The 16 top-ranked clubs from the Division II USL Championship (determined by last year’s regular-season results) join the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Party on April 15-16. In this 16-game Third Round, each new Championship club will face off with a survivor from our Second Round, including eleven Division III teams (nine of those from USL’s League One and two from MLS NEXT Pro). Last but not least among the field is our lone remaining amateur side from the Open Division, with San Francisco sunday-league all-stars El Farolito taking aim at more Open Cup heroics.
All 16 games (eight on Tuesday, April 15 and eight more on Wednesday April 16) will be broadcast LIVE on Paramount+. Four of those Third Round games will be available additionally on the CBS Sports Golazo Network and two will also be available to WATCH on the CBS Sports Network.
All 16 winners from this Third Round will face off with teams from the Division I of Major League Soccer – with MLS clubs joining the action in the Round of 32 between May 6-7.
First-year USL League One side Portland Hearts of Pine are in action at their northern stronghold of Lewiston, Maine for the third time in this year’s Open Cup. Following a dramatic Cupset of USL Championship side Hartford Athletic that required a Jake Keegan equalizer in the dying minutes of OT and a shootout, the Hearts play underdogs again in this Third Round. They’re up against USL Championship side Rhode Island FC – surprise runners-up from last year’s USL Championship playoffs – who come to town hoping to avoid being upset by a USL League One side for a second year running.
“A Cup run is a pretty amazing thing,” said Hearts coach Bobby Murphy, who was an assistant coach in the Union Omaha (Div. III) side that reached the Open Cup Quarterfinals in 2022. “You always have to ride your luck a little, and you’re going to need a few things to go your way. But it’s all about staying in the game.”
WATCH Hearts v Rhode Island FC LIVE on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network
There will be six other games on Tuesday, April 15 with USL Championship (Div. II) sides trying to keep from being bitten by underdog clubs from the USL League One/MLS NEXT Pro (Div. II).
Among those is a second home game in a row for Columbus Crew 2 (MLS NEXT Pro), who welcome the always dangerous Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The USL Championship side from PA famously sparked a Cinderella run to the 2023 Quarterfinals with a win over Crew 2’s big brothers, Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS).
WATCH Crew 2 v Pittsburgh Riverhounds LIVE on Paramount+
There’s one other MLS NEXT Pro side in action in the Third Round (coincidentally, also on Day One). Tacoma Defiance, feeder team of our four-time-Champion Seattle Sounders, line up at the legendary Open Cup venue of Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila for a date with visitors and on-paper favourites Oakland Roots. The game has a decided whiff of the potential Cupset about it as the Roots are mired at the bottom of the USL Championship’s western conference after a bumpy start to the current campaign.
WATCH Tacoma Defiance v Oakland Roots LIVE on Paramount+
The other four Div. II vs. Div. III contests of Day One pit USL Championship sides against opponents from USL’s League One.
There’s an all-North Carolina affair in Matthews, where Charlotte Independence looks to match their run from last year with a place in the Round of 32. To do so, they’ll have to get the better of USL Championship side North Carolina FC (formerly the giant-killing RailHawks, and just back up to the Championship after three seasons in USL League One). NCFC have only lost once in their first five league games this year.
WATCH Independence v NCFC LIVE on Paramount+
South Georgia Tormenta, the Div. III underdogs from Statesboro, Georgia, travel to South Carolina for the second successive year and another date with the always dangerous Championship side Charleston Battery – a club founded way back in 1993 and with the distinction of finishing Open Cup Runners-up in 2008.
WATCH the Battery v SG Tormenta LIVE on Paramount+
The last two Div. II vs. Div. III games to consider on Tuesday pit the deadly Owls of Union Omaha – who knocked off Sacha Kljestan and his Band of Merry Menace in the previous round – against San Antonio FC. The Texans are top of the USL Championship’s western conference and unbeaten from their first five games in regular season play. Out west in California’s Antelope Valley, USL League One new boys AV ALTA FC host USL Championship SoCal side Orange County SC
WATCH Union Omaha v San Antonio FC LIVE on Paramount+
WATCH AV ALTA v OCSC LIVE on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network
Day One wraps with its only game contested by teams from the same division, when USL Championship powerhouses Louisville City FC open the doors of Lynn family Stadium to Virginia-based Loudoun United FC. It’s a heavyweight contest – and doubly so considering the two are both vying for top spot in the USL eastern conference table in the early stages of this 2025 season.
WATCH Louisville City v Loudoun United LIVE on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network
Among the eight-game schedule of Wednesday, April 16 we have our final amateur side in action. From an original Open Division pool of 32 in the First Round, only historic SFSFL powers El Farolito remain to carry the standard for the part-timers and dream chasers.
After wins over Real Monarchs (MLS NEXT Pro) and Monterey Bay (USL Championship) on the road, the Burrito Boys, as they’ve come to be known, who were crowned Open Cup Champions back in the old days of 1993, have their hands full and then some with a trip to Heart Health Park to take on Sacramento Republic. The NorCal side aren’t only perennial powers in their USL Championship, but they’re the last club from Division II to reach an Open Cup Final (2022).
WATCH Sac. Republic v EL Farolito FC LIVE on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network
Day Two also sees a trio of games contested by evenly matched (on paper at least) league mates from the USL Championship. First up, 2024 Open Cup Semifinalists Indy Eleven host a Bill Hamid-led Miami FC, who've been relying on the prolific Pancho Bonfiglio so far in this Open Cup.
Phoenix Rising FC travel to Oklahoma to take on FC Tulsa before the the last all-USL Championship clash pits two-time Open Cup Quarterfinalists New Mexico United at home in Albuquerque against an El Paso Locomotive side looking decidedly more dangerous than in previous years.
WATCH Indy Eleven v Miami FC LIVE on Paramount+
WATCH FC Tulsa v Phoenix Rising LIVE on Paramount+
WATCH NM United v EP Locomotive LIVE on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network
The rest of the Wednesday menu boasts some tasty USL Championship (Div. II) vs. USL League One (Div. III) contests.
The Third Round’s only game in Florida features a high-flying FC Naples, the USL League One club that have started life in the best possible way. Undefeated in league play as of the publishing of this article, they face off with a Tampa Bay Rowdies (USL Championship) side who recently let go of their coach, Robbie Neilson, and have started the year off poorly.
WATCH FC Naples v TB Rowdies FC LIVE on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network
“In the Open Cup, really, it can be a good thing to start from the position of the underdog,” said FC Naples coach Matt Poland, who recently made the jump from coaching amateurs Chicago House AC to the professional game. “You have literally nothing to lose and that can create a lot of freedom.”
Westchester SC – the first-year USL League One side from New York led by former NY Red Bull Kemar Lawrence and captain Juan Carlos Obregon Jr. – face the dreaded task of an away date against Championship powers Detroit City FC at their raucous homebase of Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.
WATCH Westchester SC v DCFC LIVE on Paramount+
Colorado Springs Switchbacks – reigning kings of the USL Championship – open at home against USL League One side One Knoxville SC, who pulled off a win over Greenville Triumph in the Second Round. Our Third Round wraps in Sin City, where Las Vegas Lights (USL Championship) host the underdog Chattanooga Red Wolves who are fresh off a win over their city rivals Chattanooga FC.
WATCH CS Switchbacks v One Knoxville LIVE on Paramount+
WATCH Las Vegas Lights v Chat. Red Wolves LIVE on Paramount+
Fontela is editor-in-chief of ussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.