Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — Real Salt Lakes continues its pursuit of the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup trophy, hosting the Carolina RailHawks Wednesday night in a quarterfinal match and looking to advance to the semifinal round for the first time in club history.
“I think this year we’ve got a nice little setup for us playing at home for this round and then if we win we get to play at home for the next round, and I think that’s fantastic,” RSL defender Nat Borchers told ESPN 700 during a radio interview Monday. “I think we really don’t have any excuses this time around.”
The Salt Lake club enters Wednesday’s match hot in both Open Cup play and Major League Soccer play with a 5-0-1 record and 17 goals over the last month, all matches coming on its home turf.
The two Open Cup victories, though, haven’t come easily for the Salt Lake club.
“Open Cup is one of those competitions where anything can happen so it’s going to be a fun game for the fans,” Borchers said. “We’re hoping that we’re going to get the first goal and shut things down early, but you never know with these kinds of games so we’re going to have to be up for anything.”
I'm hopeful that these players, this team, learns through experience, they don't need me to remind them that, 'Hey, let's not do this three times in a row.'
–Jason Kreis
Both of the Salt Lake club’s Open Cup matches this season have exceeded the regulation 90 minutes, forcing the club to win in overtime against the Atlanta Silverbacks and the Charleston Battery.
It's a situation the Salt Lake club isn’t looking to have happen on Wednesday night.
“I’m hopeful that these players, this team, learns through experience, they don’t need me to remind them that, 'Hey, let’s not do this three times in a row,’ ” RSL head coach Jason Kreis told ESPN 700 Tuesday.
The RailHawks enter Wednesday’s match having defeated two MLS clubs on their home pitch in Open Cup play, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA, to advance to the quarterfinal round. The quarterfinal match Wednesday is the farthest the RailHawks have ever made it in Open Cup play since 2007, when they advanced to the semifinal round.
If RSL advances to the semifinal round, it will host either the Portland Timbers or FC Dallas, who play each other Wednesday night, on Aug. 7.
Following Wednesday’s Open Cup play, the Salt Lake club will have a short turnaround until it returns to MLS action this weekend. RSL travels to Canada Thursday in preparation to face Toronto FC for a second time this season. RSL will return to its home pitch July 3 to close out its third match in eight days as it hosts the Philadelphia Union.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
