Call him Mr. Open Cup. For the second year running, Rapids forward Jacob Peterson knocked Real Salt Lake out of the Open Cup, scoring the only goal against them to advance to the quarterfinals last year and burying a pair of goals Wednesday night to earn the Rapids entry into the tournament and send RSL home again.
"I wish we could play Open Cup against them every game," said Peterson, who has played a total of 58 minutes in five of the Rapids' eight regular season games. "They're a good team. They're kind of struggling right now, but they've got good players. Any time we can beat them, especially with the rivalry, it's good."
Even with RSL fielding a lineup of primarily regular starters, Colorado's bench was able to dominate the game, controlling the ball throughout the first half and maintaining a pattern of scoring first in every game played at their new Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
After a scoreless first half, the Rapids broke through in the second half, scoring the first goal in the 48th minute. The conditions were cold and wet, with a game-time temperature of 43 degrees and steady rain throughout.
"It was tough, when it's a cold rainy day like that, especially when you play balls into the strikers," Peterson observed. "It skips and stuff, but I thought Conor [Casey] did a great job holding it, and I tried to run off him. We've been playing in reserve matches, and I think we've been playing well together."
Both of Peterson's goals were initiated by chances Casey created, with the first coming after goalkeeper Chris Seitz punched Casey's shot directly to Peterson, who took advantage of the opportunity.
"Seitz bounced it right to me," Peterson said. "I had an open goal, so if I don't finish that one something's wrong."
The Rapids had a brief letdown after taking the lead, and Salt Lake was able to turn the pressure back on them, evening the score 15 minutes later on a goal by Chris Klein.
"We made it a little difficult for ourselves," said Casey. "I think we shut off for about 10 or 15 minutes. We kind of let them back in the game. We weren't possessing the ball as well as we could have. We gave them a bit of a window, but it's good that after that period we stepped it back up."
Three minutes into stoppage time the Rapids reclaimed the lead, avoiding the potential of overtime and ultimately a penalty kick shootout. Casey and Peterson, who each surpassed their total playing time for the Rapids this season by playing the full 90 minutes, were determined to end the game on time.
"I know I was tired," said Peterson. "I didn't want to go to overtime. I think a lot of the other guys, too. We've had a heavy schedule so we definitely wanted to get a goal there and escape the overtime."
In the 93rd minute, the Rapids made a quick break, with Casey finding Peterson down the right wing. Peterson ran onto the leading pass, beat out his defender and made a challenging shot from a tough angle.
"They lost the ball in midfield and I got the ball," Casey said. "Jake made a good run through, I played it through to him, he had a good first touch and a great finish for him."
It was a tough angle, well to the right but close enough to the goal line that Peterson didn't have much net in his sights.
"At that angle you just want to keep it low into the far post," Peterson said. "You've got to just hope it goes in. I got lucky it hit off the post and went in."
With so many Rapids starters sitting out the game, it was an excellent opportunity for lesser used roster members to shine, and though they played an eye-opening match as a whole, it was hard for Peterson not to stand out as he secured Colorado's entry into the Open Cup tournament proper.
"I was impressed with Jacob Peterson," Clavijo said. "He has been playing out of position most of the season as a midfielder. Today we gave him a chance to play his position up front, and he showed up well."
The victory means Colorado will enter the Open Cup in the third round, joining seven other MLS teams and the eight lower division teams that survive the tournament's first two rounds. The win also gave Clavijo a measure of satisfaction, after he had consistently expressed his displeasure at not earning one of the automatic berths after they were reduced from eight slots to six.
"We thought all along that we didn't need to have to play this game," Clavijo said. "The way that they switched the way the regulations worked and getting to the round-of-16 I thought was all wrong. We already earned that last year. But I thought the team played extremely well. We dominated, we created chances -- an outstanding effort by everyone."
They won't have RSL to kick around when the Rapids return to the nation's oldest soccer tournament come July. But with any luck, they will have "Mr. Open Cup" on the field once more as they resume their pursuit.
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
