Rhinos Fall to DC United to end Open Cup Campaign

By: alessio | July 24th, 2009

Ah, the downside of hope. After surging to the US Open Cup semifinals, the best display since the famous upset win in 1999 exactly a decade earlier, Rhinos fans were hopeful. Like the US fans after upsetting Spain in the Confederation’s Cup, there was hope after the Rhinos downed the defending MLS champions. But the Rhinos could not triumph over the defending Open Cup champions DC United, who they are now 0-4 against in Open Cup play.

The Rhinos traveled to play D.C United at the Maryland SoccerPlex Tuesday night looking to advance to the finals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament for the third time in team history. The defending champions continued their success in the tournament by defeating the visitors by a score of 2-1.

D.C. opened the scoring in the 41st minute after Rochester defender Ty Harden was called for a controversial hand-ball in the penalty area and United forward Jaime Moreno stepped up to put home the penalty kick, giving the home side a 1-0 lead.

Down 1-0 at the half, the Rhinos kept looking to find openings in the United defense. They found one and capitalized on it when forward Tai Atieno tied the score at 1-1 in the 68th minute after a free kick taken by midfielder Andrew Gregor was put into the D.C. box. The ball found its way to Atieno who scored his third goal of the tournament. But United was up to the task and broke the tie in the 82nd minute when forward Thabiso Khumalo put in the rebound after Rhinos goalkeeper Tim Melia initially saved a break-away opportunity off of midfielder Chris Pontius. Khumalo, a former USL-2 player, has two goals during Open Cup play after joining United at midseason from Pittsburgh.

D.C. will advance to face the Seattle Sounders in the finals of the tournament in September.

Rochester will resume USL-1 play when they host the Cleveland City Stars Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. at Marina Auto Stadium. The two sides have met twice in league play this season, with each team winning 3-0 results in Cleveland. The Stars also lost 2-1 to the Rhinos in Rochester in the second round of U.S. Open Cup play.

While disappointing, the league and playoff race is still wide open for the Rhinos. The team currently sits in 5th place with 17 games played, 9 points behind league leaders Portland.