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Region II down to the final four
Both Illinois teams to host semis with winners qualifying for Open Cup
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"Win & You’re In"
USASA Region II
May 17, 2008
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Princeton-56ers
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RWB Adria
Des Moines Menace Reserves
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AAC Eagles
USASA Region II Qualifying
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Saturday’s first round of matches in the USASA Region II U.S. Open Cup qualifying was an eventful one.
Reigning champion RWB Adria from Chicago needed penalty kicks to get past Michigan’s Carpathia Kickers after the teams played 120 minutes of scoreless soccer. The match between the host Des Moines Menace Reserves and Missouri’s WC Arsenal was without a goal until the final minutes of extra time before the Menace Reserves won 2-0. And perhaps the most successful amateur team in Open Cup history, Bavarian SC, dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to Illinois’ AAC Eagles in Milwaukee.
The other scheduled quarterfinal wasn’t even played, as game officials ruled that defending NPSL Midwest Region champion Princeton-56ers from Madison, Wis., would receive a forfeit victory over the Bloomington (Ind.) Cutters, as the host team did not have enough players with valid player passes.
RWB Adria, which lost to USL First Division side Carolina 4-1 in the first round of last year’s U.S. Open Cup, will host the Princeton-56ers in the semifinals May 17. Chicagoland rival AAC Eagles also drew a home game against the Menace Reserves -- RWB Adria coach Minos Vlamakis said his club would look into the possibility of playing the games at the same site.
The winners of those matches will qualify for the U.S. Open Cup. If both teams from Illinois are victorious, it would mark the first time in the Professional Era (1995-present) that two teams from the same state qualify for the Cup from Region II.
Vlamakis’ team prevailed, just barely, in Saturday’s best match in Sterling Heights, Mich.
The Kickers, who played without two regulars who didn’t receive international clearance and another who was injured, played most of extra time with 10 men after a player picked up his second yellow card of the match.
Both teams had chances to break the deadlock, most notably in the final minutes of the second 15-minute period of extra time.
First, a Carpathia player had a breakaway, but was denied by the RWB Adria goalkeeper when he tried to dribble around the keeper. RWB Adria then quickly countered, and had a great ball played into the box setting up an excellent scoring opportunity, only to see a Kickers defender slide in and block the shot in the waning seconds.
"We gave them all they could handle," Carpathia general manager Kurt Seiberling said. "I cannot be disappointed."
The Menace Reserves and WC Arsenal from St. Louis were scoreless late into the second period of extra time, too, before the Iowa side scored with approximately 3 minutes remaining. Then with Arsenal players pushed up in a furious attempt to find an equalizer, the Menace Reserves added another goal in the final seconds to seal their first qualifying win -- last year, they lost in the first round.
AAC Eagles, who have qualified for the U.S. Open Cup three times (1995, 2002 and 2005), advanced by getting past five-time qualifier Bavarian SC in a match played at Marquette’s Valley Fields.
Like the Menace, the Princeton-56ers advanced to the semifinals for the first time, as they lost to Detroit United 2-1 on an 89th-minute goal in the first round last year.
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