DES MOINES, Iowa – The Des Moines Menace’s strategy to field former international standouts paid dividends as the League Two outfit earned an impressive 2-1 victory on the road against Sporting KC II, while Little Rock Rangers earned the result of the night at home with a 1-0 win over Birmingham Legion FC. 

Chattanooga FC – 1, Corpus Christi FC – 0  

Corpus Christi FC fell 1-0 in extra time on the road against Chattanooga FC to bring the club’s Open Cup campaign to an end. The game was a tight affair with neither side creating a clear scoring chance through regular time. Despite looking like the game was destined for penalty kicks, Chattanooga would find the breakthrough in the 112th minute to claim the win. 

Sporting KC II – 1, Des Moines Menace – 2  

Open Cup darling Des Moines Menace pulled off another impressive result with a 2-1 victory over Sporting KC II to advance to the Second Round. Featuring a roster of former USMNT internationals including Sacha Kljestan, Dax McCarty and Matt Hedges, it would be Kljestan to covert twice from the penalty spot to give the Menace their first Cupset of the tournament. 

Little Rock Rangers SC – 1, Birmingham Legion FC – 0  

In one of the biggest Cupsets of the tournament so far, Little Rock Rangers battled to a 1-0 victory over USL Championship side Birmingham Legion FC. Birmingham earned the first clear chance of the night with a penalty kick in the 23rd minute, but Lucca Dourado’s effort was saved by Little Rock goalkeeper Tomasz Wróblewski. Little Rock would then come storming out to start the second half and scored against the run of play with Caoimhin McConnell finding the back of the net in the 52nd minute. Despite heavy pressure from Birmingham, the home side would hold on to advance. 

Ballard FC – 0, Spokane Velocity FC – 1 

Ballard FC fought valiantly in front of a sellout crowd against in-state rival Spokane Velocity FC but would concede deep in extra time as Anuar Peláez found the back of the net in the 120th minute. It looked like Harrison Bertos had equalized with the final kick of the game for Ballard, but he was ruled offside for the game to finish 1-0.