A dramatic game-winning goal by Jeremy Aldrich in double-overtime gave the Virginia Beach Mariners a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Silverbacks.  

 

The win by the Mariners sends them into the 2004 US Open Cup as a wild card. They lost their qualifying series to Richmond, but still had a chance with the wild card qualification method. However, since Milwaukee was eliminated because they did not have enough games played, the final Open Cup berth came down to Seattle and Virginia Beach.

 

With the win over the Silverbacks, Virginia Beach will enter the US Open Cup because they had more points than Seattle (VB - 8pts, SEA - 1pt). This ends the Seattle Sounders' streak of consecutive Open Cup appearances. They had previously qualified for every Open Cup since 1998.

 

Virginia Beach will begin play in the US Open Cup 2nd round.