Lower Division Recap: Round 11

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It was another big week for the Lower Divisions as two of the four remaining clubs in the US Open Cup made more headlines by knocking off a second consecutive MLS opponent in the 100th edition of the tournament. Plus, in league play the Atlanta Silverbacks moved back atop the NASL table and the Rochester Rhinos are finally pulling themselves up from the canvas and fighting back in USL Pro

US Open Cup

NASL league leader Carolina RailHawks and USL Pro leading Orlando City each advanced in the tournament. The RailHawks avenged last year’s defeat to the California club with a 3-1 overtime victory. Ty Shipalane, who scored the opener, found Cesar Elizondo for the winner two minutes into extra time and Brian Ackley secured the win six minutes later. Meanwhile, on the road Orlando City stunned their MLS affiliate without their loaned players, including league leading scorer Dom Dwyer. Former MLS player Long Tan surprised host Sporting KC two minutes in and the Lions kept the KC off the board the rest of the way for the upset.

In the other two contests, the Tampa Bay Rowdies were unable to sweep the Cascadia duo and the Charleston Battery fell apart in Salt Lake. The Battery held a two-goal lead after 18 minutes with back-to-back strikes from Dane Kelly and Nicki Paterson in less than two minutes. In the second half, however, RSL clawed back to force overtime where they pulled away for a 5-2 win. The Timbers blanked the visiting Rowdies 2-0 with a strike in each half.  Full Coverage @ TheCup.us [+]

Chivas USA 1 :: AET :: Carolina 
Orlando City 1 :: 0 Kansas City
Charleston 2 :: AET :: 5 Salt Lake 
Tampa Bay 0 :: 2 Portland 

North American Soccer League

Late goals proved critical on the weekend in the NASL. Perhaps a little fatigued from the Open Cup contest, the RailHawks saw their hold on first in the league fall into the hands of the Silverbacks, who used a narrow 1-0 win on the road Saturday in Fort Lauderdale despite playing a man down via a 90th minute penalty. On Sunday, Carolina also found a late strike with Cesar Elizondo scoring in the 88th to earn a 1-1 draw in Edmonton. Meanwhile, the defending champions saw the gap widen in front of them to five points as they fell to cellar dwelling San Antonio, who earned their first road win of the year courtesy of an 88th minute strike.

Scoring Summaries / Ejections

SATURDAY
Atlanta 1 :: 0 Fort Lauderdale 
ATL: Richie Menjivar (pen) 90+
~ ATL: Danny Barrera (red card) 63

San Antonio 2 :: 1 Tampa Bay 
SA: Blake Wagner (Kevin Harmse) 37, Hans Denissen (Kevin Harmse) 88
TB: Carl Cort (Devin Del Do) 80

SUNDAY
Carolina 1:: 1 Edmonton 
EDM: Michael Cox 74
CAR: Cesar Elizondo 88

USL Pro

With another quiet week in MLS, it was a second consecutive weekend in which inter-league play with the MLS Reserves was heavy. After going 1-1-3 last week, the USL Pro contingent pushed their season record against the reserve side 6-3-7 with an unbeaten weekend with a pair of wins and pair of draws. It started on Friday with Charlotte rallying to beat the visiting Fire Reserves and continued with three matches Saturday. Wilmington blanked the Red Bulls Reserves 1-0 and the Blues nabbed a late draw in the 90th minute for a 1-1 tie against the Galaxy Reserves, who won the initial encounter earlier in the season. It wrapped up out west where Phoenix played the RSL Reserves to a scoreless draw for the second time this year.

The other big story on the week was the resurgence of the finally healthy Rhinos. Rochester blanked surging VSI Tampa Bay, who were unbeaten in their last five league games. Blake Brettschneider and Tam McManus each had a goal and assist in leading the Rhinos to the 3-0 win, marking their first victory at home and first game of the year with three goals scored. They followed it up with a 1-1 draw Sunday against another Charleston, another title contender.

Scoring Summaries / Ejections

FRIDAY
(MLSR) Fire Reserves 1 :: 2 Charlotte 
CHI: Quincy Amarikwa (Wells Thompson) 42
CHE: Christian Ramirez (Sam Asante) 70, Ben Newnam 75

Antigua 0 :: 4 Richmond 
RIC: Nate Robinson (Jason Yeisley) 24, Brian Ownby (Nate Robinson) 56, Brian Ownby (Sascha Gorres) 77, Joseph Haboush (Joseph Ngwenya) 85

Tampa Bay 0 :: 3 Rochester 
ROC: Tyler Rosenlund (Blake Brettschneider) 4, Tam McManus (JC Banks) 53, Blake Brettschneider (Tam McManus) 66

SATURDAY
Charleston 1 :: 1 Pittsburgh 
CHB: Jose Cuevas (Emmanuel Adjetay) 37
PIT: Jose Angulo (Seth C'deBaca) 71

(MLSR) Red Bull Reserves 0 :: 1 Wilmington 
WIL: Daniel Steres (Gareth Evans) 57

(MLSR) Galaxy Reserves 1 :: 1 LA Blues
LAGR: Charlie Rugg 42
LAB: Chris Cortez (Rodrigo Lopez) 90

(MLSR) RSL Reserves 0 :: 0 Phoenix

SUNDAY
Antigua 1 :: 3 Harrisburg 
HAR: Morgan Langley 30, Sainey Touray 38, Yann Ekra (Lucky Mkosana) 67
ANT: Orlando Mitchum 47

Charleston 1 :: 1 Rochester 
ROC: Lance Rozeboom (Danny Earls) 28
CHB: Shawn Ferguson (Amadou Sanyang) 47

Tampa Bay 1 :: 2 Dayton 
DAY: Remco Klaasse 10, Tjeerd Westdijk 20
TB: Salieu Bundu (Shawn Chin) 34

MLS Reserve League

The bulk of the action on the week was on the road against USL Pro, where they went 0-2-2, dropping the season interleague record against USL Pro to 3-6-7. In the lone all-MLS Reserve match the Montreal Impact snatched a late victory on the road against Columbus courtesy of Mircea Ilcu in the 87th.

Scoring Summaries / Ejections

FRIDAY
Chicago 1 :: 2 Charlotte (see above)

SATURDAY
NY Red Bulls 0 :: 1 Wilmington (see above)
LA Galaxy 1 :: 1 LA Blues (see above)
RSL 0 :: 0 Phoenix (see above)

SUNDAY
MLSR - Montreal 1 :: 0 Columbus
MON: Mircea Ilcu 87

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