The Big Picture
Jonathan Lewis scored a brace and assisted a third as the Colorado Rapids began their 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup campaign with a 3-1 Third-Round win over visiting Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC on Wednesday night. The Rapids advance to the tournament’s Round of 32 and will learn their opponent following Thursday’s draw (12 p.m. MT) from a pot that includes Los Angeles Football Club, Sacramento Republic FC and Monterey Bay FC.
Notable:
- Tonight’s result extended the Rapids’ current unbeaten run to six matches across all competitions, marking their longest such stretch since a 12-game undefeated streak from Aug. 2021 to Sept. 2021.
- F Jonathan Lewis recorded a brace and an assist tonight for the Rapids tonight, his first brace since November 7, 2021.
- M Ralph Priso delivered the assist on Jonathan Lewis’ opening goal, marking the second consecutive match that Priso has delivered an assist.
- D Michael Edwards recorded his first appearance as a member of the Rapids tonight when he substituted into the match in the 68th minute.
- GK Marko Ilić recorded his first start as a member of the Rapids.
- M Max recorded a goal and an assist tonight. Max now has two goals and one assist across his last three appearances (all competitions). With his goal tonight, he has now scored across MLS, Concacaf Champions League and U.S. Open Cup.
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER
On the match:
“I thought the mentality was right to start the game and we scored an early goal, which certainly was a goal of ours. We started off pretty well, and then the game kind of—we allowed the game to slow to a snail's pace. We talked a lot about, at halftime, about the fact that we have to look to accelerate the game in certain places. We have to build speed if we're trying to create an attack. Otherwise, we're just passing the ball around. So I thought for the second half of the first half, it was just too slow, but then the second half, we came out and we defended a little more compact, which allowed us to win some balls higher. And out of that, we were able to transition, get some good attacks and I think it got our energy going again. And at the end of the day, it was a good result and overall a pretty well-played game and a lot of guys got to play. You know, we were able to rotate through some guys, so it was a good night for us. We wanted to obviously win this game and move on in the tournament, while at the same time being mindful of the game coming up this weekend. And at the end of the day, I think we hit all our goals: we won, we advanced, no one got hurt, we scored some goals, built some confidence, and overall, it was a good night.”
On continuing the momentum from the team’s current form:
“Well, I think it's both. I think it is a continuation. That's one of the big emphases going into this game was that our mentality has been good, and over the last five games, we've—I mean, to say we haven't lost in five games is obviously a good thing, but if you look at how we've played, I think that's the better thing. Better—it's equally as important and a lot of that starts with our mentality and our clarity and our roles and things like that. And that was a big emphasis going into this game is that we are trending positively and we don't want to let down. I've been in this league, and how old is this league? Twenty seven, 28 years? Something like that, and so many Open Cup games, and I've seen so many letdowns from teams going into Open Cup games. And obviously, we didn't want to let down because we want to win and we want to win the tournament, but we didn't want to let down because we have been trending positively over the last five or six weeks. And we're going to do everything we could to prevent us from taking a step back in terms of our mentality and our endeavor and our mindset. And so that was one of the big things going into the game tonight.”
On if the team believes it can compete with any team in MLS:
“Yeah, I think there's a belief now. I really do because we've had some tough games in the last several weeks. To play Austin, to play LAFC, Charlotte on the road is a tough one. Kansas City on the road is a tough one. I don't care what Kansas City's record is. They're a good team, and they're a good team at home. So we've definitely had—and they've all been slightly different teams in slightly different games, so we've had a lot to adjust to over the last couple of games. And obviously St. Louis, who is doing really, really well this year, to play as well as we did against them, I think there is real belief. I don't think they're scared to play anyone. I think that's where you have to be to be a competitive, successful professional sports team. You have to have belief. If you don't have belief, there's always going to be cracks in the armor. And I think we had a relatively rocky start, gave up a lot of goals, obviously, in Seattle, and I don't think—I keep saying, I don't think we were terrible against Seattle, but we made huge, huge mistakes. But that erodes your confidence and your belief, and I think there's been—we've, systematically over the last five weeks, built on it. And the players have worked incredibly hard to get to a point now where they do believe they can compete with anyone. We're certainly not saying we're the best team in the league, but we're certainly feeling like we can compete with anyone.”
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD JONATHAN LEWIS
On recording a brace:
“No, I think I mean, for myself, it's just like I haven't scored this year. I haven't scored since last year, September, so for me, it feels good. No matter how they go in, you know, the first one was a crappy goal, but scored a second one and it was a good build up play. So for me, it's just as a team, you know, we have to take that confidence and just—I think for the last five games, we've been able to score, I believe. Even if it's one goal, we just have to keep trying to score and keep trying to be creative in the final third.”
On getting a result in the Open Cup:
“I think it's like a monkey off our back. You know, this is our first win in the Open Cup in what, like six years or something? So for me, it's like, it doesn't matter who we play because I think my first year in 2019, we played New Mexico and we didn't beat them and they were a USL team, as well. So for me, I think in this tournament, it's about whoever's in front of you. You just have to play and try to beat them and it doesn't matter who. You know, you watch a team like Orlando City who won the Cup last year. They played a Sacramento team in the final, and again, at the end of the day it doesn't matter because as we saw results today, Memphis beat Atlanta. I think Miami went to penalties with Miami FC. These guys are coming to prove a point. They want to get a MLS contract. So you can't just come out and just be flat footed and just come and think ‘oh, this is going to be an easy game,’ you know? Otherwise you will get beat. It's a good thing today that we didn't come with that mentality and we came and we are playing in front of our fans, we want to win the game and to move on. You know, we've been knocked out six years straight, so we needed to try to make a statement.”
On the team’s upcoming schedule:
“I think for me, we have a few injuries right now, some key players. Cole (Bassett) is out, Bryan’s (Acosta) out, so I think for us we need to, everyone needs to know that they're going to get a chance to play and they just need to take it in stride. Just you know, play like it's your last opportunity to play. I mean, I know for me going forward, that's just how it's going to have to be. Just play like it's your last game that you can ever play. So, if we all have that type of mentality, I think then we'll be able to get the results we need, and you know, again, we're all going to get an opportunity to play so we just all need to be ready. I think looking forward to Vancouver this weekend, you know, this is a team that I think we do well against sometimes, we struggle against them sometimes. So, I think we just need to go to their place, silence the crowd. We have to take the sting out of the game, but we just have to be ruthless. I think we played them last year on the road and we absolutely dominated them, but we didn't put away our chances and they ended up beating us, versus the game here, it was literally the exact same game. I actually think we played better away against them, but the difference was we scored our goals and that's why we beat them. Then we just, we got to step on their throats like I said earlier and put the game away.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER RALPH PRISO
On the team’s form:
“I think it's a bit of both. I think I would say since the Austin game, I think we've been a lot better week by week. Training has been better, even better in the games. Performances have been better. I think we've just been lacking a little bit of final product. I think that came up tonight. I think we scored three good goals or two good goals. I think we probably should have scored more. We created good enough chances, so that'll come. It's just staying sharp, staying focused, keep improving on what we're doing well, keep improving on what we need to do better. I think we have enough quality to be a good team in the league, so we just need to keep going.”
