C.J. Brown knew what was going through the minds of Stingers players Monday night as they prepared to take on the Fire in the U.S. Open Cup.
Brown was a member of the San Francisco Bay Seals, a D-3 team like the Stingers, that knocked off MLS representives Kansas City and San Jose and advanced to the semifinals of the tournament last year.
“We thought we had something to prove,” Brown said. “That’s how the Stingers will come out.”
And for 80 minutes, it looked as though the Stingers would add another notch to their belts. But three goals in the final 10 minutes gave the Fire a hard-earned 3-1 victory and a quarterfinal spot against a still-to-be-determined opponent.
The Stingers took the lead in the 22nd minute when Joe Carver took advantage of a defensive miscue by Richie Kotschau and was able to walk in on Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton. Carver slotted the ball past Thornton to give the Stingers a 1-0 lead.
The Fire was fortunate to be in the game come the 80th minute. Scott Coufal replaced Thornton in the second half and made five saves, two brilliant ones off Carver, the first coming on a clear breakaway in the 70th minute.
Frank Klopas tied the game, heading in a pass from Jerzy Podbrozny. After that, the floodgates opened. Diego Gutierrez scored what may be the prettiest goal of the season in the 83rd minute off a spectacular bicylcle kick to make it 2-1. Josh Wolff added the third goal in the 87th minute.
Fire coach Bob Bradley opened the game with a makeshift lineup. With another match Thursday night in Columbus, Bradley started the game with captain Peter Nowak, Roman Kosecki, Ante Razov, Chris Armas and Francis Okorah on the bench. Nowak came into the game in the 58th minute.
The Fire had a couple of early chances. Podbrozny, assuming the playmaker role of Nowak, played a nice through ball to Josh Wolff in the 12th minute. But Stingers keeper Markus Roy charged out and dove on the ball before Wolff could get a touch.
