JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a thrilling 2-1 extra time win over USL side Charleston Battery in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night at Jacksonville University's Southern Oak Stadium, the Jacksonville Armada will return to league play at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in a road fixture with the Carolina RailHawks.
The Armada got on the board first in the 17th minute on Wednesday night when Danny Barrow and Matt Fondy played successive back heels to set up Patrick Otte, who came charging through the box and coolly chipped the ball into the right side of the net for his second career Open Cup goal (2013 with Ventura County Fusion).
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The lead was short-lived, however, as five minutes later, Charleston forward Romario Williams buried the ball in the bottom left of the goal. From there, it turned into a game of attrition as the score stayed knotted through the end of regulation and the first extra time period despite many close-call opportunities for Jacksonville.
Then in a moment of sheer soccer beauty, Alex Dixon flicked a Junior Sandoval pass on to Alhassane Keita, and the Guinean beat Battery 'keeper Odisnel Cooper from close range in the 108th minute.
The win was the second-straight positive result for the Armada, which drew 1-1 with Indy Eleven on May 28 in its last NASL match.
Carolina won its Open Cup match in extra on Wednesday as well, but the tale of the tape was quite the opposite once the contest moved past regulation as it breezed past USL side Charlotte Indepedence, 5-0, at WakeMed Soccer Park. RailHawks forward Billy Schuler netted two goals in the victory.
The RailHawks own a 2-1-0 series advantage over the Armada and won the last meeting, 3-0, in Cary, N.C., on Oct. 10, 2015. Jacksonville looked as if it would get on the board first in the contest when Keita found the back of the net but was shortly thereafter called offside. Carolina then went on to capture the momentum and held firm in the back, led by goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald's four clutch saves.