The longest running club competition in the United States got underway on Saturday as the preliminary round of the 2015 US Open Cup took place, with four teams looking to advance to the first round proper.
San Francisco City FC vs. Cal FC
Cal FC, who famously knocked off the USL’s Wilmington Hammerheads and MLS’ Portland Timbers during the 2012 edition of the tournament, traveled to Kezar Stadium to face San Francisco City FC. The home side made the prelims by winning the 2015 US Club Soccer Open Cup qualifying tournament. A tournament record crowd for the venue of 1,519 saw the visitors from Thousand Oaks, CA come out on top with a 2-1 victory.
As mentioned earlier, the attendance for @SFCityFC was 1,519 which is a new Preliminary Round record (prev. record: 511) #USOC2015
— TheCup.us (@usopencup) April 25, 2015
The win for Cal FC came somewhat controversially, with the referee awarding two penalty kicks in the second half, the second of which ended up proving decisive. Chris Cummings converted the first spot kick in the 48th minute to put the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) side up 1-0.
San Francisco City FC would then continue to press over the next half hour in search of the equalizer. The answer would come in the 76th minute when a well-placed George Plakorus cross was mistakenly glanced by an opposing defender into the net for an own goal even though it initially looked as if SF City FC’s Randy Mendoza scored.
The more controversial of the two Cal FC PKs would come 11 minutes later when substitute Taylor Amman was whistled for a hand ball. Johnny Bravo would bury the ball in the back of the net to put the road side up for good.
The second penalty was not received well by the San Francisco City FC coaching staff and upon the conclusion of the game SFCFC manager Andrew Gardner could be seen confronting the officiating crew.
Harpo’s FC vs. KC Athletics
Meanwhile in Commerce City, CO, Harpo’s FC, who qualified as the lone representative of the United States Specialty Sports Assocation (USSSA) took on KC Athletics, another qualifier out of the USASA. The Boulder, CO amateur side put together a comprehensive 2-0 shutout to become the second of the two preliminary round victors to advance to the next round.
The game went to halftime scoreless, but HFC came out firing in the second half. They would open the scoring in the 50th minute with a strike from Daniel Campbell, while Shane Wheeler would double the lead 20 minutes later by eluding the keeper and punching the ball into an open net. Though only three USSSA teams have contested the US Open Cup, Harpo’s FC became the first to win a match with the triumph over KC.
And that's it! @HarposFC have defeated @KC_AthleticsFC 2-0 to progress to the 1st round of the @usopencup #USOC2015 pic.twitter.com/YZiQYTFqV3
— Stout Street Soccer (@StoutStSoccer) April 25, 2015
Both victorious sides now face teams from the Premier Development League on May 13th in the first round of the competition. Cal FC will travel to Oxnard, CA to face Ventura County Fusion, while Harpo’s FC heads to Provo, UT to take on the BYU Cougars. The path will get much more difficult for the lower-tier sides after this round as 21 USL sides await in the second round.
