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MLS: San Diego Repeats in Open Cup
Donovan Leads Sun to 1-0 Victory
December 16, 2002
Landon Donovan scored the only game of the 2002 U.S. Open Cup final in the 37th minute as Scott Garlick made some challenging saves and San Diego weathered a late New York rally. With the win the Sun won the title for the second consecutive year, beating New York in the final both times. Donovan, who scored three times in three games to account for all of San Diego’s goals in the tournament, was named MVP of the tournament and the final.
New York came out of the gate on fire playing for the league and Cup double in front of their home fans. John Spencer, who scored a hat trick to get New York into the final, shot over the net with the best chance of the game early. He shot wide again in the 19th and Donovan forced a tough save from Zach Thornton as San Diego got its bearings. New York strung together some beautiful passes in the 29th minute with Spencer sending Jaime Moreno in on goal and Moreno playing it back to Peter Nowak at the penalty spot. With the wide open chance Nowak beat San Diego keeper Scott Garlick to his left but his low shot hit the post and bounded away. Jaime Moreno hit the crossbar minutes later as New York continued to pepper the San Diego goal.
Against the run of play, San Diego scored the only goal of the contest in the 37th minute. Steve Ralston played the ball back to Nick Garcia in his own end of the field and Garcia launched a long ball over the New York defense that hit the speedy Donovan in stride. Donovan was too quick for the New York defense to recover and he slipped a right footed shot by Thornton and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
John Spencer had a chance early in the second half that he hit with the outside of his foot. The hard, swerving shot forced Garlick to his knees but he was able to punch it into the ground and wide of the net. Nowak came close in the 88th minute with a dipping shot that again forced Garlick to his knees and against Garlick managed to get a fist to it. Spencer had the last chance of the game but his shot from point blank range was blocked by Garcia.
Box Score
@ New York, NY
San Diego 1 – 0 - - 1
New York 0 – 0 - - 0
Scoring:
SD – Landon Donovan (Nick Garcia, Steve Ralston), 37th
MVP – Landon Donovan, San Diego
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