Region II down to the final four
Both Illinois teams to host semis with winners qualifying for Open
Cup
USOPENCUPCOM
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Saturday's first round of matches in the USASA Region II U.S. Open
Cup qualifying was an eventful one.

Reigning champion RWB Adria from Chicago needed penalty kicks to get
past Michigan's Carpathia Kickers after the teams played 120 minutes
of scoreless soccer. The match between the host Des Moines Menace
Reserves and Missouri's WC Arsenal was without a goal until the
final minutes of extra time before the Menace Reserves won 2-0. And
perhaps the most successful amateur team in Open Cup history,
Bavarian SC, dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to Illinois' AAC Eagles
in Milwaukee.

The other scheduled quarterfinal wasn't even played, as game
officials ruled that defending NPSL Midwest Region champion
Princeton-56ers from Madison, Wis., would receive a forfeit victory
over the Bloomington (Ind.) Cutters, as the host team did not have
enough players with valid player passes.

RWB Adria, which lost to USL First Division side Carolina 4-1 in the
first round of last year's U.S. Open Cup, will host the Princeton-
56ers in the semifinals May 17. Chicagoland rival AAC Eagles also
drew a home game against the Menace Reserves -- RWB Adria coach
Minos Vlamakis said his club would look into the possibility of
playing the games at the same site.

The winners of those matches will qualify for the U.S. Open Cup. If
both teams from Illinois are victorious, it would mark the first
time in the Professional Era (1995-present) that two teams from the
same state qualify for the Cup from Region II.

Vlamakis' team prevailed, just barely, in Saturday's best match in
Sterling Heights, Mich.

The Kickers, who played without two regulars who didn't receive
international clearance and another who was injured, played most of
extra time with 10 men after a player picked up his second yellow
card of the match.

Both teams had chances to break the deadlock, most notably in the
final minutes of the second 15-minute period of extra time.

First, a Carpathia player had a breakaway, but was denied by the RWB
Adria goalkeeper when he tried to dribble around the keeper. RWB
Adria then quickly countered, and had a great ball played into the
box setting up an excellent scoring opportunity, only to see a
Kickers defender slide in and block the shot in the waning seconds.

"We gave them all they could handle," Carpathia general manager Kurt
Seiberling said. "I cannot be disappointed."

The Menace Reserves and WC Arsenal from St. Louis were scoreless
late into the second period of extra time, too, before the Iowa side
scored with approximately 3 minutes remaining. Then with Arsenal
players pushed up in a furious attempt to find an equalizer, the
Menace Reserves added another goal in the final seconds to seal
their first qualifying win -- last year, they lost in the first
round.

AAC Eagles, who have qualified for the U.S. Open Cup three times
(1995, 2002 and 2005), advanced by getting past five-time qualifier
Bavarian SC in a match played at Marquette's Valley Fields.

Like the Menace, the Princeton-56ers advanced to the semifinals for
the first time, as they lost to Detroit United 2-1 on an 89th-minute
goal in the first round last year.