Featuring the USL Championship club with the most recent deep run in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the Western Conference is an interesting mix of competitors. The conference is feast or famine, with several teams never progressing past a single win and clubs like Sacramento Republic, who were 20 minutes from the ultimate goal of lifting this country’s oldest soccer prize. What is clear is that the USL Championship is full of teams ready to achieve their potential in the 2025 Open Cup. Roll out your map and let’s take a tour of the Western Wilds in this second part of our USL Championship overview.
San Antonio FC (San Antonio, TX)
Regardless of the success of San Antonio FC in the USL Championship, the club just hasn’t found a way to carry it over into the single-elimination hotbox of the Open Cup. Since joining the league in 2016, they’ve never strung more than two wins together or advanced beyond the Round of 32 in the competition. If it’s by bad luck or a tough draw, San Antonio typically exits the tournament early.
Monterey Bay FC (Monterey, CA)
Like many clubs on the USL Championship table, Monterey Bay hasn’t been around long enough to have much of a record in the Open Cup. With just three full seasons under their belt, the best finish was last year’s Round of 32 – and that was earned on a single win over Div III side Irvine Zeta. This year, MBFC fell victim to everyone’s favorite amateurs, El Farolito. If you have to make an early exit, losing to a perennial overachiever – and one famously affiliated with a Bay Area chain of Taquerias – is as good a way as any.
New Mexico United (Albuquerque, NM)
Like many other clubs on this list that lack long track records in the Open Cup, New Mexico United has only played in four editions of the competition. But what the club has done in those four years is extremely impressive. Twice the Albuquerque team advanced to our Quarterfinals, something many Championship sides have never managed in double the years. The club’s leading goal-scorer in the Cup is Josh Dolling, who played half of a single season with United, but made the most of his playing time in the Open Cup. Dolling scored four goals in New Mexico’s 2023 Open Cup run to the Round of 32.
El Paso Locomotive (El Paso, TX)
The Locomotive are one of the worst performers in the Open Cup bar none. Since launching in 2019, the Locos have exited in their entry match every year prior to the current one. No matter the level of competition, El Paso would always find a way to lose. However, hope springs eternal in 2025! After four early exits from the Open Cup, Locomotive have managed two wins in two rounds this year! The team’s form is much improved in Championship play, too, and a new crop of players is bringing that energy to the Open Cup. Next up, they’ll face southwest rivals New Mexico United in the Third Round, which should be a great matchup of familiar neighbors and league mates.
Las Vegas Lights (Las Vegas, NV)
While some Championship clubs struggle to match league success with Open Cup progress, Las Vegas Lights underachieve equally in both. Since joining the USA’s Division II, the Lights have only made the playoffs once (last year). It’s not that the team doesn’t do fun things for its fans, including some promotions that put the rest of the league to shame, but the team rarely does anything terribly fun on the field. Last year, Las Vegas got a win against USL League One’s Spokane Velocity 2-1 in extra-time, but exited the competition in the next round. The Lights enter this year’s competition in the Third Round and will face Division III Chattanooga Red Wolves at home at Cashman Field.
Colorado Springs Switchbacks (Colorado Springs, CO)
Last year, Colorado Springs won the USL Championship and paired that success with a one-and-done run in the Open Cup. The Switchbacks lost their first match to NYCFC II and exited the 2024 competition without much fanfare. The best run of Open Cup play by the Switchbacks was in the club’s first two attempts when they won two games before losing in the Fourth Round in 2015 and 2016. In both of those runs, regular amateur entrants Harpos FC were their first victim thanks to the geographical proximity.
Sacramento Republic (Sacramento, CA)
Sacramento gave us the best USL Championship Open Cup run of the Modern Era back in 2022 – when they became the first Division II side to reach the Final since the Charleston Battery of 2008. After entering the competition in the Second Round, the Republic went on a tear, winning four matches – three against MLS competitors. Led by veteran midfielder Rodrigo ‘RoRo’ Lopez who led that year’s competition in goals scored, Sacramento looked unstoppable until the Cup final against Orlando SC. After a scoreless first half, the lower-league faithful were convinced it was their year, but in the 75th minute their hopes were dashed. It ended 3-0 for the MLS team and USL Championship fans would have to wait for another year to hoist the Cup.
Lexington SC (Lexington, KY)
A 2025 addition to the Championship, Lexington SC don’t have much of a track record in the Open Cup, having only played two seasons in USL League One before making the move to the Division II. Last year, Lexington was on the wrong side of one of the best lower-league matchups in recent Open Cup history. Facing Vermont Green in the First Round, the match ended 4-3 in foggy conditions, with the USL League Two side winning the match in front of a packed house. Amateur soccer fans championed Green’s Cupset, but for Lexington it was heartbreak that was matched again this year when they exited the 2025 competition after losing in the Second Round to Columbus Crew 2 of MLS NEXT Pro.
Phoenix Rising (Phoenix, AZ)
While Phoenix Rising is one of the few West clubs to claim a USL Championship title, their Open Cup luck has been less evident. The Rising typically exit in the Second or Third round, meaning the team rarely gets past their entry opponent. Even last year’s run to the Round of 16, which looks great on paper, was the product of entering the competition in the Round of 32. Phoenix have yet to find a way to translate solid Championship play into Open Cup success. Maybe 2025 is the year that changes!
FC Tulsa (Tulsa, OK)
The Oklahoma-based club began life in the Division II in 2015 and capped their early years with an Open Cup run in 2017 (they were still known then as the Tulsa Roughnecks). A win over San Antonio FC saw them book a place in that year’s Fourth Round. There they lost out by a slim 2-1 margin on the road against then Open Cup’s defending Champions FC Dallas. The years since a two-year pause of the Open Cup in 2020 and 2021 haven’t been terribly kind for FC Tulsa as a Third Round exit in 2022 was followed in 2023 by a humiliating Cupset at the hands of crosstown amateur rivals Tulsa Athletic. Last year, in 2024, FC Tulsa rebounded to reach their farthest into our tournament with a Round of 16 run that ended with a 4-0 loss at four-time Champions Sporting KC of MLS.
Orange County SC (Irvine, CA)
Orange County SC are one of the few clubs on this list with a history that goes back over ten years, beginning play in 2011. But in all those years, including a 2021 USL Championship league title run, the club never matched that inaugural Cup campaign in 2011. Playing under the club’s original name, the Los Angeles Blues knocked off the Hollywood United Hitmen and Ventura County Fusion before losing to LA Galaxy 2-1 in that year’s Round of 16. The team rebranded to OCSC in 2016, but have never put together a deeper run in the competition.
Oakland Roots (Oakland, CA)
Founded in 2019, Oakland began play in a dark time in the Open Cup. With COVID wiping out two years of the competition, Roots would have to wait until 2022 to open their Open Cup account. That was also the club’s second year in the USL Championship. While Roots have never won more than a single USOC match in any one year, the two they have won have both come at the expense of underdog heroes El Farolito. Due to both clubs being from the same state, it was bound to happen, but the Oaklanders have yet to get a win against any other club in the Open Cup. 2025 will offer another chance, as the Roots face Tacoma Defiance of MLS NEXT Pro in a Third Round debut this week.
Dan Vaughn is a veteran soccer journalist and the founder and editor of Protagonist Soccer. Follow him at @TheDanVaughn on X/Twitter.
