Hartford City FC host Oyster Bay United FC of Long Island at the historic Dillon Stadium, built in 1935 and venue of many Open Cup contests through the years. The men from the Nutmeg State will have their hands full against Oyster Bay, who may be young as a club but have hit the ground running as they aim to make waves on the national stage.
“Good results are the consequence of good preparation during the week," said Oyster Bay’s 26-year-old head coach Josue Esqueche, who led his team through a grueling three-game qualifying run to reach the Cup. "We’ve kept building good performances during the preseason and that’s what gives the team the confidence to face challenges."
A bit farther south, 10-time Open Cup participants and historic giant killers Ocean City Nor’easters, out of coastal New Jersey, host Lansdowne Yonkers FC (national amateur champions of 2017 and 2021) at their Carey Stadium, better known to locals and fans as ‘the Beach House’.
USL League Two side Western Mass Pioneers (formerly Gremio Lusitano) welcome Open Cup newcomers Brockton United FC – a team who’ve been tearing through the Boston-area Bay State Soccer League (BSSL) in the last five years – to their hand-built, soccer-specific stadium in Ludlow, Massachusetts.
USOC Action South and Central
Moving farther south, Villages SC, back for their fourth Open Cup, play hosts to fellow Sunshine Staters Orlando FC Wolves in Summerfield in the first of two all-Florida affairs in the opening round. The other sees Miami United FC of NPSL back for their fourth Cup at the Ted Hendricks Stadium against visitors City Soccer FC out of West Palm Beach.
Texas will see an all-NPSL contest between the Denton Diablos, who qualified for their first Open Cup in 2020 only to see the COVID-19 pandemic squash their inaugural dreams, make their long-awaited debut against local outfit D’Feeters Kicks Soccer Club.
There’s another all-NPSL First Rounder in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Southern States SC Stars and the global cavalcade of rising talent that is Georgia Revolution meet, while a cross-border clash of the Carolinas pits South Carolina United FC Bantams against North Carolina Fusion (both of USL’s League Two).
