Lansdowne Bhoys will host Junior Lone Stars U-23s Nov. 18. (Photo courtesy of Lansdowne Bhoys)
Two New York teams competing in Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup qualifying will get an opportunity to stay home for third-round matches.
Lansdowne Bhoys will host Junior Lone Star U-23s (Pa.) at Tibbetts Brooke Park in Yonkers, N.Y. Nov. 18. Junior Lone Star U-23s are an inner-city club comprised of and founded by, West African refugees, who settled in Southwest Philadelphia.
Lansdowne played in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League.
The Rochester River Dogz will welcome Stegman’s Soccer Club (Minn.) at the Doug Miller Family Sports Park in Spencerport, N.Y. at a time to be determined.
Twenty-eight amateur teams will compete in the third qualifying round. The games will take place Nov. 18-19 and will send 14 Open Division local qualifiers to the First Round of next year’s tournament where they will have the opportunity to chase the title, most recently won by Sporting Kansas City (MLS).
Among the cast of teams in the #USOC2018 thir round are 2017 Open Cup Cinderellas Christos FC. Sponsored by a liquor store on the outskirts of Baltimore, Christos FC earned the right to play Major League Soccer side D.C. United in last year’s competition and held the lead in that game against their region’s top team.
The San Francisco Bay Area’s El Farolito, who won the Open Cup in 1993 as CD Mexico, are also among the 28 remaining Open Division sides, as are the L.A. Wolves – a semifinalist in the most recent Amateur Cup.
In the Mountain Region, Boulder, Colorado-based powerhouse Harpos FC survived two qualifying round games that both went to extra time (with the first going to a penalty-kick tiebreaker), while Red Force FC of Miami are one of eight remaining local qualifiers looking to reach their second-straight U.S. Open Cup proper.
In Boston, debutants Kendall Wanderers edged GPS Omens, who were seconds away from booking a date with Division I side New England Revolution in last year’s competition and will have to bring their A-game again when they clash with Mass United FC.
2018 U.S. Open Cup Third Qualifying Round Schedule
Northeast Region
| Date | Game (home team listed first) | Time | Venue |
| TBD | Mass United FC (Mass.) vs. Kendall Wanderers (Mass.) | TBD | TBD |
| Nov. 18 | Lansdowne Bhoys FC (N.Y.) vs. Junior Lone Star U23s (Pa.) | 8 p.m. ET | Tibbetts Brooke Park; Yonkers, N.Y. |
| Nov. 19 | Christos FC (Md.) vs. Phoenix Soccer Club (Pa.) | 1 p.m. ET | Anne Arundel Community College; Arnold, Md. |
| TBD | Rochester River Dogz (N.Y.) vs. Stegman’s Soccer Club (Minn.) | TBD | Doug Miller Family Sports Park; Spencerport, N.Y. |
Southeast Region
| Date | Game (home team listed first) | Time | Venue |
| Nov. 18 | Red Force FC (Fla.) vs. South Florida FC (Fla.) | 6:30 p.m. ET | Kendall Soccer Park; Miami, Fla. |
| Nov. 18 | Nashville United (Tenn.) vs. FC Kendall (Fla.) | 6 p.m. CT | E.S. Rose Park; Nashville, Tenn. |
| Nov. 18 | NTX Rayados (Texas) vs. Motagua New Orleans (La.) | 7 p.m. CT | Premier Park; Balch Springs, Texas |
Mountain Region
| Date | Game (home team listed first) | Time | Venue |
| Nov. 18 | FC Denver (Colo.) vs. Indios Denver FC (Colo.) | 2:30 p.m. MT | Aurora Sports Park; Aurora, Colo. |
| Nov. 18 | Harpos FC (Colo.) vs. Azteca FC (Colo.) | 3 p.m. MT | Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Fields; Commerce City, Colo. |
| Nov. 18 | Sporting AZ FC (Ariz.) vs. Galati FC (Ariz.) | 7 p.m. MT | John Riggs Stadium; Mesa, Ariz. |
Pacific Region
| Date | Game (home team listed first) | Time | Venue |
| Nov. 18 | Chula Vista FC (Calif.) vs. La Máquina FC (Calif.) | 2 p.m. PT | Chula Vista Elite Training Center; Chula Vista, Calif. |
| Nov. 18 | Santa Ana Winds FC (Calif.) vs. San Pedro Monsters FC (Calif.) | 7 p.m. PT | Lake Forest Sports Park; Lake Forest, Calif. |
| Nov. 19 | El Farolito (Calif.) vs. Cal Victory FC (Calif.) | 11:15 a.m. PT | Boxer Stadium; San Francisco, Calif. |
| Nov. 19 | Buena Park FC (Calif.) vs. L.A. Wolves FC (Calif.) | 3 p.m. PT | John F. Kennedy High School; La Palma, Calif. |
November’s Third Qualifying Round is the final chance for local amateur teams hoping to book passage to the 2018 U.S. Open Cup. The competition proper will kick-off in May of 2018 with teams from all levels of the U.S. Soccer pyramid. The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup has been played continually from its inaugural year of 1914 and, the 2018 edition will be the 105th installment of this the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States.
