Image/St Louis City SC

City SC advances to the U.S. Open Cup Semifinal for the first time after defeating the Houston Dynamo in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw at the end of regulation on Tuesday night at Energizer Park. Marcel Hartel scored his third goal in the U.S. Open Cup in the 10th minute of the match to give City a 1-0 lead. But, one minute later, Houston’s Mateusz Bogusz scored to tie the game 1-1. Then, midfielder Arthur scored in the 42nd minute with a right-footed shot from outside the box to the bottom corner to give Houston a 2-1 lead.

In the second half of the match, St. Louis was awarded a penalty kick when defender Agustin Resch pulled an attacker down in the box, and once again Marcel Hartel converted to tie the game 2-2. The Houston Dynamo had plenty of opportunities when forward Lawrence Ennali dribbled into the box and found McGlynn in front of goal for a left-footed strike towards the bottom right corner that forced a diving save from Roman Bürki. Then, in the closing minutes of the match, Houston’s attacker Guilherme, right-footed hit and rattled the post, deflecting out for a St. Louis goal kick. Then minutes later, Ennali was through on-goal and fired, but was denied by a diving stop by St. Louis goalkeeper Benjamin Lundt, who replaced the injured starting goalie Roman Bürki.

Lundt came up big during the penalty shootout period by making two saves, including the game-saving stop by denying Dynamo’s midfielder Hector Herrera. St. Louis will play against the winner between the Colorado Rapids and the San Jose Earthquakes. Meantime their next Major League Soccer match is at home against Austin FC, set for Saturday at 1:30 pm at Energizer Field.