The Seattle Sounders were unceremoniously bounced from the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday night, falling 2-1 to Sacramento Republic FC at Papa Murphy’s Park in Sacramento. Seattle managed to score late to force extra time against the second-division side but was unable to hold off Sacramento to make it to penalty kicks.
Seattle, plagued by injuries and with a must-win league match against D.C. United looming on Saturday, put five players from its USL affiliate, Sounders 2, in the starting lineup.
The resulting match reflected the fact that S2 has only bested the Republic once stretching back to 2015. Seattle struggled to find chemistry between a mixture of bench players from the first team and second-division talent. Tellingly, Seattle finished without a shot on goal, the second time in two matches the Sounders have failed to put a shot on frame.
The Republic took the lead just past the hour mark when Sacramento’s Cameron Iwasa tucked away an early cross from Elliot Hord in the middle of the penalty area.
Sacramento nearly added another goal in the 90th minute, when a corner kick was rebounded off the left post before Seattle keeper Bryan Meredith made a pair of highlight reel saves to deny the Republic from inside the penalty area.
Watch a full replay of the match here.
Harry Shipp pulled the visitors level in stoppage time. The substitute who replaced S2’s Shandon Hopeau in the 76th minute took a long-range shot that deflected off Republic centerback Mitchell Taintor and sent Sacramento goalkeeper Josh Cohen the wrong way, leveling the score at 1-1.
In the 115th minute Jure Matjasic managed to turn in a rebound from an Iwasa shot after a quick break up the left side for Sacramento, lifting the hosts to victory.
Sacramento out-shot their MLS opposition 26-7 on the night, including a nine to two advantage in shots on target in the upset victory. Sounders keeper Bryan Meredith finished with seven saves but was ultimately let down by his back line in the loss.
Already plagued by injuries, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer was forced to remove Lamar Neagle, who had been playing forward for the club, in the 41st minute due to a groin injury. Neagle was replaced by first-team player Alex Roldan, who finished the match without a shot.
Seattle, which has won the Open Cup a record-tying four times, were eliminated by a lower-division side for just the second time in its MLS history. The Sounders had previously been eliminated by the NASL Tamba Bay Rowdies in 2013 in the third round of the competition.