Hoops to host Revs in Open Cup final

In what could be a preview of MLS Cup, FC Dallas will host the New England Revolution in the final of the 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

New England needed just four minutes of overtime to break the 1-1 deadlock with USL.1 club the Carolina Railhawks, as the Revs rode a Pat Noonan goal in the 94th minute into the final, while FC Dallas disposed of USL.1 upstarts Seattle, 2-1, on goals by Carlos Ruiz and Abe Thompson.

Carolina jumped out to an early lead when Anthony Maher put one past Mat Reis in the sixth minute, and managed to hold onto the lead for 45 minutes, surrendering a first-half injury time equalizer, scored by Jeff Larentowicz. Adam Cristman was credited with assists on both Revolution goals.

The equalizing goal came shortly after the double ejection of Carolina's Connally Edozien and New England's Shalrie Joseph. Carolina went down to nine men in the 80th minute when David Stokes was also sent off. Here's mlsnet.com's account of the dust up:

The match flared to life in the 38th minute after a hard John tackle, which looked fair, caused a fracas in front of the Revolution bench. Players grouped and discussed the situation and it took referee Shane Moody and his crew a few minutes to sort out the resulting melee. Yellow cards were issued to John, for the tackle, and Carolina defender David Stokes, for his role. If Moody thought he quelled the danger, it flared again before the restart in the 42nd minute. Joseph and Edozien came together. No punches were apparently thrown, but both Edozien and Joseph were sent to the showers as the game sputtered out of control.

FC Dallas and Seattle also needed overtime to settle their match, as the first 90 minutes ended without a goal. Ruiz broke the scoreless deadlock a minute into overtime, when Arturo Alvarez found him at the six from the right wing. Thompson added the insurance goal from the spot in the 119th minute, after Dax McCarty was brought down in the area. Finally, Seattle’s Leighton O’Brien managed a conciliation goal right before the whistle.

The Revolution will travel to Dallas for the final on or Oct. 3. It is the Revolutions second trip to the US Open Cup final; they have never won the title. FC Dallas were the 1997 U.S. Open Cup champions.