“The Red Card Wedding, Marcus Hahhneman chugging a beer – the legend of Starfire and the Open Cup goes way, way back,” smiled Andrew Thomas, the young goalkeeper who’s spent the last two years penning his own chapter in the little stadium’s lore.
For those not aware, we’ll clarify. The Red Card Wedding was a Fourth Rounder in 2015 against archrivals Portland Timbers, famous for a frenzy of cards that culminated in Clint Dempsey ripping up the ref’s notebook in an infamous act of dissent that earned the USMNT legend a two-year ban from the Open Cup. Marcus Hahnemann Chugging a Beer is exactly what it sounds like – the beloved goalkeeper, in his last season for his hometown club, was inspired against those same Timbers and, after the game, made an even trade of his jersey for a fan’s full pint of beer. And down it went after a salute to the crowd.
Starfire, that’s the 4000-seat stadium where the Sounders, four-time winners of our Open Cup, play their early round games each year. It’s also where the Tacoma Defiance, the Sounders MLS NEXT Pro (Div. III) affiliate play their games. It’s south of the city, on the banks of the Green River in Tukwila, Washington. Its thickets of Ponderosa and Lodgepole Pine and the ground’s cozy dimensions have combined, through the years, to make a kind of Cup Magic Potion for the Sounders.
This year, with the Defiance playing in the Open Cup for the first time since a lone debut appearance in 2015, it’s conjuring similar magic. And no one knows more about it than Thomas, the goalkeeper who led the way in three straight wins in last year’s run to the Semis with the Sounders and is now lining up with a young Defiance outfit in this year’s Cup to impart knowledge, leadership and a signature ferocity.
“It’s a small field,” said the 26-year-old Thomas, who looks a little like Robin Hood with slicked blonde locks and trimmed mustache, and who plays with the kind of high-volume intensity well suited to the knockout chaos of the Open Cup. “You always know it’s going to be hectic here – it’s just a few thousand fans, but you can really feel them. They let you know they’re there.”
The energy at Starfire-Sounders games is special. The fans who’d make the trip down I-5 aren’t tourists, or your day-trip picnickers. They’re the hard-liners – the ones who honor the history of a club born long ago among the flared sideburns and no-shinguard abandon of the NASL of the 1970s.
Before a move to MLS in 2009, humble Starfire was the Sounders’ home when they played in the Division II USL Championship. And it’s been the home of the Defiance, who are benefitting from its cozy confines and wild energy in this year’s Open Cup, since starting life in 2015.
“You can always expect crazy games, with high adrenaline and excitement,” said Thomas, who stepped in for regular Defiance goalkeepers Lars Terje Helleren and Jacob Castro in the 2025 Third Round at Starfire – a tense 2-1 win over USL Championship (Div. II) side Oakland Roots.
He’s bringing the same kind of leadership he displayed with the Sounders last year – especially in the opener against Championship powers Louisville City. The game ended 2-2 through extra time before heading to a shootout. Thomas saved two before putting the result on his shoulders by taking the eighth (and decisive) spot kick.
“I was just looking over to the bench around the fourth kick and they were suggesting that I should take one of the next ones,” he said of the moments leading up to his winning shot – low and hard and virtually unstoppable. “And I was just like OK, let’s do this. I had the adrenaline of just making the save and I was ready, eager to have the chance to end the game myself.”
The celebrations that followed that opening win in 2024 will be filed away with all those other magic Starfire moments. “The energy was high, the euphoria, the scramble – it’s the Cup so you only have one shot at it,” he said, summing up the frenzy and jeopardy that makes Open Cup games so special. “I was thrilled to have been able to do my part in creating that – adding a little to that fantastic moment.”
That result kick-started a Sounders’ run to the Semifinals, played again at Starfire against eventual Champions LAFC, led by former World Cup winners Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris. “It was frustrating to have gone so tantalizingly close, and to concede a late penalty no less,” Thomas said of that game.
He’s the kind of goalkeeper who’ll applaud his wall for standing tall, whether it’s with the Sounders first team – where he’s the understudy to legendary veteran and MLS icon Stefan Frei – or as a leader with the young up-and-comers of the Defiance (one of just for Division III teams still alive in the 2025 round of 32). His love of the Open Cup, and the entire Sounders organization’s heritage in the competition, is a source of pride. And something to protect.
“What’s happening now is awesome for these guys [the Defiance players], carrying the flame and trying to get as far as possible in the Open Cup, being a part of that tradition here in Seattle,” said Thomas, a natural cajoler and a motivator – with boundless energy and enthusiasm. “They’ve earned the right to play against the Portland Timbers in a game that matters in the Open Cup – in this special tournament.
“And that’s a game that’s its own reward,” he insisted.
Seattle Sounders v. Portland Timbers is a rivalry, known officially since 2024 as the Cascadia Cup, that’s existed in some form since back in 1975 and the old NASL. It’s a Pacific-Northwest showdown, full of bad blood, that’s produced most of the memorable moments in Sounders-Starfire Open Cup history. And this year’s version, though modified and with Tacoma standing in for the full senior side, will be no less full of thunder and fire, according to Thomas.
“It’s a responsibility to make sure you give it everything you have,” said Thomas about the Round of 32 clash on May 6 (LIVE on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network). “This is the Portland Timbers at home at Starfire. And that’s about as cool as it can get for these players. This is the game that matters and the energy must be there.”
It’s amid these Cup fires and perils where Thomas has shown his essential nature – as a competitor and a man hungry for more everything whether he’s playing for the Defiance or the Sounders. “There’s a kind of desperation to these Cup games,” he said. “You find yourself losing and maybe there’s a handful of minutes left and you’ve got to solve the problem. And if you do, there’s euphoria. But there’s no hiding.”
“You need everyone to be up for the fight – and everyone is going to be going into the Timbers game feeling like, ‘hey, we can do something special here’,” said Thomas, not one to get ahead of the test at hand, but also knowing there’s a new chapter of Starfire history to be written. “You never know what can happen here. It can be a tricky place to play and our guys are going to be up for it.
“We’ll need to create as much energy as possible,” he said, eyes flashing. “To drive the intensity.”
Fontela is editor-in-chief of ussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.