.

The first half wasn’t all Thunder, however. California’s Jose Retiz forces GK Nic Platter to make a flying save to knock the ball over the crossbar.

The first of four red cards were issued just after the restart, when California’s Cameron Dunn was sent off for his second caution of the match. Minnesota would only keep the man advantage for twenty minutes, as Jeremiah Bass was sent off in the 79th minute for his second yellow card. The teams finished scoreless after 90 minutes, and moved onto extra time.

Just five minutes into the extra session, California got the eventual game-winning goal. Ricardo Sanchez put away a free kick to give the Victory a 1-0 lead, as was also ejected from the match for his goal celebration, in which he mimicked urinating towards some of the Thunder fans. Just after the start of the second extra time period, the sides were once again level, as Ansu Toure was shown a straight red card for a tussle with Cal’s Jose Retiz. All told, the two teams combined for 45 fouls, 12 cautions, and 4 red cards.

Scoring
(CAL) Ricardo Sanchez 105’

2007 First Round: Thunder gets past NPSL’s El Paso Indios USA 3-2

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The Minnesota Thunder survived a tough encounter with the NPSL’s El Paso Indios USA,  managing a 3-2 win over the USASA side to advance to the Second Round.

El Paso got on the board almost immediately after the opening whistle, when Marco Vidal was left undefended inside the 18-yard box, and beat Thunder goalkeeper Nic Platter in the 5th minute. Indios kept the pros off the board for most of the first half, until Minnesota scored twice in four minutes. In the 37th minute, Jeremiah Bass scored from a Godfrey Tenoff cross, diving to head the ball past Indios goalkeeper Hernandez. The Thunder struck again in the 40th minute, Tenoff once again with the assist, this time to help Darren Spicer send a low ball past Hernandez.

Minnesota widened it’s lead twenty minutes into the second half. Leo Gibson took Kevin Friedland’s throw-in and chipped it over a surprised Hernandez. Indios would not quit, pulling a goal back in the 77th minute. Urbica Uglijesa chipped a ball towards Joel Rios, but found the feet of Minnesota’s Spicer. Spicer then indirectly hit the ball towards Rios, who beat Platter to move to within one.

The Thunder will host the California Victory in the Second Round on June 26. It will be the second game in three days between the two clubs, the other being a USL-1 contest on June 24.

Scoring Summary:
(EPI) Marco Vidal 5’ (Olivares)
(MIN) Jeremiah Bass 37’ (Godfrey Tenoff)
(MIN) Darren Spicer 40’ (Godfrey Tenoff)
(MIN) Leo Gibson 66’ (Kevin Friedland)
(EPI) Joel Rios 77’ (Uglijesa)

Minnesota Thunder: Platter; Friedland, Tenoff, Greenfield, Taylor; Spicer (Mallace 79), Toure (Farber 86), Bass, Lencho (Alvino 23); Gibson, Paye (Gotsmanov 73)

El Paso Indios USA: Hernandez; Rios, Tena, Olivares, Becerra; Uglijesa, Vidal, Carrazco (Silva 71), Salas (Salas, Sergio 56); Brooks, Leal (Desantiano 62).

Game Statistics:
Minnesota: Shots 15, Fouls 11, Offside 2, Corners 6.
El Paso: Shots 6, Fouls 10, Offside 4, Corners 3.

Goalkeeper Statistics:
Platter (Minnesota): Shots faced 6, Saves 4, Goals allowed 2.
Hernandez (El Paso) Shots faced 15, Saves 12, Goals allowed 3.

Cautions
Minnesota: Bass 43’, Friedland 45’, Spicer 65’
El Paso Indios: Becerra 25’, Juarez 89 ’

Attendance: 1,132

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