Elmhurst, Ill. – Tulsa Athletic clinched their spot in the 2025 US Open Cup with a win in penalties, 5-4, after a scoreless 120 minutes at Chicago House on Sunday (Dec. 8) at Elmhurst University in the fourth qualifying round of US Open Cup Qualifying.
Tulsa Athletic will play in the US Open Cup for the seventh time in club history and for the fourth straight season with the 2025 tournament set to start in the spring.
“This means everything,” Tulsa Athletic Head Coach John Woodhead said. “The last three years we’ve been in the US Open Cup so to do it again next year is incredible for us and for all of our fans in Tulsa.”
After a scoreless 120 minutes of soccer, the match went to a best-of-five penalty shootout. Chicago House went first during the penalty shootout and converted their first two attempts.
Rafa Zaldivar and Jacob Zamarron scored the first two attempts for Tulsa Athletic.
Bryson Reed made a diving save to his left on the third attempt by House, and the save ended up being the difference in the contest.
Ruben Torres and Mitch Cashion scored for Tulsa on their next two attempts. And Edgardo Mira gave Tulsa the win with his penalty goal for the 5-4 margin in the best-of-five shootout.
Reed earned the shutout in goal and made some incredible saves to keep the home side scoreless after 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime. Plus his one save in the penalty shootout propelled Tulsa to the win.
“Bryson Reed is a professional goalkeeper,” Woodhead said. “And tonight he showed he’s a professional goalkeeper. He was awesome. He leads by example on and off the field. Super proud of Bryson.”
Tulsa Athletic earned their spot in the 2025 US Open Cup with three shutout wins during the fall qualifying rounds. After a first-round bye, the green and yellow defeated FC Bartlesville Buffaloes, 4-0, on Oct. 26 at Hicks Park in the second round. In the third round of qualifying, Tulsa Athletic won, 8-0, over Woodland (Kan.) FC on Nov. 16 at Hicks Park to advance to today’s fourth round winner-take-all contest.
Tulsa Athletic will be back in action in 2025 in the US Open Cup First Round in the spring. And Tulsa Athletic starts league play in the inaugural season of The League for Clubs in the spring of 2025.
2025 season tickets are now on sale at tulsaathletic.com.
