Triumph SC’s first-ever Open Cup road match ends in 1-0 defeat
Phoenix, AZ (April 5, 2023)- The Greenville Triumph both started and concluded its 2023 Open Cup run on Wednesday against the USL Championship’s Phoenix Rising, suffering a 1-0 loss on the road in the opening match of Triumph SC’s third U.S. Open Cup campaign. Though the club rallied for a number of offensive chances in the second half, a second straight scoreless effort from the offense doomed the match and prevented Greenville from advancing to the third round of the nation’s oldest soccer competition.
The match marked the latest-ever kick for Greenville, a 10:30 PM Eastern first whistle from Arizona in the longest road trip for any club in the second round. From the first kick, Phoenix had a clear home field advantage, quickly breaking Greenville down along the outside, pushing its left and right backs forward and overloading the midfield. Thirteen minutes into the match, Greenville goalkeeper, Jared Mazzola came up with a major save to keep both teams scoreless. Just eight minutes later, though, a missed Phoenix mark settled a cross into the Greenville net to put the home team ahead 1-0. Despite efforts towards goal from Jacob Labovitz, Greenville’s scoreless streak stretched to over 130 minutes as the halftime whistle blew.
Right out of the gate in the second half, Greenville drove toward the Phoenix net with Venton Evans blasting a shot from distance, only to be turned away by Phoenix’s Patrick Rakovsky. The match continued with both teams trading shots at each other’s keepers, totaling nine for Greenville and 17 for Phoenix. As the match approached full time, Allen Gavilanes launched a ball at the goal, forcing Rakovsky to make a stunning save to preserve the home side’s advantage. As play stalled in the final minutes of the match, Greenville’s third U.S. Open Cup campaign concluded in a 1-0 defeat.
Greenville faces a quick turnaround as it jumps back to league play, traveling south on Saturday, April 8th, to take on defending League One Champion-Tormenta FC at 7:30 PM. Later in the month on April 19th, the team will play its second match in Paladin Stadium versus Fuego FC.
