Union easily handle Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 4-1, to advance to U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals

The Union cruised past the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 4-1, in the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday at a rain-lashed Subaru Park.

Bruno Damiani opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the 14th minute, Indiana Vassilev doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time, and Danley Jean Jacques extended it in the 54th. Jorge Garcia, a Villanova product, scored Pittsburgh’s consolation goal in the 63rd, and Jovan Lukić capped things off in the 87th.

The Union will find out their quarterfinal opponent, and whether they’ll host that game, on Thursday morning. The quarterfinals will be played July 8-9.

Brothers Cavan and Quinn Sullivan started together for the first time with the Union’s first team. It was the first time siblings started together for the Union since May 11, 2013, the last time Gabriel and Michael Farfan started together.

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As this packed stretch of games continues, and with Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami coming to town Saturday, Union manager Bradley Carnell continued rotating his lineup. He rotated the formation this time, too, starting Damiani as a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1, with Quinn Sullivan, Vassilev, and Cavan Sullivan in the attacking midfield line.

Referee Natalie Simon was busy from the start. In just the fourth minute, she whistled Cavan Sullivan for a shove on Pittsburgh’s Beto Ydrach near the Riverhounds bench. There wasn’t much contact, but the idea that Sullivan could knock over the 6-foot Ydrach was a pretty nice compliment to the 15-year-old.

Things went better for the Union in the 13th. Frankie Westfield was upended in midfield, Jesús Bueno launched the ensuing free kick into a crowd, and it landed squarely on Guillaume Vacter’s outstretched left arm. It was a clear handball, and Simon didn’t hesitate to call it.

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Damiani stepped up to the spot and smashed in the penalty kick for his second goal of the year.

The second goal started with a pretty give-and-go between the two Sullivans. Quinn then played a nice pass up the middle to Vassilev, who took the ball and slid it past onrushing Pittsburgh goalkeeper Eric Dick.

The timing of the goal, in the final seconds of stoppage time, was as helpful as extending the lead. It took most of the air out of the contest. Then Jean Jacques’ tally did the rest. Damiani played provider this time, after Quinn Sullivan and Bueno moved the ball up the field.

Garcia’s consolation goal was a terrific strike, and perhaps meant a little extra given his college ties. The 23-year-old took the ball on the left wing, cut to his right, spotted Andrew Rick just off the goal line, and curled a high shot to the far post.

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It went down as the last goal scored by a lower-league club in this year’s Open Cup. The Riverhounds, of the second-tier USL Championship were the only non-MLS club in the round of 16. They earned a $50,000 prize from U.S. Soccer for being the last second-division team standing.

Carnell made his first substitutions in the 65th minute with a triple move: Lukić for Jean Jacques (right after he’d drawn a yellow card), Ben Bender for Vassilev, and Mikael Uhre for Damiani. It marked Bender’s Union debut, nine years after the Baltimore native played in the club‘s youth academy.

In the 72nd, Nathan Harriel replaced Westfield, and in the 84th Jeremy Rafanello replaced Quinn Sullivan.

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Lukić put the icing on the cake by intercepting a Pittsburgh pass in the middle of the Riverhounds’ half, then taking it solo almost to the penalty spot before shooting to the far post.