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Sounders fury A-League Seattle eliminates MLS-best San Jose 1-0Posted: Wednesday August 06, 2003 1:43 AMUpdated: Wednesday August 06, 2003 10:58 AM SEATTLE (AP) -- Kyle Smith scored in the 41st minute, giving the Seattle Sounders a 1-0 victory Tuesday night over the San Jose Earthquakes in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Sounders, who lost 4-3 in overtime to the Earthquakes in last year's tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, which is open to all professional and amateur teams in the nation. Six more matches will be played around the country on Wednesday night. "We are obviously disappointed in the result," said Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop. "We had a number of chances, and we had enough opportunities to score at least one goal. “Once they scored, I thought they defended well, but we still need to do better in front of the net." The Sounders are in first place in the A-league's Pacific Division. The Earthquakes lead the MLS' Western Conference. "They have a lot of quality players on their team,” said Quakes forward Brian Mullan. “They scored a good goal in the first half, and then made the most of it." U.S. national team star Landon Donovan did not start for San Jose but came on in the 51st minute. San Jose dominated the second half, taking 13 shots. "I thought we dominated every statistical category tonight except the one that matters the most, unfortunately,” said San Jose defender Jeff Agoos. “Games are decided by goals and we came up short in that area tonight." Smith gave the Sounders the lead a minute after Seattle's goalie Rich Cullen made a diving stop of a shot by Manuel Lagos, who was open in front of the Sounders' goal. Seattle's Andrew Gregor fed Smith with a pass on the right sideline, 10 yards out. Smith crossed the ball just passed the goalie, and it bounced off the left post into the back of the net. Cullen made nine saves for the Sounders. "They got that one chance and scored on it, which is a really frustrating way to lose,” said Quakes midfielder Ian Russell. “I thought we dominated the game, but we couldn't score, and now we are out of the Cup." Wednesday night, the Wilmington Hammerheads, already the Division III prizewinner in this year’s tournament, look to unseat the Dallas Burn (MLS) in Wilmington, N.C. Three MLS teams will also be hosting matches Wednesday with 7:30 p.m. ET kickoffs. The New England Revolution will host the Rochester Raging Rhinos (A-League) -- the only non-MLS team to win the Dewar Trophy since 1996 -- in Ludlow, Mass. D.C. United will host the Virginia Beach Mariners (A-League) in Boyds, Md., and the Columbus Crew will be hosting the MetroStars (MLS) at Columbus Crew Stadium. The Chicago Fire (MLS) will face the Milwaukee Wave United (A-League) in Milwaukee, Wis. In the final Wednesday match, amateur division champion Fresno Fuego (PDL), a USASA affiliated team, will face the Los Angeles Galaxy in the first-ever Open Cup match in The Home Depot Center. Teams advancing from the fourth round will play in quarterfinal matches on either Aug. 25 or 27. Rapids edge Wizards 3-2 in U.S. Open CupDENVER (AP) -- John Spencer scored two goals Tuesday as the Colorado Rapids beat the Kansas City Wizards 3-2 in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Colorado advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, which is open to all professional and amateur teams in the nation. Spencer's second goal, a breakaway in the 67th minute, broke a 2-2 tie. Spencer stole the ball from defender Carey Talley just past midfield, raced unchallenged for 45 yards and shot over goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi's left shoulder. Both teams are in Major League Soccer, but the match was not a regular game and doesn't count in the league standings. The Wizards didn't start their regular players but the Rapids did. "The mindset is to win every game,” said Wizards head coach Bob Gansler. “We have two games this week and two games next week and we have to keep that in mind. The folks that started tonight are good enough to win here or to win anywhere. We didn't sell ourselves short by the quality of the folks we put out there.” The Wizards took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Igor Simuntenkov before Spencer tied it with a penalty kick. "We went in at halftime up 1-1 and came out early in the second and got a second goal,” said Wizards midfielder Chris Klein. “Their second goal came on a mistake, and we just can't make those kinds of mistakes. Offensively we've got to be able to put teams away. We had a load of chances and not to realize those is disappointing." Simuntenkov made it 2-1 and Chris Henderson tied it in the 58th minute with a shot from point-blank range. “It was a game that we just needed to execute better,” said Gansler. “We gave up the winning goal on our own turnover and the second goal on a dummy. We had the opportunities and Igor [Simutenkov] has the opportunity to get a third goal and even a fourth. It was just about executing. They are a good team, but we ran out a good team and gave them everything we had." |
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