Former City Islander goalkeeper Matt Nelson came back to haunt his old club, saving three of Harrisburg’s four penalty kicks in the shootout tiebreaker to advance Crystal Palace Baltimore to the third round of the U.S. Open Cup.

Crystal Palace jumped to an early 1-0 lead on Kevin King’s 10th minute goal, but the lead did not last long. Anthony Calvano leveled the contest a 1-1 in the 24th minute, on a David Schofield assisted strike. Just a few moments later, the City Isles gained a man advantage when King was sent off for striking Calvanto. The match remained at 1-1 through halftime, and in the second half, two more red cards were issued. The first was to Baltimore co-Manager Pete Medd, who was dismissed in the 56th minute. Shortly after, the numbers on the playing field were evened when Harrisburg’s Brian Ombiji was sent off for stepping on a CPB defender in the 63rd minute.

On into extra time, Baltimore took the lead once again as the first extra session ended, when Matthew Mbuta scored from a Val Teixeira  assist. Just as the came looked to finish a 2-1, Harrisburg were awarded a penalty in the final minute of extra time. Yu Hoshide stepped up and converted the spot kick to send the match to penalties.

Once in the penalty shootout, it was Nelson turn to shine. After Harrisburg counterpart Brian Pope saves Michael Lookingland’s penalty attempt, Nelson gained revenge on Hoshide by saving his shot. After Ibrahim Kante (CPB) and Brian Devlin (HCI) converted the next round of shots, fortunes seemed to turn Harrisburg’s way when Cecil Lewis missed his chance. Nelson came to the rescue again as he saved Brett Wiesner’s shot to keep the PK score 1-1. After Patrick Healey scored for Palace. Nelson stepped up again with a save on Adam Clay’s shot. Val Teixeira put the nail in the coffin with the final penalty, putting the result out of reach for Harrisburg.

Crystal Palace advance to host the New York Red Bulls next Tuesday in the third round.