2019 U.S. Open Cup qualification

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2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates September 22, 2018 – April 7, 2019
Teams 94
2018
2020

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The 2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament proper will feature teams from all five tiers of the men's American soccer pyramid.

Qualification for the 2019 tournament includes local qualifying matches contested by 94 amateur teams scheduled to take place in 2018. One team also qualified by winning the 2018 National Amateur Cup, and other clubs playing in national leagues that are not fully professional qualify based on their results in 2018 league play.[1] Clubs playing in fully professional leagues may enter the tournament proper and bypass the qualification process.

Qualification procedures

The United States Soccer Federation's (U.S. Soccer) Open Cup Committee manages both the tournament proper and the local qualification process.

Clubs based in the United States that play in a league that is an organization member of U.S. Soccer are generally eligible to compete for the U.S. Open Cup, if their league includes at least four teams and has a schedule of at least 10 matches for each club.[2]

U.S.-based teams in Division I, II and III professional leagues qualify for the U.S. Open Cup automatically, provided they are eligible. To be eligible, these teams must be members in good standing of their leagues on December 31, 2018, and remain so through the 2019 U.S. Open Cup Final. The league must also remain in operation through the U.S. Open Cup Final. A new Division I, II or III professional league must have its match schedule announced to the public by January 31, 2019, and the first match must be scheduled for no later than seven days before the first scheduled round of the U.S. Open Cup tournament proper that involves the team's division. If a new club joins an existing Division I, II or III league, the league must meet the aforementioned criteria applicable to new leagues in order for the new club to be eligible for the U.S. Open Cup.[2]

A professional team that is majority owned by a higher-level professional team or whose player roster is materially managed by a higher-level professional team is ineligible to participate in the U.S. Open Cup.[2]

Clubs that are below Division III are Open Division teams. To be eligible for the 2019 U.S. Open Cup, an Open Division team must have been a playing member in good standing of its league on August 13, 2018, and remain so through the 2019 U.S. Open Cup Final. The league must have been in operation since no later than July 14, 2018, and remain so until the 2019 U.S. Open Cup Final. A team that started its first season of competition in an existing league must have started its new league's schedule no later than July 14, 2018.[2]

Starting in 2019, the winner of the previous year's National Amateur Cup automatically qualifies for the U.S. Open Cup.[3] The cup winner enters the tournament proper in the first round with the other Open Division clubs.

National leagues may elect to use the results of their previous year's seasons to determine which of their teams qualify for the U.S. Open Cup in lieu of having their teams play local qualifying matches. If a national league so elects, its teams are not eligible to participate in local qualifying. To qualify as a national league, the league must

  • Have a minimum of 50 active U.S.-based teams in good standing,
  • Have a common championship each season that is only available to league teams and is compulsory,
  • Use a league format with a standings table as opposed to a single-elimination (knockout) format,
  • Have teams in at least three U.S. time zones among Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific, with the three time zones containing the most teams each having at least 15% of the member teams,
  • Have two time zones represented by at least three different U.S. states or the District of Columbia and a third time zone represented by at least two different U.S. states or the District of Columbia,
  • Have teams in at least 10 different U.S. states or the District of Columbia,
  • Have played for at least three years meeting the above criteria and
  • Timely pay the team-based Open Cup entry fee for all teams in the league.[2]

Both leagues which currently qualify as national leagues, the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and USL League Two (formerly the Premier Development League, or PDL), elected to use the results of their 2018 seasons to determine their qualifying teams for the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.[4] National leagues determine their own procedures for ranking teams based on 2018 results for the purposes of 2019 U.S. Open Cup qualification.[2]

Eligible Open Division clubs that did not win the National Amateur Cup and are not members of national leagues must have submitted an application to enter local qualifying by August 13, 2018.[2]

Once applications for local qualifying are approved, U.S. Soccer estimates the number of Open Division teams needed in the U.S. Open Cup, based on the anticipated participation of professional teams. One of these slots is allocated to the National Amateur Cup champions. The remainder are allocated among the pool of local qualification teams and the national leagues, based on the relative number of teams in each, resulting in a target number of local qualifiers. The number of rounds of local qualifying and the number of teams receiving byes in the first round of qualifying are then established to set the number of local qualifiers as close as possible to the target number. Byes are distributed randomly and are meant to avoid unnecessary travel but are kept to a minimum to preserve the integrity of the qualification tournament. Once the qualification tournament format has been finalized, the number of local qualifiers becomes fixed, unless a team that qualifies later becomes ineligible. After the December 31, 2018 professional clubs entry application deadline, the final number of Open Division teams needed in the 2019 U.S. Open Cup will become known. From this number, the fixed number of local qualifiers plus one for the National Amateur Cup champion are subtracted to determine the number of slots for clubs from the national leagues. These slots are allocated among the leagues based on their relative numbers of U.S.-based eligible teams.[2]

National league track

National Premier Soccer League

The NPSL ranked the top 30 of its 98 U.S.-based clubs based on results of its 2018 season for the purposes of qualification for the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.[4] The NPSL champion earned the top ranking, and the other finalist is second. The national semifinal loser from the region with the larger number of teams is ranked third, and the remaining national semifinalist is ranked fourth. The four regional final losers are ranked fifth through eighth based on the number of teams in their region, from largest to smallest. The remaining 22 slots in the rankings are allocated among the regions based on their sizes. The total number of slots allocated to each region are South 9, Northeast 8, Midwest 7 and West 6. Since U.S. Soccer has not yet determined how many berths NPSL clubs will be awarded in the U.S. Open Cup, each of the 22 slots available in the rankings for teams that did not reach the region finals are each allocated to a specific region. This ensures that, regardless of the number of berths awarded to NPSL clubs, the berths will have been allocated as fairly as possible, taking into account the relative sizes of the regions. The allocation of the ninth through 30th slots for 2019 qualifying is as follows:

Region Position
South 9, 12, 15, 19, 22, 25, 28
Northeast 10, 14, 17, 21, 26, 29
Midwest 11, 16, 20, 24, 30
West 13, 18, 23, 27

Starting with the ninth slot, no conference that already has a team in the rankings may have an additional team claim a slot, until every conference in the region has at least one team in the rankings. Ties in the standings are broken using regular-season conference tiebreaker procedures.[2]

Pos Team APPG Explanation
1 Miami FC 2 N/A NPSL champion
2 FC Motown NPSL finalist
3 Duluth FC Midwest Region champion (22 clubs)
4 FC Mulhouse Portland West Region champion (20 clubs)
5 Little Rock Rangers South Region finalist (30 clubs)
6 New York Cosmos B Northeast Region finalist (26 clubs)
7 AFC Ann Arbor Midwest Region finalist (22 clubs)
8 Orange County FC West Region finalist (20 clubs)
9 Laredo Heat 3 Representing Lone Star Conference
10 FC Baltimore N/A Representing Mid-Atlantic Conference
11 Erie Commodores FC Representing East Conference
12 Chattanooga FC 2 Representing Southeast Conference
13 El Farolito N/A Representing Golden Gate Conference
14 Junior Lone Star FC 2.4 Northeast Region #4 club
15 Midland-Odessa Sockers FC 2.2[lower-alpha 1] South Region #5 club
16 Minneapolis City SC 2.4 Midwest Region #4 club
17 Brooklyn Italians 2.2 Northeast Region #5 club
18 ASC San Diego 2.3 West Region #4 club
19 FC Wichita 2.2[lower-alpha 1] South Region #6 club
20 Cleveland SC 2 Midwest Region #5 club
21 West Chester United SC 2.1 Northeast Region #6 club
22 Houston Dutch Lions FC 2.1 South Region #7 club
23 FC Golden State 2.2[lower-alpha 2] West Region #5 club
24 Grand Rapids FC 1.9 Midwest Region #6 club
25 Fort Worth Vaqueros FC 2[lower-alpha 3] South Region #8 club
26 Hartford City FC 1.9[lower-alpha 4] Northeast Region #7 club
27 Spokane SC Shadow 2.2[lower-alpha 2] West Region #6 club
28 Jacksonville Armada FC 2[lower-alpha 3] South Region #9 club
29 FC Monmouth 1.9[lower-alpha 4] Northeast Region #8 club
Northern Virginia United FC 1.9[lower-alpha 4]
30 Rochester Lancers 1.8 Midwest Region #7 club

Notes:

  1. 1.0 1.1 The teams have identical records. Midland-Odessa wins the tiebreaker on average goal difference per game, 2.2 to 1.3.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Golden State wins the tiebreaker on average wins per game, 0.7 to 0.6.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Fort Worth wins the tiebreaker on average wins per game, 0.60 to 0.58.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 All three teams have identical records. Hartford City wins the tiebreaker over Monmouth and Northern Virginia on average goal difference per game, 0.6 to 0.3. Since Monmouth and Northern Virginia have identical records and goal differences, a coin flip would break the tie, if necessary, i.e. if the NPSL is allocated at least 29 slots in the U.S. Open Cup.

USL League Two

USL League Two elected to use the results of the 2018 PDL regular season to rank its 69 U.S.-based teams for the purposes of qualification for the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.[4] The highest placing teams from each division, provided that they are American, are ranked first in order of points. The remaining teams are then ranked based on points regardless of division. The 2018 PDL regular-season standings tiebreaker system is invoked when needed.[2] The rankings of the USL League Two teams for 2019 U.S. Open Cup qualification are shown in the table below.

Pos Team Points Explanation
1 Des Moines Menace 40 Heartland Division champion
2 Reading United AC 38 Mid Atlantic Division champion
3 FC Golden State Force 37 Southwest Division champion
4 South Georgia Tormenta FC 36 Deep South Division champion
5 SIMA Águilas 32 Southeast Division champion
6 Brazos Valley Cavalry F.C. 30[lower-alpha 1] Mid South Division champion
7 Black Rock FC 30[lower-alpha 1] Northeast Division champion
8 Myrtle Beach Mutiny 28[lower-alpha 2] South Atlantic Division champion
9 Colorado Rapids U-23 28[lower-alpha 2] Mountain Division champion
10 Dayton Dutch Lions 27 Great Lakes Division champion
11 New York Red Bulls U-23 31
12 The Villages SC 30[lower-alpha 3]
13 Lakeland Tropics 30[lower-alpha 3]
14 OKC Energy U23 28[lower-alpha 4]
15 Long Island Rough Riders 28[lower-alpha 4]
16 Mississippi Brilla 28[lower-alpha 4]
17 Ocean City Nor'easters 27
18 Lansing United 26
19 FC Tucson 25
20 SC United Bantams 24[lower-alpha 5]
21 GPS Portland Phoenix 24[lower-alpha 5]
22 Chicago FC United 23[lower-alpha 6]
23 North Carolina FC U23 23[lower-alpha 6]
24 Ventura County Fusion 22[lower-alpha 7]
25 Michigan Bucks 22[lower-alpha 7]
26 Cincinnati Dutch Lions 22[lower-alpha 7]
27 Western Mass Pioneers 22[lower-alpha 7]
28 AHFC Royals 21[lower-alpha 8]
29 Seattle Sounders FC U-23 21[lower-alpha 8]
30 Orange County SC U-23 21[lower-alpha 8]
31 St. Louis Lions 20[lower-alpha 9]
32 Corpus Christi FC 20[lower-alpha 9]
33 Santa Cruz Breakers FC 20[lower-alpha 9]
34 Fresno FC U-23 20[lower-alpha 9]
35 Kaw Valley FC 20[lower-alpha 9]
36 IMG Academy Bradenton 20[lower-alpha 9]
37 Lane United FC 20[lower-alpha 9]
38 Birmingham Hammers 19
39 Texas United 18[lower-alpha 10]
40 FC Boston 18[lower-alpha 10]
41 Tri-Cities Otters 17[lower-alpha 11]
42 AC Connecticut 17[lower-alpha 11]
43 Lionsbridge FC 17[lower-alpha 11]
44 San Francisco City FC 16[lower-alpha 12]
45 FC Miami City 16[lower-alpha 12]
46 San Francisco Glens 16[lower-alpha 12]
47 Peachtree City MOBA 16[lower-alpha 12]
48 Albuquerque Sol FC 16[lower-alpha 12]
49 Colorado Pride Switchbacks U23 15[lower-alpha 13]
50 West Virginia Chaos 15[lower-alpha 13]
51 San Diego Zest FC 14
52 Southern California Seahorses 13[lower-alpha 14]
53 Weston FC 13[lower-alpha 14]
54 FC Cleburne 13[lower-alpha 14]
55 Charlotte Eagles 13[lower-alpha 14]
56 Tobacco Road FC 13[lower-alpha 14]
57 Westchester Flames 13[lower-alpha 14]
58 Next Academy Palm Beach 12[lower-alpha 15]
59 Ogden City SC 12[lower-alpha 15]
60 Portland Timbers U23 11[lower-alpha 16]
61 Carolina Dynamo 11[lower-alpha 16]
62 Seacoast United Phantoms 10[lower-alpha 17]
63 Houston FC 10[lower-alpha 17]
64 F.A. Euro 9
65 North County United 8
66 Memphis City FC 6
67 Evergreen FC 5
68 Lehigh Valley United 4
69 Derby City Rovers 1

Notes:

  1. 1.0 1.1 The teams have identical records and did not play one another. Brazos Valley wins the tiebreaker on goal difference in league matches, +23 to +14.
  2. 2.0 2.1 The teams have identical records and did not play one another. Myrtle Beach wins the tiebreaker on goal difference in league matches, +21 to +19.
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Villages had a home win and a road draw in its two matches with Lakeland to win the tiebreaker.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 OKC and Long Island win the tiebreaker over Mississippi on in league matches, 9 to 8. OKC wins the tiebreaker over Long Island on goal difference in league matches, +15 to +10.
  5. 5.0 5.1 The teams have identical records and did not play one another. SC United wins the tiebreaker on goal difference in league matches, +13 to +7.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Chicago wins the tiebreaker on wins in league matches, 7 to 6.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Since only Cincinnati and Michigan played one another, the head-to-head tiebreaker does not apply. Ventura County wins the standings tiebreaker on wins in league matches with 7, compared with Cincinnati, Michigan and Western Mass, which had 6 each. Michigan, which lost a tiebreaker to Cincinnati in the Great Lakes Division standings, wins the tiebreaker over Cincinnati and Western Mass on goal difference in league matches: Michigan +24, Cincinnati +7, Western Mass +4.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 AHFC wins the tiebreaker over Seattle and Orange County on wins in league matches, 7 to 6. Seattle then wins the tiebreaker over Orange County on goal difference in league matches, +5 to +2.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Although Fresno and Santa Cruz played one another, and Kaw Valley and St. Louis played one another, the head-to-head tiebreaker does not apply, since not all tied teams played each other an equal number of times. St. Louis, Corpus Christi, Santa Cruz, Fresno, Kaw Valley and Bradenton win the tiebreaker over Lane on wins in league matches, 6 to 5. St. Louis, which lost a tiebreaker to Kaw Valley in the Heartland Division standings, wins the tiebreaker over Corpus Christi, Santa Cruz, Fresno, Kaw Valley and Bradenton on goal difference in league matches: St. Louis +2, Corpus Christi 0, Santa Cruz 0, Fresno -1, Kaw Valley -2, Bradenton -6. Corpus Christi wins the tiebreaker over Santa Cruz on goals scored in league matches, 32 to 19.
  10. 10.0 10.1 The teams have identical records and did not play one another. Texas wins the tiebreaker on goal difference in league matches, 0 to -2.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Tri-Cities and Connecticut win the tiebreaker over Lionsbridge on wins in league matches, 5 to 4. Tri-Cities wins the tiebreaker over Connecticut on goal difference in league matches, +2 to -13.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Although San Francisco City and the San Francisco Glens played one another, the head-to-head tiebreaker does not apply, since not all tied teams played each other an equal number of times. San Francisco City and Miami City win the tiebreaker over the San Francisco Glens, Peachtree City and Albuquerque on wins in league matches, 5 to 4. San Francisco City wins the tiebreaker over Miami City on goal difference in league matches, -8 to -11. The San Francisco Glens win the tiebreaker over Peachtree City and Albuquerque on goal difference in league matches: San Francisco Glens -1, Peachtree City -8, Albuquerque -13.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Colorado wins the tiebreaker over West Virginia on total wins in league matches, 4 to 3.
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Southern California, Weston and Cleburne win the tiebreaker over Charlotte, Tobacco Road and Westchester on total wins in league matches: Southern California 4, Weston 4, Cleburne 4, Charlotte 3, Tobacco Road 3, Westchester 2. Southern California wins the tiebreaker over Weston and Cleburne on goal difference in league matches: Southern California -8, Weston -12, Cleburne -22. Charlotte had one road win and two home draws in its three matches with Tobacco Road.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Palm Beach wins the tiebreaker on total wins in league matches, 4 to 3.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Portland wins the tiebreaker on total wins in league matches, 3 to 2.
  17. 17.0 17.1 The teams have identical records and did not play one another. Seacoast wins the tiebreaker on goal difference in league matches, -4 to -15.

National Amateur Cup

Milwaukee Bavarian SC defeated West Chester United, 2–0, to win the 2018 National Amateur Cup and qualify for the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.[3] The seven winners of the fourth round of local qualifying will join them as the eight Open Division teams in the tournament proper.

Local qualifying

U.S. Soccer originally announced that 95 teams would participate in local qualifying.[4] However, Naples United FC 2 was disqualified, because the club was not affiliated with the U.S. Specialty Sports Association by the deadline for local amateur sides to participate in sanctioned league competition.[5]

Four rounds of local qualifying matches will result in 7 clubs advancing to the tournament proper.

First qualifying round

The first qualifying round matches were scheduled to be played on September 22 and 23.[1][6] Some matches were played on later dates due to weather delays.

Northeast Region

Mid-Atlantic Region

Received bye to second round of qualification:

  • Rochester River Dogz New York
  • Tartan Devils Oak Avalon Pennsylvania

Southeast Region

Received bye to second round of qualification:

  • Central Florida FC Spartans Florida
  • Hurricane FC Florida
  • Shahin Atlanta FC Georgia (U.S. state)

Central Region

Notes:

  1. Match was postponed from originally scheduled date due to heavy rain.
  2. Match was postponed twice from originally scheduled date due to heavy rain and flooding.

Received bye to second round of qualification:

  • Illinois Aurora Borealis Soccer Club
  • Missouri FC Maritsa
  • Minnesota FC Minnesota

Mountain Region

Received bye to second round of qualification:

Southern California Region

Notes:

  1. After losing its first-round qualifying match to Cal FC, San Nicolás FC filed a protest with U.S. Soccer, claiming Cal FC was ineligible for the tournament. Cal FC went on hiatus in 2016, and returned to league play in the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) for the fall 2018 season, with its first match on September 16. This fact taken by itself would mean that Cal FC was not a playing member of its league in good standing on August 13, 2018, as required by the tournament rules. However, while on hiatus, Cal FC merged with LA Roma, which participated in the UPSL during the fall 2017 season, which made the merged club, branded under the Cal FC name, a playing member of the UPSL in good standing on August 13, 2018. Based on the merged club's eligibility acquired through LA Roma's league participation, U.S. Soccer denied the protest.[7]

Received bye to second round of qualification:

  • California Chula Vista FC

West Region

Received bye to second round of qualification:

  • California Contra Costa FC
  • Oregon IPS/Marathon Taverna
  • California Napa Sporting SC
  • Nevada Nevada Coyotes FC
  • California Real San Jose

Second qualifying round

The second qualifying round matches were played on October 20 and 21, with the exception of one that was postponed until November 11, due to flooding.[1][8]

Northeast Region

Mid-Atlantic Region

Notes:

  1. The Rochester River Dogz changed the club's name to Rochester Lancers 2 prior to the second round of qualifying.

Southeast Region

Central Region

Notes:

  1. NTX Rayados was originally scheduled to be the home team, but the venue it selected was unplayable due to heavy rain. Consequently, Leon FC was designated the home team, and it selected this venue for the match.
  2. Match was postponed from originally scheduled date due to flooding.

Mountain Region

Southern California Region

West Region

Third qualifying round

The third qualifying round matches were played on November 17 and 18.[1] Three matches were postponed to a later date. One match was suspended while the two teams were tied, and will be replayed January 16.[9]

Northeast Region

Mid-Atlantic Region

Southeast Region

Central Region

Mountain Region

Southern California Region

Notes:

  1. The game was not played out in its entirety and will be replayed on January 16 at 7 PM

West Region

Fourth qualifying round

The fourth qualifying round matches were played on April 6 and 7.[10][11] The game between Florida Soccer Soldiers and America Soccer Club, originally scheduled for April 7, was cancelled and awarded to Florida after America SC was disqualified from the tournament for leaving the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL).[12]

Northeast Region

Mid-Atlantic Region

Southeast Region

Central Region

Mountain Region

Southern California Region

West Region

Top goalscorers

  Team eliminated for this round.
Rank Player Team Goals By round
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
1 United States Pete Caringi III Christos FC 8 4 4 0
2 United States German Alfaro Cal FC 6 2 2 0 2
3 United States Jordan Gorman Santa Ana Winds FC 4 3 0 0 1
Ivory Coast Levi Houapeu World Class Premier Elite FC 2 2 0 0
United States James Huffer JASA RWC 1 1 2
United States Valentin Sabella Florida Soccer Soldiers 1 1 2 0
United States Gustavo Villalobos California United FC II 3 1 0
7 United States Daniel Ankrah World Class Premier Elite FC 3 1 0 2 0
United States Ramiro Ceja Academica SC 2 0 1 0
United States Brandon Chagnard Motagua New Orleans 1 2 0
United States Nathan Da Rosa Buena Park FC 2 0 1
Pablo Guimaraes Safira FC 2 1 0 0
John Nolan West Chester Predators 0 1 0 2
Nathaniel Pogue IPS/Marathon Taverna 0 2 0 1
Dean Smith Soda City FC Sorinex 2 1 0
Manuel Villegas Jr Academica SC 0 2 0 1

See also

References

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External links