The NPSL’s Erie Commodores triumphed over the Rochester River Dogz of the Rochester District Soccer League in a mesmerizing 5-4 penalty shootout win after the two sides played to a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes.
Rochester River Dogz
2018 Meet the Underdogs: River Dogz using Doug Miller's US Open Cup championship recipe
The head coach of the amateur Rochester River Dogz, a “farm team” for the NPSL's Rochester Lancers, Doug Miller doesn't mind using his former team's historic run as the last non-MLS team to win the competition as motivation for his players.
As road teams huddle in bathrooms, warehouses, what are venue standards for US Open Cup qualifying?
Like all knockout competitions, open division qualifying for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup is a grind that often has a charming edge to it lost in the later rounds when professional teams enter the fray. But there’s hardly anything romantic about a coach giving his team a halftime talk in a public bathroom or another team finding shelter from the cold in a storage shed only to be kicked out by a groundskeeper.
2018 US Open Cup qualifying: Rochester River Dogz make history by qualifying for first US Open Cup
On a blustery afternoon amid chilling winds and freezing rain in Rochester’s suburb of Pittsford, the River Dogz earned a place in the 2018 U.S. Open Cup.