Barons continue U.S. Open Cup quest against Real Maryland at home Tonight
The winner advances to the Third Round to meet D.C. United of Major League Soccer on June 30
Ocean City, NJ - June 16th, 2009
The Ocean City Barons are one win away from a date with D.C. United of Major League Soccer. What stands in their way is no small task: upsetting a second straight professional team from the USL Second Division. The Barons host the Real Maryland Monarchs on Tuesday night at Carey Stadium with kick off scheduled for 7 p.m.
Tickets are available at the Carey Stadium gate: $10 for adults, $4 for kids.
The U.S. Open Cup, which is the United States' version of England's FA Cup, is the oldest cup competition in the country, dating back to 1914. It is a tournament completely unique in American sports where all teams, from Major League Soccer to weekend recreational leagues, are eligible to participate in a knockout competition to decide a true national champion (Baseball fans might imagine if the Trenton Thunder got to play the New York Yankees in a meaningful in-season March Madness-style tournament).
Tuesday marks the first meeting between the two clubs, as Real Maryland are playing their second season in the USL Second Division (USL-2). In their inaugural campaign in 2008, the Monarchs started the First Round with a 3-2 extra time win over the New York Pancyprian Freedoms of the USASA's Region I. However, they were eliminated in the next round 1-0 by the Carolina RailHawks of USL-1, who went on to advance to the Semifinals.
This year, Real Maryland escaped with a lightning-shortened 1-0 win against the USASA's Aegean Hawks from the Washington D.C.-area. Ryan Cordeiro scored the lone goal in the 14th minute, but two minutes later, the Hawks had a player sent off to bring them down to 10 men. Despite being shorthanded, the Hawks continued to fight, but were not able to find an equalizer before the match was called off in the 74th minute after a lengthy lightning delay.
The Barons First Round game was originally postponed because the Carey Stadium field was unplayable due to a major storm that swept through the area. They played the match the next day (Wednesday, June 10) and upset Crystal Palace Baltimore of USL-2 by a score of 3-0 (HIGHLIGHTS w/ Internet Explorer) Byron Carmichael (Marshall / Lumberton, NJ), who was named the USOpenCup.com Player of the Round, scored two goals and Ocean City's leading scorer J.T. Noone (Temple / Harrisburg, PA) added the third. Goalkeeper Tunde Ogunbiyi (Boston College / Gwynedd, PA) made four saves to earn a shutout in his Open Cup debut, helping the Barons knock out Baltimore for the second time.
The Monarchs are led by USL veteran Gary Brooks, who leads the team in goals (4) and assists (3). Brooks is ranked third in the league in scoring with 11 points. The Jamaican international has played with five different USL franchises including the Virginia Beach Mariners, Atlanta Silverbacks, Vancouver Whitecaps and he also played for Crystal Palace Baltimore in 2007, the year that they were upset by Ocean City in the Open Cup. Other notable players include former D.C. United players Cordeiro and the brothers Pat and Jeff Carroll, who have an older brother currently playing for the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew.
Maryland are currently tied for third place in the USL-2 standings with a record of 5-4-0. This past Saturday, they snapped a brief two-game losing streak with a 1-0 home win against the Richmond Kickers with a goal by Lucio Gonzaga.
2009 marks the fourth time in the last six years that the Barons have qualified for the Open Cup. Ocean City is the only PDL team to qualify that many times out of the 68 teams in the league during that span. Overall, this is the fifth tournament appearance in franchise history. In four of the last five Open Cup games, the Barons have played a USL-2 club and they have a 3-1 record in those games.
The greatest Open Cup moment in club history came in 2005 when they upset the Long Island Rough Riders of USL-2 in the Second Round by a score of 4-0. The victory remains the most lopsided shutout for an amateur team over a professional team in the history of the tournament. The four-goal victory, at the time, was the largest win for an amateur club over a pro club, but that was matched in the following round by the Des Moines Menace in their 5-1 win over the Atlanta Silverbacks (USL-1). It still stands as the biggest win over a USL Second Division team by an amateur team.
The following round that year, the Barons continued to make history, but they were on the wrong side of it. They lost to the Richmond Kickers of the USL First Division by a score of 8-4. The 12 goals scored in that match made it the highest scoring Open Cup game in the Professional Era (1995 - present), and certainly one of the highest scoring games of all-time.
The Barons qualified for the 2009 edition of the tournament with a 3-0-1 record. A weather-shortened 1-1 draw in the home opener against the Westchester Flames was followed up by three straight shutout victories at home against Long Island and on the road at the New Hampshire Phantoms and Rhode Island Stingrays.
The winner of Tuesday's Second Round match will travel to the Maryland Soccerplex in Boyds, MD to take on D.C. United on June 30 at 7:30 pm
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