US Open Cup round-up, March 21

The second biggest crowd on the final night of US Open Cup First Round ties was at the University of North Carolina's Greensboro Stadium, where MLS Next Pro expanside club Carolina Core drew 1,500 for the first ever home fixture. They faced NoVa FC from USL League Two, a club that can trace their history back to 1998 when they formed as North Virgina Royals. Antiguan Barbudan international Drake Hadeed  got the opener for Core but Eddie Pope's side found themselves a goal down at the break thanks to Noah Holmes and Alex Abril, with an upset seriously on the cards. Carolina restored party five minutes into the second half with a strike from David Polanco and finally managed to make their domination of the game count when Joshua Rodriguez scored eight minutes from time. Elsewhere in North Carolina, Charlotte FC's MLS Next Pro affiliate Crown Legacy FC welcomed South Carolina United Heat to the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews but were undone by their UPSL visitors in the fifth minute of stoppage time when the exotically named former Rochester New York player Wilterlynd Inalien converted a peanlty given for a foul on Hale Lombard.

A couple of hundrerd miles west in Tennessee, USL League One side Chattanooga Red Wolves did what their city rivals from MLS next Pro couldn't and despatched lower league opposition, this time in the shape of Massachusetts club Brockton FC United. The visitors play in the UPSL and have a side mostly made up of locals and immigrants with Cape Verdean roots but seemed to be letting the occasion getting to them, going 2-0 down in the 66th minute, both from penalty kicks. Omar Hernandez converted the first after a bad foul on Stefan Cvetanovic, with Chevone Marsh scoring the second when Ropapa Mensah was brought down by Dario Monteiro. Red Wolves' battle plan took a hit ten minutes later when Omar Gomez was shown a straight red for violent conduct and this allowed the visitors back into the game, a header from Wuilito Fernandes reducing arrears in the 89th minute and allowing Leonardo Texeira to head the sides level in the fifth minute of added time. That sent the tie to extra-time where the professionals' better fitness told, two goals from Menash sending the USL-1 side through.

FC Motown's big night against New York City II turned out to be a damp squib as the NPSL side found themselves 2-0 after 20 minutes, thanks to goals from Taylor Calheira and Andrew Baiera. Meximo Carrizo added a third midway through the second half to put the Baby Pigeons through. Two of the oldest clubs in USL-2 both faced USL-1 opposition and came up empty, with Vereinigung Erzgebirge losing 2-0 to Charlotte Independence courtesy of late goals from Omar Ciss and Kharlton Belmar, and Western Mass Pioneers conceding twice that at home to Union Omaha, with a Joe Gallardo hatrick and a single from Steevan dos Santos doing the damage. A home defeat was also the end result of the Steel City FC versus Michigan Stars tie, although the NPSL side from Pittsburgh can count themselves unlucky having dominated the game in front of 1,142 fans at Ambrose Urbanic Field. The visitors from the NISA league grabbed the game's only goal in the 83rd minute when Niels Lellouch, playing with Fort William in the North Caledonian Football League a year ago, headed in a free-kick cross from Daniel Wright.

The action swung west for the final three ties of the night, with the stop at Lubbock in Texas providing another upset as Lubbock Matadors of the NPSL defeated NISA expansion club Arizona Monsoon. Matadors drew an astonishing 2,258 fans to Lubbock Christian University Soccer Field but went a goal behind in the 37th minute when Izsak Fierro fired home for the visitors. Monsoon then found themselves down to ten men when Giancarlo Canas-Jarquin reacted badly to a foul and was shown a red in the 79th minute, allowing the Texans to find an equaliser through Salvador Martinez just four minutes later. That sent the game into extra-time where Lubbock's Bruno Garcia was dismissed for two yellow cards three minutes in, but the Matadors had the better of the play from there on, finally finding a winner with just one minute on the clock through Toufik Najem. The Denver derby between Colorado Rapids 2 and Azteca at Dick's Sporting Goods Park was a one-way affair, with the MLS Next Pro side putting three goals past Gerardo Aguilar Gardea in the Azteca goal. Josh Belluz, Daniel Garcia, and Alec Diaz grabbed the goals for Rapids over their NPSL visitors.

The night's final game took place in Carson, California, as the newly-rebranded Ventura County FC - the MLS Next Pro affiliate of Los Angeles Galaxy - took on Irvine Zeta 2. The visitors qualified for the tournament before their accession to NISA, where they were guaranteed a spot as a professional side, and so their amateur reserves took the spot they won. It looked to be a dream start for the visitors when Daniel Baumgartner converted an 8th minute penalty given for a foul on Orlando Erazo, but Joseph Barry put through his own net three minutes later to level things up. A minute into added time at the end of the first half, Ventura's Sean Karani gave the home side their first lead of the night and that's how it stayed, despite chances for both sides in the second half. 

Eight lower-league sides have made it through to the Second Round, which will take place in two weeks' time. Of the professional leagues, USL-1 lost just one of its twelve entrants in the first round, NISA shed three of its nine competitors, and MLS Next Pro saw just seven of its eleven clubs go through. Of the qualifiers, (unofficial) division IV competition NPSL have the most clubs through - three - while similarly fourth-tier ranked USL-2 have two. The fifth tier UPSL also have two clubs in the hat for the next round, with Florida's USSL - a sixth-tier league - making up the numbers.