KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In one record-shattering night, Dom Dwyer kept Sporting Kansas City rolling in US Open Cup play.
Dwyer scored three times in the first half and added one more goal in the second – the first four-goal performance in any competition in club history – and Sporting stayed unbeaten at Sporting Park this season with a 6-2 fifth-round victory over FC Dallas on Wednesday night.
Krisztian Nemeth scored twice – including a chip from a near-impossible angle just ahead of the hour mark – for Sporting, who will host the Houston Dynamo in the quarterfinals on July 21, and he shares the club lead with Dwyer with nine goals across all competitions.
Sporting's six goals tied for the most scored in a game in club history, after a 6-1 victory over the Des Moines Menace – also in Open Cup action – in 2005.
Benny Feilhaber assisted on three of his team's goals, giving him four assists in 2015 USOC action and 13 across all competitions this season.
Michael Barrios and second-half sub Kellyn Acosta scored consolation goals in the second half for FC Dallas, who failed to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2012. That was the last time Kansas City reached the quarters, on their way to winning their second Open Cup and first since 2004.
Sporting went up 1-0 in the fifth minute, when Dwyer headed Feilhaber's corner kick off the bottom of the crossbar and in. They doubled that in the 26th minute, off a free kick from Feilhaber, when Dwyer went up in traffic near the goal and put another header past onrushing goalkeeper Chris Seitz.
Dwyer made it 3-0 in the 41st, converting strongly from the penalty spot after being taken down from behind by Dallas defender Moises Hernandez. It was Dwyer's first penalty-kick attempt since he was denied by Seitz in a 3-1 away loss on March 14.
Dwyer's hat trick didn't put an end to Sporting's first-half scoring, though. In stoppage time, winger Jacob Peterson drove to the end line and cut the ball back to Nemeth for a cool finish and a 4-0 advantage at the break.
If that goal was opportunistic and clinical, Nemeth's next was nothing short of jaw-dropping.
In the 59th minute, he took a pass from rookie substitute Saad Abdul-Salaam and drove to just short of the end line. He sized up Seitz's position and lifted a chip over the leaping 'keeper's fingertips, and the ball was already over the goal line even before it deflected off defender Matt Hedges' head and into the roof of the net.
Barrios pulled one back in the 62nd for Dallas, assisted by forward David Texeira, but Dwyer made it 6-1 in the 69th minute with a booming, bending left-footed free kick from 25 yards to close out his big night.
Acosta finished off Rolando Escobar's assist in the 73rd minute for Dallas' second goal to close out the scoring on the night.
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
