WAYNE, Pa. (Loudoun United) — With a lot of new faces getting the start for the Red-and-White, Loudoun looked to punch their ticket to the next round of the U.S. Open Cup in between two USL Championship match weekends.
Despite dominating the possession and leading in shots in the first half, Loudoun United conceded the first goal of the match off a foul from Alex Nagy just inside the 18-yard box that was hammered home by West Chester’s Yassine Elkahloun in the 19th minute of play. After a rocky start, the Red-and-White started to find their shape late into the first half.
After six first-half shots, Loudoun finally found the back of the net after Ben Mines found Riley Bidois at the back post for an easy tap-in finish in the 37th minute. The first half at YSC Sports would finish in a 1-1 draw.
The second half saw action early when Loudoun United drew a penalty of their own that was buried with ease by Christian Sorto, giving Loudoun the 2-1 lead in the 49th minute of play. Then, just over ten minutes later, Riley Bidois scored his second of the match for Loudoun on a beautiful breakaway finish assisted by Surafel Dagnachew in the 61st minute.
West Chester wasn’t done yet, however, answering just seven minutes later with a side-netting finish from Kenneth Roby, cutting the deficit in half and making it a 3-2 game in the 68th minute. The remaining twenty minutes of play saw chances on goal from both teams, with Loudoun’s Hugo Fauroux and West Chester’s Andrew Cooke making massive saves for their respective sides. In the end, Loudoun United secured their spot in the next round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a 3-2 victory over West Chester United SC.
Thoughts from the Team
Ryan Martin on advancing to the next round of the U.S. Open Cup:
“I think we showed a lot of resilience; we had a lot of guys getting their first starts for us and we saw a lot of positives in their strong performances. It’s important in these moments to just find a way to win, we made it harder on ourselves than we wanted to, but I am incredibly proud that we pulled off another win on the road in a tough place.”
Ben Mines on recording an assist in his first start for Loudoun United Football Club:
“It was great, and I was very happy to get my first start. It was a tough match, coming here after two days rest and a couple of bus rides, but this team fought back, and we got the result we needed to advance.”
