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Same old song and dance
Only one match won by lower-level team, two matches postponed due to weather
If seeing the underdogs prevail is your thing, then you went to sleep disappointed last night.
Of the fourteen matches first round U.S. Open Cup matches last night, only one was won by a team from the lower division, and even that wasn’t much of an upset.
The evening began with the lone “upset” of the day, as the NPSL’s Sonoma County Sol, perhaps the hottest team of the 32 set to play in the first round, defeated the PDL’s Orange County Blue Star 5-2. Shawn Percell scored twice and Trevor Hurst, Eric Lafon, Eric Larson added the others for the Sol. The Sol are 12-0-1 in all matches played in 2009.
The most dramatic game of the night was in Rochester, as the Rhinos needed a stoppage time equalizer and penalties to overcome the USL-2 Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Trailing 1-0 for much of the game, the Rhinos forced extra time when Tai Atieno knocked in a corner kick in second half stoppage time. Atieno then missed a potential game winning penalty kick with two minutes left in overtime, but Rhinos goalkeeper Scott Vallow came up with two saves in the penalty shootout to see his clu through to the second round.
Two matches were postponed and are set to kick off today. Ocean City and Crystal Palace Baltimore was put off early in the day when heavy overnight rains left the Barons field flooded. The Dulles Sportsplex Aegean Hawks and Real Maryland Monarchs were forced to set their game back a day when heavy thunderstorms rolled through the Rockville, Maryland area.
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