Sporting Kansas City will host the Des Moines Menace at 7:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 28 at Sporting Park in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup third round. Des Moines advanced to the third round with a 1-0 win over Minnesota United FC (NASL) earlier tonight at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium in St. Paul, Minn.
Tickets for the third round match at Sporting Park are available online at Ticketmaster.com or at the Sporting Park Box Offices. All Sporting Kansas City full Season Ticket Members have a ticket to the third round match, and all subsequent U.S. Open Cup home matches through the quarterfinals, as part of their season ticket package.
The Des Moines Menace, founded in 1994, compete in the USL Premier Development League. They opened the tournament with a 1-0 victory over the Madison 56ers on May 15 and advanced to play Sporting KC with a 1-0 win tonight in Minnesota on a goal by captain and former Sporting KC Academy player Brandon Fricke. Goalkeeper Scott Angevine, an MLS League pool goalkeeper in 2012 who trained with Sporting KC, earned the shutout in both victories.
Sporting Kansas City and Des Moines have met on two previous occasions in the U.S. Open Cup. In 2005, Kansas City recorded a 6-1 victory in the Round of 16 before meeting again a year later with KC advancing with a 2-1 win in the Round of 32.
Sporting Kansas City won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2004 and 2012, prevailing over the Seattle Sounders FC in last year’s final at Sporting Park. Sporting KC now begins the team's title defense as one of 16 MLS teams entering the competition in the third round.
The 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the 100th edition of the tournament, began on May 7 with the largest field in the modern era featuring 68 teams. The oldest annual team tournament in American sports history, the U.S. Open Cup has origins in 1914 and is named after Lamar Hunt, the original founder of Sporting Kansas City.
In other U.S. Open Cup competition tonight, Sporting Kansas City’s USL PRO affiliate Orlando City Soccer Club advanced to third round with a 2-1 win at the Ocala Stampede (PDL). Forward Dom Dwyer and goalkeeper Jon Kempin, two of four Sporting KC players on loan to Orlando City, started in the match with Dwyer scoring the game’s opening goal. Orlando City will next host the Colorado Rapids in the third round at 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 28 at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
The single-elimination tournament will continue through the championship match on Oct. 1 or 2 with the winner receiving $250,000 in prize money, a berth in the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League and their name on the Dewar Challenge Trophy.
