The Colorado Rapids weren’t “cupset” Wednesday night in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Given the Burgundy Boys’ history in the tournament, a win in and of itself is something to celebrate, but beating an in-state opponent made it even sweeter.
Colorado scored a pair of second-half goals to earn a first Open Cup win since 2017 with a 3-1 victory over the Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the first iteration of the “South Platte River Derby” in Commerce City.
Jonathan Lewis scored twice and Max scored his second goal in the last three games, though their neighbors from the north made quite a bit of noise in the upset bid.
“The second half performance is what we need to be doing whether it’s Open Cup or MLS, but we need to be doing it on a consistent basis,” Lewis told media members following the game.
On the opening goal five minutes in, Lewis received a pass from Ralph Priso and fired a low-driven shot that beat Edward Delgado.
Windsor-based Northern Colorado, which plays in the third tier of the American soccer pyramid in USL League One, grew into the game as the Hailstorm created a few set piece chances of their own. The Rapids weren’t ruthless enough with the ball and Northern Colorado took advantage. In the 40th minute, Bruno Rendon delivered an inch-perfect cross as Jackson Dietrich was unmarked at the back post and for a diving header to tie the game.
In the second half, Northern Colorado had energy to start the second half, but the Rapids weathered the storm. The Rapids took the lead in the 55th minute. Lewis cut inside and found Max, and the Brazilian played a one-two pass back to Lewis, which he put away to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.
Northern Colorado tried to get back into the game for a second time but wasn’t able to do so. Instead, it did the opposite: With plenty of room to operate, Lewis found a cutting Max Alves whose mid-range shot found the far corner to make it 3-1 in the 65th minute.
“Super proud of the guys, obviously to go down one-nil in the first five minutes is not ideal and almost threw the game plan out the window,” Hailstorm head coach Éamon Zayed said following the game. “The guys fought back and after we got the equalizer I felt there was a shift in where the game was going as Rapids looked a bit deflated. … In the second half, they sat off a little bit and we played between ourselves and created turnovers and mistakes.”
Colorado shored up the defense with changes as Alex Gersbach, Oliver Larraz and Michael Edwards all came on to see the game out, with the 22-year-old Edwards making his senior-team debut.
The Rapids ultimately were the better side and proved their quality when it mattered, even though Hailstorm, a team looking to make another shock run into the round of 32, made things difficult for the home side.
Colorado will be placed geographically into a group of four for the next round and the draw and hosts will be determined Thursday afternoon.
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