Gonzaga showdowns loom in US Open Cup Third Round as MLS enters mix

Ching may face current Zag | HoustonDynamo.com

Five current and former Gonzaga University men’s soccer players are headed toward a pair of head-to-head meetings in the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Wednesday, May 29. The matches in the 100th edition of the tournament will see the Seattle Sounders of MLS visiting the second-tier Tampa Bay Rowdies of the NASL and the MLS Houston Dynamo playing host to amateur FC Tucson of the PDL.

Lower Division Recap: Round 8

LD Soccer News on Facebook 

It was as busy of a week as you will see in the Lower Divisions all year as every American club, except Phoenix FC, was in action Tuesday night in the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

USL Pro were big winners on the night with eight teams advancing to the Third Round to face MLS opposition this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. Four each from the NASL and the USL PDL also advanced.   TheCup.us – Scores & Recaps [+]

Lower Division Recap: Round 7

LD Soccer News on Facebook

The complexity of the season kicked up a notch with the introduction of the US Open Cup this week for four of the USL Pro clubs and will continue with the remaining teams from the league and the NASL entering the event on Tuesday against the First Round winners.

Open Cup history elude's Gonzaga's Zach Scott as Sounders fall in PKs

Zach Scott (bottom left) finally gets to play in Final after 25 previous USOC appearances | Corky Trewin / Sounders FC

It was a US Open Cup championship game Gonzaga product Zach Scott will not forget. A member of the Seattle Sounders since 2002, the defender finally earned his first Open Cup Final appearance in four years with the club. Then, in the final 10 minutes of regulation, he became the focal point of everything.

First he was called for a controversial handball in the box - though replays were not clear if the call was correct. Then he scored the dramatic late equalizer at the other end, heading in a free kick that sent the match to overtime tied 1-1 and, ultimately, penalty kicks.

Sporting Kansas City ended the Sounders' bid to become the first club in 99 years of the tournament to win the event four consecutive times, taking the dramatic back-and-forth penalty kick tiebreaker, 3-2. The Sounders, however, still boast a remarkable 22-game unbeaten streak, which will continue in 2013, that spans back to a 2007 semifinal overtime loss to FC Dallas as the second division USL club. Scott has played in 15 of the 22 contests during the streak.

Full coverage at affiliate site... TheCup.us >

Gonzaga’s Zach Scott part of Sounders bid for history in Open Cup

Scott helped lead Seattle in this 1-0 Semifinal win versus Dallas last year | Photos: Gerald Barnhart

When Gonzaga University’s 2001 All-WCC selection Zach Scott graduated and signed with the then second division Seattle Sounders in 2002, little did he or anyone else know that 10 years later he would be a part of history. Tonight, his Sounders look to become the first team in Lamar Hunt US Open Cup history to win four consecutive championships when they take on Sporting Kansas City on the road at LiveStrong Sporting Park (6:00 pm PT, GolTV).

Though they are on the doorstep of doing something no one else has ever accomplished tonight in the conclusion of the 99^th edition of the tournament, the Sounders have already made history as the fourth team to three-peat and are only the third-ever to reach four consecutive finals (Bethlehem Steel, Stix Baer & Fuller).

Gonzaga’s Ching sees Dynamo dumped from Open Cup in upset; NW clubs, GU's Scott play tonight

Gonzaga University and former Spokane Shadow PDL striker Brian Ching was given the night off for the Houston Dynamo as the MLS side traveled to nearby San Antonio to face the expansion San Antonio Scorpions of the new North American Soccer League in the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. It may have been a decision Ching, considering retirement after this season, and the club regret as San Antonio registered a surprising 1-0 victory to eliminate Houston from the tournament.

The Dynamo, however, were not alone as six other MLS teams saw their tournament campaign come to an unexpected end.