Three Utah Teams in U.S. Open Cup Action

Utah has three clubs competing in this year's Lamar Hunt US Open Cup qualifying round. Real Salt Lake will face the newly expanded Seattle Sounders FC, while the Ogden Outlaws and BYU Cougars of the Premier Development League will each play four matches as part of the PDL Western Conference. These are regularly scheduled league matches for the PDL sides, so the results will count in the PDL standings as well as for Open Cup qualifying.

BYU's road to the Open Cup looks like this:

May 9 BYU Cougars @ Lancaster Rattlers 9:00 PM
May 16 BYU Cougars @ Los Angeles Legends 10:00 PM
May 21 Ventura County Fusion @ BYU Cougars 9:30 PM
May 23 San Fernando Valley Quakes @ BYU Cougars 9:30 PM

Ogden's like so:

May 16 Ogden Outlaws @ Southern California Seahorses 10:00 PM
May 17 Ogden Outlaws @ Orange County Blue Star 8:00 PM
May 23 Ventura County Fusion @ Ogden Outlaws 8:00 PM
May 22 San Fernando Valley Quakes @ Ogden Outlaws 8:00 PM

Simply qualifying for Open Cup play is an accomplishment for PDL teams. As the top two teams in the Western Conference in 2006, both Ogden and BYU made their US Open Cup debut. The Outlaws headed west to face the Sonoma County Sol, and amateur team in the US Adult Soccer Association. After battling to a 1-1 draw in regulation, the Outlaws were beaten 6-5 on penalties. The Cougars didn't faire quite so well against the Arizona Sauharos, also from the USASA. The Arizona club took full advantage of their home field ands shellacked BYU 5-1.

BYU qualified for the tournament in 2007, hosting the California Victory of USL-1 at South Field in Provo. The Cougars fought hard, but lost the match 2-1.

Real Salt Lake has done slightly better in Open Cup play than it's PDL brothers. In the last four years RSL has qualified twice, and advanced to the next round only once. All MLS teams who qualify for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup enter in the third round. This usually pits an MLS team against a team from one of the USL divisions. In 2005 the Claret-and-Cobalt took the Minnesota Thunder (USL-1) into overtime before getting beaten 6-4. Despite the loss, Jason Kreis scored a hat-trick in the game. This was also the match where RSL found Melvin Tarley whose brace (2 goals) for the Thunder was so impressive that he was invited to join RSL for the remainder of the 2005 season.

The following year was the most fruitful for Salt Lake in Open Cup action. It was the only year where they advanced beyond the third round. A 2-1 victory over the Virginia Beach Mariners (USL-1) at Rice-Eccles Stadium was enough for RSL to move on and host a fourth round match against the Colorado Rapids. But, that's as far as Salt Lake would climb in the bracket as they lost to their bitter rivals 1-0.

For the next two years RSL couldn't progress past qualifying. Both years looked promising, each opening with a win at home. But, when they went on the road for the second match, Salt Lake couldn't get it together.

In 2007, Andy Williams scored 19 minutes into extra time to help RSL down the Kansas City Wizards 2-1. Salt Lake went to loose to the Rapids by the same score in the following play-in game. Then, in 2008, RSL opened qualification with a 4-0 rout of the San Jose Earthquakes in the middle of a snow storm at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The win moved RSL on to Columbus where they lost to the Crew 2-0.

RSL's match with the Sounders FC will be played at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, WA, Tuesday, April 28. Kickoff is set for 7pm local time (8pm MT). The winner will go on to play the winner of the LA Galaxy/Colorado Rapids match on April 4.