Photo courtesy Des Moines Menace
DES MOINES, Iowa – Benny Feilhaber scored a second-half goal, but the Des Moines Menace were unable to rally from a halftime deficit as USL League One title-holder Union Omaha took a 2-1 victory at Valley Stadium on Wednesday night in the Second Round of the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Omaha took the early initiative in the contest, and went close to opening the scoring in the 14th minute when Max Schneider’s back-post header was saved by Menace goalkeeper Enzo Carvalho. Four minutes later, however, the visitors broke through as Dion Acoff played Josue Aaron Gomez into the right side of the penalty area and then moved into a central position in the box, where Gomez’s cut-back cross found him to shoot home from 12 yards.
Gomez doubled the lead for the visitors in the 33rd minute as he capitalized on the rebound off a shot by Sergio Ors from the left side of the penalty area, lifting his first-time finish home sharply after Carvalho was unable to corral the initial effort.
The Menace were handed a lifeline 10 minutes into the second half, however, when Feilhaber was brought down in the penalty area by Omaha defender Michael Knapp, who also received his second yellow card of the night to reduce the visitors to 10 players. Feilhaber stepped up and shot low into the bottom-left corner of the net to halve the deficit.
Feilhaber then almost set up an equalizer for the hosts with nine minutes to go as his pass into the right channel found Leroy Enzugusi, who beat the oncoming goalkeeper to the ball but was unable to direct his lifted finish on target as it slid wide of the left post. That proved the last real chance for the hosts as Los Buhos were able to see out the result and move into the Third Round.
FC NAPLES 3, LITTLE ROCK RANGERS 0: The Little Rock Rangers’ run in the Open Cup came to an end as a pair of early goals by USL League One side FC Naples paved the way to victory for the hosts at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex.
Naples opened the scoring after just 41 seconds as Jayden Onen received a pass in the left channel from Kevin O’Connor and fired home a precise finish from 20 yards into the bottom-left corner of the net. The hosts then doubled their lead as Brecc Evans headed home a corner kick from the right by Luka Prpa to put the League Two side on its heels.
Little Rock had a pair of chances later in the first half, including a free kick by Caoimhin McConnell that forced a good save by Naples goalkeeper Lalo Delgado, who tipped the effort over the crossbar. Chances became harder to come by for the visitors in the second half, however, and with 13 minutes to go Andrés Ferrín wrapped up the result for Naples with a low finish to the right corner, ending the Rangers’ run.
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