Portland,OR-This past Saturday the 2nd Qualifying Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup took place, and the Rush Men had been drawn to take the longest journey of any team in the round by having to go about 1,250 miles to play at Delta Park in Portland, OR. The guys would not let this stand in their way. Due to logistics, the Rush men were in a position to only take 12 players to this match, 10 of which had to fly into Portland on the same day of the game, and only a few hours after flying in played 90 minutes of high paced soccer against the Oregon Premier League Champs (International Portland Select).
The team did not look jet lagged whatsoever as they stepped onto the pitch and played quality Rush soccer at its finest. The passing and possession was on point seeing the opponents barely even touching the ball in the first 15 minutes of the game. It would only take about 17 minutes into the game for Griffin Dorsey to find a break down in the IPS defense, he tore down the right side of the field and after beating his defender chose an easy finish past the keeper to start the Rush out and get the visiting team up 1-0.
The next 30 minutes of the game would see the level of physicality come up from both sides and just before halftime in the 45th minute of play Morgan Sacco would get taken down inside the IPS goal box and was awarded a PK. Colin Clark would step up and take the Penalty and the Rush men went up 2-0 going into the half.
The 2nd half would play much like the first half, it was very physical and every ball was contested hard by both teams. The Rush spoke at half time about getting the next goal early in the half and Nick Blanco provided that assurance from a beautiful chip pass from Morgan Sacco scoring only 2 minutes into the 2nd Half, 3-0 Colorado Rush.
Shortly thereafter, things would get really interesting when the officials would determine that one player from each side would be sent off for violent play, dropping both teams down to 10 men.
The last bit of excitement was to be provided by Ryan Crowley in the 78th minute when Crowley would get an opportunity down the middle of the field off a rebounded shot from Morgan Sacco and Crawley scored it with ease.
With a 4-0 victory this would mark the second consecutive Open Cup qualifying shutout for GK Shailer Thomas and his stingy defensive back line.
The team is slated to play in the 3rd Round of Qualifying Play in March. The time and place and opponent will all be announced in January after a blind draw to determine the match ups and a coin toss to determine the host.
The players that went on the trip: Morgan Sacco, Nick Blanco, Peter May, Colin Clark, Brad Gorham, Nic Hartman, Jack O'Brien, Griffin Dorsey, Ryan Crowley, Adam Hudson, Mark Wellen, Shailer Thomas, and Coach Joe Webb.
Watch the entire replay at the link below: