John Spencer 39 pen, 67; Henderson 58) before losing 1-2 to the Chicago Fire in Naperville in the quarterfinals (Beasley 44; own goal (Fraser) 53 -- Spencer 11). ... In 2001, the last time the Rapids and Burn met in the Open Cup, Colorado survived their opening match against A-League Charleston Battery thanks to a golden goal from John Spencer eight minutes into extra time, before losing to the O'Brien golden goal in the quarterfinal. ... Here's the team Tim Hankinson put out that night: Kramer -- Titus, Herdsman (Stewart 86), Fraser, Hart, Kingsley (Kotschau 72), Mastroeni (Shak 105), Chung, Valderrama, Henderson, Carrieri. ... After reaching the 1999 final (which they lost to Rochester Raging Rhinos, the only non-MLS team to win the U.S. Open Cup since 1996), Colorado was dumped out at the first hurdle in both 2000 and 2001 -- each time losing to second division competition. Rapids lost 3-0 to Richmond Kickers in 2000, 2-0 to Pittsburgh Riverhounds in 2001. ... The Rapids were then eliminated at the quarterfinal stage in each of the last two years, winning their opening match before losing away to MLS competition.
