It was a roller coaster for Oakland Roots in what will be their only match in the 2025 edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday night in Tukwila, Washington. Roots fought back from a one goal deficit in the first half to push the match into extra time, but allowed a late goal in the second bonus frame, eventually falling 1-2 to MLS Next Pro side Tacoma Defiance.
Tacoma dominated the first forty five minutes of the match, spending a great deal of their possession time in the attacking third. This sustained pressure eventually led to a free kick from outside the left corner of the Oakland penalty area, which Tacoma’s Peter Kingston curled into the top left corner of the goal, fooling Roots keeper Raphael Spiegel to give them a 1-0 lead.
Oakland couldn’t get any offensive momentum in the first half, their only shot on goal coming on a slow dribbler that was easily cleaned up by Defiance keeper Andy Thomas.
The second half began looking much like the first, with Tacoma dictating the pace of play and looking like the stronger side. But things changed dramatically following Oakland’s first substitutions of the match which saw multiple regular starters enter the match.
The injection of energy presented by the subs immediately led to Oakland’s best scoring chance of the night when a clearance attempt from Thomas ricocheted off of Wolfgang Prentice leading to a rebound chance that Thomas only barely reached in time.
From this point forward the momentum began to lean heavily in Oakland’s favor, as Roots began to hem the Defiance into their own defensive zone for long stretches of time, creating scoring chances on a frequent basis.
This attacking aggressiveness paid off in the 75th minute when a cross inside the Tacoma box bounced off a defender’s arm and Roots were awarded a penalty kick for a handball inside the penalty area.
Oakland veteran Neveal Hackshaw lined up at the dot and sent an easy chip just inside the left post as Thomas guessed incorrectly, diving the opposite direction as Roots leveled the match at 1-1.
Scoring chances continued to come for Oakland, but they failed to deliver a winner in regulation time and the match ended still deadlocked, prompting two 15-minute extra frames.
The attacking pressure from Oakland continued into the added portion of the match, but Tacoma’s defense did a good job of frustrating the Roots attack.
Just as it was looking like the contest was destined to be decided by penalty kicks, a giveaway near the Oakland box by Hackshaw and a cross into the middle gave Tacoma’s Osaze De Rosario just enough room to bounce a shot to the right side of the net, finding twine in the 108th minute to put his side back on top.
Late in extra time Defiance’s Cody Baker was shown his second yellow card of the match, and the subsequent red card meant that Roots would play the final few minutes of the fixture up a man. Despite some good chances late, however, Roots couldn’t find an answer before the final whistle.
Roots will now return home to resume USL Championship regular season play as they are set to host Orange County SC for their next action at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday, April 19th at 1 PM PT.
Oakland Roots SC at Tacoma Defiance
U.S. Open Cup | April 15, 2025
Venue: Starfire Sports Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 PM PT
Weather: 60 degrees, cloudy skies
SCORELINE:
OAK: 1
TAC: 2
SCORING SUMMARY:
TAC: Peter Kingston 28’
OAK: Neveal Hackshaw 75’
TAC: Osaze De Rosario 108’
DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:
TAC: Snyder Brunell 29’ (yellow card)
TAC: Peter Kingston 42’ (yellow card)
TAC: Cody Baker 45’ (yellow card)
OAK: Luis Saldaña 54’ (yellow card)
OAK: Peter Wilson 76’ (yellow card)
TAC: Elias Katsaros 87’ (yellow card)
OAK: Tyler Gibson 93’ (yellow card)
TAC: Cody Baker 117’ (2nd yellow card) (red card)
TAC: Andy Thomas 120’ (yellow card)
OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Gagi Margvelashvili (Julian Bravo), Daniel Gomez (Bobosi Byaruhanga), Tyler Gibson, Justin Rasmussen, Neveal Hackshaw, EJ Johnson (Wolfgang Prentice), Abdirizak Mohamed, Raphael Spiegel, Ali Elmasnaouy (José Luis Sinisterra), Luis Saldaña (Peter Wilson), Ilya Alekseev (Jürgen Damm)
Unused subs: Kendall McIntosh
Shots: 22 | Shots On Goal: 8 | Corner Kicks: 9 | Fouls: 26 |
TACOMA LINEUP: Andy Thomas, Leo Burney (Jackson Khoury), Stuart Hawkins, Kaito Yamada, Cody Baker, Travian Sousa, Snyder Brunell (Charles Dodzi), Joon-Mo Kang (Elias Katsaros), Sebastian Gomez (Daniel Robles), Peter Kingston, Osaze De Rosario
Unused subs: Rafferty Pedder, Birame Diaw, Lars Helleren
Shots: 8 | Shots On Goal: 3 | Corner Kicks: 3 | Fouls: 24 |
