Houston Dynamo came out clicking on all cylinders from the start, jumping out to an early lead before hanging on for a 4-2 victory against the Carolina Dynamo in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Robertson Stadium.
Alejandro Moreno scored two goals in four minutes to put Houston into a two-goal lead by halftime, then Ronald Cerritos made it 3-0 just before the hour. But the Carolina Dynamo fought back with goals through Wells Thompson in the 62nd minute, then Randi Patterson in the 71st minute. Yet Eddie Robinson ended the tense few moments by sending Houston through to the quarterfinals with an 82nd-minute goal off a corner kick.
The PDL Dynamo had a glorious chance to go a goal up on their MLS opponents in the 21st minute. But Houston goalkeeper Zach Wells saved a penalty kick from Ben Hunter, lunging to his left to keep the match scoreless.
Following the early spot kick, Houston regrouped and started moving the ball around with ease as Cerritos and Moreno both started to find room in the attacking third.
Brian Mullan set up the game's first goal in the 29th minute, finding Moreno open in the box where he was able to flick a header to the back post to beat Carolina's Taylor Saxe.
As Houston found more space Carolina started to get frustrated, leading to a hard tackle on Ricardo Clark that set up a freekick just outside the box in the 33rd minute.
Brad Davis stepped up to take the set piece and sent in a strong shot that bounced around the box until Moreno latched onto it and found the back of the net through a crowd of players in the penalty area.
Carolina created several close chances by winning corners, but just couldn't convert any of them to a shot on goal before the end of the first half.
After a slow start to the second half, Houston started to connect some passes with the addition of Dwayne DeRosario at halftime.
In the 58th minute Cerritos got on the end of a corner by Stuart Holden, flicking a header inside the far post that gave the MLS side a seemingly comfortable three-goal lead.
But the Carolina Dynamo didn't give up, rallying with two goals in a 10-minute span to make a real game of it.
Thompson was fortunate to have a loose rebound bounce his direction where he was able to beat Wells to the top right corner of the goal in the 62nd minute, to give the PDL side a glimmer of hope.
The underdog club kept up their pressure in the 71st minute as midfielder Ryan Solle made a solid move up the center of the field and fed a great through ball to Patterson, who slotted his shot under the oncoming Wells and into the far corner of the goal to make things much closer than Houston wanted.
Yet Houston was able to take control of the match in the final 20 minutes and sealed the win with a solid header from defender Robinson, after Holden curled in a corner that the All-Star defender easily redirected past Saxe in the 82nd minute to send the MLS Dynamo into the Open Cup quarterfinals.
Scott Joiner is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
