New Mexico United faced off against the Lubbock Matadors in the Third Round of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Thursday, and took home a victory in front of a home crowd. The teams faced off at the Ram’s Soccer Field at Rio Rancho High School, under the glow of the New Mexico sun. United had a action packed four minutes where three different players scored three goals, and the Matadors made one goal off a penalty shot in the last minute of the game, to give New Mexico a 3-1 win.
With this win, United advance in their opening round game for the fourth year in a row and will move on to the Fourth Round (Round of 32). They will find out their next opponent after the Third Round is complete.
For New Mexico United head coach Eric Quill, it was his first Open Cup win in charge of the club and he hopes the win will build some momentum as the team returns to league play.
“We want to be a player in this tournament,” said Quill, who played in 11 US Open Cup games during his playing days. “And obviously we’ve got a game coming on the weekend, so it’s always nice to get a win before you go on the road so hopefully this gives us some confidence going into North Carolina and we want to keep it rolling. We want to be a consistent winner.”
The game started off fast from the New Mexico United with Jacobo Reyes and Daniel Bruce both had their own shots on goal in the first and third minute of the half. Bruce in the 11th minute would have another shot on goal that would be wide. Matteo Conci in the 15th minute was able to secure two more blocks by United, but United continued to put the pressure on the Matadors. Matadors’ forward Luke Jones tried to take back the momentum, but his miss on the right side goal post couldn’t find it.
Going into the 16th minute, United’s Daniel Bruce was caught offside on his goal attempt that otherwise would have scored. The turquoise wearing United continually kept up the pressure, but failed to successfully secure any goals within the first half. This continued all the way to the 34th minute, where goalie Matteo Conci was able to block back to back shots from United’s Jacobo Reyes and Harry Swartz.
Both teams continued to find anything in the first half, but it didn’t happen. Both left the pitch for halftime with a 0-0 score.
Going into the second half, the United had regrouped and came out strong. Forwards and midfielders were making fast and concise passes up and around the box, and that led to a streak of three consecutive goals.
Starting in the 58th minute, United’s Harry Swartz was able to sink the ball in the back left corner with an assist from Daniel Bruce. Less than a minute later, Daniel Bruce found his own goal as he sent the ball from the right side of the box into the back left corner of the goal.
Finally in the 62nd minute, Mukewelle Akale was able to take a free kick and sank the ball into the center back of the net. Within four minutes, the United had turned a scoreless game into a 3-0 scoreline.
From that point on, the United were filled with electricity and kept running up the pace, not letting the Matadors come back at all. The United held a dominant 65.1% possession throughout the game, and through the rest of the second half it showed. It wasn’t until the 90th minute that the Matadors saw some success off of a penalty kick scored by Shuma Sasaki. The game would go on for an extra six minutes, but there was not enough time for the Matadors to come back and even tie up the game.
“All in all, first half, we had quality chances, we just couldn’t put those two or three away that we had so we let hang around,” said Quill. “It’s a good amateur team right there who has a lot of college players that have a lot of talent. So, credit to them for making it this far but now it’s on to the next round and we’ve gotta be better and we’ll work on those things that will make us better.”
