Real Monarchs

2025 US Open Cup Round 1: El Farolito upsets MLS NEXT Pro team on road for 2nd year in a row

March 21, 2025 by Logan Chugg

Players from El Farolito (right) and Real Monarchs battle for the ball in a First Round match in the 2025 US Open Cup. Photo: J. Derick Fox

The Real Monarchs of MLS NEXT Pro played host to El Farolito of the NPSL on a chilly night in Herriman, Utah. Despite less than 30% possession and less than half of the passes completed than their opponents, El Farolito came out as underdog victors again.

After a first quarter of hour that was dominated by the Real Monarchs, El Farolito got their first real chance in the 18th minute with a ball played into the top of the box, which found Judas Higuera. He was able to play the ball through traffic and find Dembor Benson at the back post, who slotted it past the keeper and open the scoring.

Both teams played about the same from the opening goal on until halftime – Monarchs enjoyed most of the possession but could not out any solid chances to score. The frustrated hosts went into the locker room, looking for answers for the second half.

Players from El Farolito celebrate after beating Real Monarchs in the First Round of the 2025 US Open Cup. Photo: El Farolito

The Monarchs found their answer in the 58th minute when a quick free kick got the ball to Monarchs’ captain, Noel Caliskan, who dribbled to about five yards outside the box before slipping, but playing the ball through a line of defenders and finding halftime sub, Antonio Riquelme, who found himself one on one with the keeper. Riquelme was able to power the ball past the keeper for the equalizing goal.

El Farolito’s keeper, Johan Lizzaralde, kept them in the match with two massive second half saves. One came just shortly after the Monarch’s goal on a shot from just outside the box almost slipped in at the near post, but he was able to react and parry it out for a corner. Just minutes later, Monarchs had a create looping ball into the box that led to a snap-header, but Lizzaralde was up to the task again.

The second half ended with the score level at 1-1, so we played 30 more minutes. El Farolito had their first real chance since their goal with a free kick from about a ten yards outside the box. The shot was on target, but was punched away by the Monarchs keeper, Max Kerkvliet.

The game really changed when Monarchs’ defender, Kobi Henry, received his second yellow card for a foul right outside of the box in the 104th minute. The Monarchs were able to defend the ensuing freekick from the edge of the box and any other threat and get into halftime of extra time still level, but that would not last long.

Up a man for the rest of the match, El Farolito was finally able to create more in the attack. They found their moment when Herbert Soto made a great run into the box and was dragged down by a Monarchs defender and was awarded a penalty. He stepped up and buried it to give the guests the late lead.

Monarchs committed too many forward and were caught a couple times in dangerous situations, but El Farolito finally put the match to bed in the fifth minute of stoppage time after a save from Kerkvliet fell straight to Eric Arias, who hit a wide empty net to make it 3-1 with the last kick of the match.

Johnan Lizarralde of El Paso Locomotive during the club's First Round match in the 2025 US Open Cup. Photo: J. Derick Fox — Johnan Lizarralde of El Paso Locomotive during the club’s First Round match in the 2025 US Open Cup. Photo: J. Derick Fox

After the match, assistant coach Marcos Da Silva, said that this win was not just of El Farolito, but everyone back in San Francisco – especially their head coach who missed this match for a special reason, stating “when we leave San Francisco, we’re not just representing those guys are over here. We are family, over there, everybody, all the crowds we left over there in San Francisco. We fight for them. Also, we play for them today, especially, we fought for our head coach! He couldn’t come because his daughter was born, and he couldn’t make it, you know that we could go for him for his family too because of you know, he’s supposed to be over there, but he wanted to be here, you know, we fought for him too.”

When asked what it is like to return such an experienced team from last season’s Open Cup and NPSL successes, Da Silva said, “everybody knows what they’ve got to do, and everybody’s really committed with the team with a group because of here, we’re not just a soccer team, an amateur soccer team. We are a family, we have more than that when someone made a mistake. The other one is over there to recover, and that’s why we keep going. And that’s a pretty good feeling, because there’s a family is not just a soccer team.”

2015 US Open Cup Round 3: Colorado Springs Switchbacks strike early, hold off Real Monarchs in lightning-delayed match (video)

May 29, 2015 by Robert Wilson

The Colorado Springs Switchbacks rode a 5th minute Aaron King goal to a 1-0 victory over USL rivals Real Monarchs SLC at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night. Similar to their Second Round Lamar Hunt US Open Cup victory over Harpo’s FC last week, the Switchbacks wasted no time taking the early lead. Center back Josh Phillips sent a well-timed through ball to King, who outpaced defenders and pushed a right-footed finish past goalkeeper Eric Osswald.

The remaining 85 minutes of play — separated by a 90-minute lightning delay at halftime — featured constant attacks from Monarchs forwards Emery Welshman, Max Rauhofer, and Ricardo Velazco. Velazco finished with four of his seven shots on-goal for the night.

Monarchs head coach Freddy Juarez praised his defenders and attackers after the game.

“We asked them to up the tempo, to be brave,” Juarez said, “to be daring and get forward and not be afraid to make mistakes.”

With the game still scoreless late into the second half, the hosts continued to attack and held virtually all of the possession.

“In the second half, we obviously defended too much. We’ve got to do a better job holding onto the ball,” admitted Switchbacks head coach Steve Trittschuh after the game. “In the end, we’re lucky to get out of here with a win.”

Welshman found himself marked by two Switchbacks defenders for much of the night, yet he continued to create offensive opportunities with Rauhofer and Velazco.

According to Monarchs defender Danilo Acosta, “the coach told us after the first half to try from outside the 18 because it was wet. You never know. A lucky shot might go in.”

With five minutes of stoppage time and plenty of momentum, it appeared inevitable that the Monarchs would equalize. Velazco hit a one-touch connection near the penalty mark, wide right. Welshman dribbled past multiple defenders, only to watch his chip float inches from the goalpost. Rauhofer’s last shot slammed the underside on the crossbar and bounced into Switchbacks goalkeeper Samir Badr’s arms.

The visitors held on for the shutout. They’ll travel to Los Angeles for a league game against Los Dos (LA Galaxy 2) on Friday, May 29. On June 16, the team from Colorado Springs will head 80 miles north to face the Colorado Rapids of MLS, their more established in-state neighbors, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in the Fourth Round of the tournament.

Patrick Shea of Current of Colorado provided the video and contributed to this report.

HIGHLIGHTS: COLORADO SPRINGS SWITCHBACKS AT REAL MONARCHS

2015 US Open Cup Round 2: Real Monarchs capitalize on Rough Riders mistake, win first cup match, 1-0

May 21, 2015 by Brian Venard

The matchup between the Long Island Rough Riders and Real Monarchs SLC was without a doubt skewed in favor of the latter, but you would have never guessed that after seeing tonight’s match. And while the Monarchs still pulled out a victory, it did not come easy for them. The only goal in the match was scored in the 76th minute by Ricardo Velazco, who put the ball in the back of the net after a series of miscommunications by the goalkeeper and the defender.

Even though the final result of the match was based partially on a communication error, the error is not telling of how close the match was. Going into halftime, the match was a complete stalemate, with neither team breaking through the others defense consistently. While the first half was quite a bore, the second half was very different. Both squads were much more willing to shoot the ball from the get go, and that’s what inevitably led to the goal that broke the stalemate.

Even though the Rough Riders as a whole were fairly strong tonight, there were a few players who were extremely underwhelming during the match. The one that sticks out in particular is Benjamin Wignall, who was subbed off in the 46th minute. After a great performance in Round 1, Wignall lacked inspiration in the forward role, rarely touching the ball and not having any significant impact on the game. In addition to the lack of quality shown by Wignall, in the 68th minute, Joe Holland was subbed off after sustaining an injury when he fell awkwardly to the ground after tripping. Holland is one of the star players for the Rough Riders and will surely be missed if the injury is serious.

On the other side of the pitch, one particular player had the night of his life. Tyler Arnone, a Long Island native and former Rough Rider, made his first appearance in the starting 11 this season, and he had a major impact on his team. When asked about how it felt to come back to Long Island to play the Rough Riders, Arnone humbly said, “…It meant the world to me to play at Saint Anthony’s again cause I dedicated so many hours of my time to playing here…” Arnone proved himself to be a great candidate for first team soccer tonight, and I would not be surprised if he gets another chance very soon.

The match was very hard fought, and it was obvious by the crowd’s reaction at Saint Anthony’s High School that they felt the Rough Riders could have gone farther in this prestigious competition. But now the Monarchs are bound to the 3rd round, where they will host fellow USL team, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks.