MLS NEXT Pro Real Monarchs

U.S. Soccer Draw Sends Real Salt Lake to Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 26 for 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Published on April 7, 2023 under MLS NEXT Pro (MLS NEXT Pro)
Real Monarchs News Release


CHICAGO / SANDY, Utah - Real Salt Lake (1-4-0 / 3 pts / 11th West) today learned details for the first steps of the Club's 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup pursuit, entering this year's single-elimination tourney in the Third Round alongside 63 other U.S.-based teams. On Wednesday, April 26, Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni's RSL team will travel six hours south along Interstate-15 to face USL Championship side Las Vegas Lights FC at Cashman Field, with a 7:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. MT kickoff in Las Vegas.

The RSL at Las Vegas match was NOT selected as one of eight Third-Round contests by Bleacher Report for YouTube or B/R app streaming; both radio and streaming coverage for this match, as organized by the two teams in accordance with U.S. Soccer parameters, are still to be determined.

Should RSL emerge from the road test - RSL's first in LHUSOC play since a 2017 loss at Sacramento - it could potentially host a Fourth-Round match to be played on May 9/10.

This Third-Round Open Cup match is one of 18 involving Major League Soccer sides at this stage, with the eight "higher-seeded" U.S.-based MLS teams entering in the Round of 32, to be played on May 9/10 of this year (draw on April 22). Last year's tourney resumed after the 2020 and 2021 versions were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ending 106 years of consecutive play.

Real Salt Lake has advanced to the Final Four twice in its previous Open Cup forays, dropping the 2013 LHUSOC Final at home, 0-1, succumbing to a hapless D.C. United side, winners of just three regular-season MLS matches that year. In 2015, RSL fell at the Semifinal stage at Sporting Kansas City, despite leading that match early.

All-time, Real Salt Lake owns an 11-15-3 (W-L-T) record in the 108-year old tournament, the United States' longest-running competition, regardless of sport. On Utah soil, RSL is 11W-6L-1T against visiting teams, including a dominant 6-2-1 (W-L-T) mark against those from lower divisions. The lone Utah-based losses to lesser-heralded visitors: first in 2012, when the Minnesota Stars arrived to stun a then-record LHUSOC crowd of 17,212 in a 1-3 RSL result; and last year, when the expansion USL League One side Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC sent 19,000+ RSL fans home dismayed after a shocking 0-1 loss in the Third Round.

On three occasions, RSL has needed a penalty-kick tiebreaker to determine LHUSOC advancement, winning twice. The first time came away in San Jose in 2010, as former DF Nat Borchers scoring the equalizer in extra time to force the shootout, then burying the game-winning kick against the Earthquakes in an MLS qualifier for the tournament proper. In 2016, RSL both lived and died by the PK shootout sword; needing the tiebreaker to eliminate the lower-division Wilmington Hammerheads at the RioT, then falling victim in the Round of 16 to the Seattle Sounders, riding an impenetrable Tyler Miller in goal.

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