Taylor Twellman is New England’s all-time leading scorer in U.S. Open Cup play with seven goals in nine Open Cup matches AP Photo

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Following the club’s victory over the Richmond Kickers in the third round of the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup last Tuesday night at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Conn., the New England Revolution will now host Crystal Palace Baltimore of the United Soccer Leagues’ Second Division in a quarterfinal match on Tuesday, July 8, at 7 p.m. at Veterans Stadium.

A live audio broadcast of the match will be available on www.revolutionsoccer.net.

The Revs (10-4-3, 33 pts.) enter Tuesday’s match as the top team in all of Major League Soccer, leading the Eastern Conference by six points.

The Revolution’s most recent MLS match was last Friday night against the Los Angeles Galaxy at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The Revs battled to a 2-1 victory over the Galaxy behind a pair of first-half goals by Adam Cristman, reaffirming their place as the top team in the league.

New England is making its ninth appearance in the Open Cup – America’s oldest cup competition – where the club has compiled a 10-6-2 all-time record.

The defending U.S. Open Cup champion Revolution began its title defense with its third-round match against Richmond last Tuesday night at Veterans Stadium. Following almost a two-hour rain delay, second-half tallies by Sam Brill, Joe Germanese and Taylor Twellman helped lift the Revs to a 3-0 victory and advance to the quarterfinals. After a scoreless first half, Brill netted the first tally of the match in the 46th minute, snapping a header off a Chris Tierney corner past Richmond goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale. Germanese increased New England’s lead, finishing a feed from teammate Chase Hilgenbrinck to put the hosts up, 2-0, in the 63rd minute. Twellman added the insurance in the 67th minute, heading a cross from Tierney off the crossbar and into the net. Goalkeeper Doug Warren made five stops in net to record his first-career U.S. Open Cup shutout.

The Revolution captured the club’s first-ever cup championship in the 2007 U.S. Open Cup, advancing through four rounds of Open Cup play to claim the tournament title. The Revs entered the 2007 U.S. Open Cup in the third round, where they defeated USL-1’s Rochester Rhinos, 4-2. New England moved on to the quarterfinal, where it defeated USL-2’s Harrisburg City Islanders, 2-1, to advance to the semifinal round, where it earned a spot in the Open Cup championship following an exciting, 2-1 victory over USL-1’s Carolina Railhawks after extra time. The Revolution capped off its Open Cup run on Oct. 3, when it defeated MLS foe FC Dallas in the tournament final, 3-2.

Crystal Palace enters Tuesday’s match ranked fifth in the United Soccer Leagues’ Second Division standings with a 7-3-1 overall record.

The Eagles are making just their second appearance in the Open Cup, as the club officially began play in 2007. Crystal Palace’s win in the first round of the 2008 U.S. Open Cup tournament marked both the teams first win and first goal in an Open Cup match. As one of eight teams remaining in the 2008 U.S. Open Cup, the Eagles have now compiled a 3-1-0 all-time record in the competition.

Crystal Palace advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2008 tournament by virtue of a 2-1 opening-round victory over the Los Angeles Legends, a 3-1 second-round win on penalty kicks against the Harrisburg City Islanders following a 2-2 draw after regulation and extra time and a 2-0 victory over MLS side New York Red Bulls in the third round.

The Eagles earned a berth in the quarterfinals following their third-round victory over the New York Red Bulls last Tuesday at Lawrence E. Knight Stadium in Annapolis, Md. Andrew Marshall opened the scoring for Crystal Palace in the 17th minute, finishing a feed from Bryan Harkin. After taking an early 1-0 lead, the Eagles were reduced to 10 men in the 34th minute, as former Rev Ibrahim Kante was sent off with a red card. Despite playing a man down for the majority of the match, Gary Brooks increased Crystal Palace’s lead in the 75th minute, slotting a shot past Red Bulls goalkeeper Zach Thornton. The Eagles held the Red Bulls without a shot on goal, making easy work for goalkeeper Matt Nelson as Crystal Palace held on for the 2-0 victory.

Tuesday night’s U.S. Open Cup match marks the first-ever meeting between New England and Crystal Palace. The Revs have faced two other USL-2 teams - the Harrisburg City Islanders and the Richmond Kickers - both in U.S. Open Cup matches. The Revolution first faced Harrisburg City in the quarterfinal round of the 2007 U.S. Open Cup at Gillette Stadium, defeating the Islanders, 2-1, to advance to the semifinal. The Revs last faced a USL-2 club in its most recent U.S. Open Cup meeting with Richmond on July 1, at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Conn., defeating the Kickers, 3-0.

The Eagles have only matched up against one MLS team, defeating the New York Red Bulls, 2-0, in its most recent U.S. Open Cup match on July 1 at Lawrence E. Knight Stadium.

While the Revolution has made four prior appearances in U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal matches – 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2007 – compiling a 2-2-0 overall record, Crystal Palace will be making its quarterfinal debut in Tuesday night’s match.

Additionally, the Revolution has made three previous appearances at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Conn., all in U.S. Open Cup matches. The Revs made their first appearance in New Britain as guests of the A-League’s Long Island Rough Riders on Aug. 1, 1997 – New England’s first-ever U.S. Open Cup appearance – when the club dropped a 4-3 decision to Long Island in double overtime. The Revolution made its return to Veterans Stadium en route to its 2007 U.S. Open Cup title, when it hosted the USL-1’s Carolina RailHawks in the semifinal round, securing a 2-1 overtime victory to advance to the championship. The club most recently appeared at Veterans Stadium in its last U.S. Open Cup match against the Richmond Kickers on July 1, defeating the USL-2 side, 3-0.

Twellman is New England’s all-time leading scorer in U.S. Open Cup play with seven goals in nine Open Cup matches. Ralston’s three U.S. Open Cup goals are tied for the second-best all-time mark. Shalrie Joseph and Tierney are tied for the lead among current Revs players with two assists in U.S. Open Cup play, while Hilgenbrinck, Ralston, Cristman and Jay Heaps have all recorded one Open Cup assist.

Reis has made seven appearances for New England in U.S. Open Cup games, compiling an impressive 6-1-0 record with one shutout and an 0.86 goals against average. Goalkeeper Doug Warren has made three U.S. Open Cup appearances in goal for New England, recording the shutout in the team’s most recent match against Richmond.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup began in 1914 as an annual single-elimination tournament. The competition is open to all soccer teams in the country associated with U.S. Soccer that qualify, bringing in a mix of professional and amateur teams from around the nation. It was renamed after Lamar Hunt in 1999, to honor the late owner of the Columbus Crew and Kansas City Wizards of MLS and Dallas Tornados of the old NASL.

The bracket is made up of 40 squads – 24 professional and 16 amateur teams – coming from Division I (Major League Soccer), Division II (USL First Division), Division III (USL Second Division) or Amateur Division (USL Premier Developmental League and U.S. Adult Soccer Association).

Following Tuesday night’s U.S. Open Cup match, the Revolution will begin play in SuperLiga, hosting Mexican side Santos Laguna on July 13 at 8 p.m. at Gillette Stadium. SuperLiga is an annual tournament that features the top club teams from the United States and Mexico. For the second straight year, the winner of the tournaments’ final will receive a $1 million dollar purse – the largest prize in North American soccer history.
 
The Revolution will not return to MLS regular-season action until Aug. 9, when the team hosts the Chicago Fire at 7:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.