Louisville City FC will begin its run in the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a matchup unique to the annual knockout tournament open to amateur and professional teams.
Tartan Devils FC, an amateur side based in Pittsburgh, topped the Derby City Rovers in a First Round penalty shootout Wednesday night to advance and face LouCity, one of the United Soccer League’s top clubs.
LouCity and Tartan Devils FC will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 17, in a Second Round U.S. Open Cup game at Highmark Stadium. Any online streaming options are still to be announced. LouCity also plays the Pittsburgh Riverhounds May 20 in a USL regular-season game at Highmark.
U.S. Open Cup play will continue May 31, when Second Round winners play one another before Major League Soccer teams then enter June 14 in the Fourth Round. Once the U.S. Open cup whittles down to 16, a fixed bracket will set up the rest of the tournament, which concludes with the Final on Sept. 20.
Teams are typically paired geographically in early round play. Both the Rovers, of the Professional Development League, and Tartan Devils FC made their U.S. Open Cup debuts Wednesday.
Last year, LouCity opened by topping Detroit City FC, from the National Premier Soccer League, in a penalty kick shootout before facing the North American Soccer League’s Indy Eleven. In 2015, LouCity advanced to play the Chicago Fire, taking the MLS side to extra time.
FC Dallas last fall extended a 17-year streak of MLS teams winning the U.S. Open Cup. But lower-division clubs often score upsets, and in 1999, the Rochester Rhinos became the most recent USL member to win the tournament.
This year, the winner will receive $250,000, a berth in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions’ League and have its name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, one of the oldest nationally contested trophies in U.S. team sports. The runner-up will earn $60,000, while the team that advances the furthest from each lower division will take home a $15,000 cash prize.
An American champion has been crowned for 103 consecutive years dating back to 1914. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor United States soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.
