Carolina Core FC to travel to NCFC in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Third Round

CHICAGO (April 5, 2024) — Carolina Core FC will travel to take on USL Championship club North Carolina FC on Wednesday, April 17, at 7 p.m. ET at WakeMed Soccer Park in the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, U.S. Soccer announced Thursday following the draw. 

CCFC defeated USL League Two side Vermont Green FC, 2-1, on the road in the second round of the competition. The third round will mark North Carolina FC’s introduction to the 2024 edition of the historic cup. 

Fans can now purchase a bundle that includes a ticket to the match and travel on a CCFC fan bus that will take them to and from the match. The bus departs at 4:30pm. This package can be bought using the link here.

Broadcasts of all matches will continue to be streamed live on usopencup.com, mlssoccer.com, and uslsoccer.com during the Third Round as well as the Rounds of 32 and 16. This unparalleled access to the tournament ensures soccer fans across the country will have access to every action-packed match — including the entrance of USL Championship and Major League Soccer sides — in the nation’s oldest and most prestigious soccer competition. Additional broadcast details for the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Final will be announced in the near future. 

The Carolina Derby will serve as the first official matchup between the two teams, with the pair having played a preseason friendly in February.

NCFC currently sits 7th in the USL Championship Eastern Conference standings with five points from five games and a -2 goal differential. 

Third Round pairings were created by placing equal numbers of USL Championship sides and Second Round winners into pools based on geography and drawing randomly from those groups. Home teams for each round were determined by random selection among those who applied to host. Clubs whose venue meet minimum tournament standards were given priority. 

The remaining eight Div. II USL Championship sides (champions Phoenix Rising FC and the next seven best teams from the 2023 regular-season standings) enter in the Round of 32 (May 7-8) alongside the eight competing Div. I Major League Soccer clubs. The Round of 32 draw is slated to take place on Thursday, April 18. 

NCFC and Carolina Core were drawn out of the Atlantic group. Loudoun United FC and the Richmond Kickers were the other two teams in the group and will play each other. The full third round schedule can be found here. 

Tickets for the bus package to and from the match can be purchased here.

About the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup 

Now in its 109th edition, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup – U.S. Soccer's Club Championship – has crowned a champion since 1914 in every year except 2020 and 2021. The history-filled tournament is conducted on a single-game-knockout basis and open to all professional and amateur teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. In 1999, the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States was renamed to honor American soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.

The U.S. Open Cup winner will earn $300,000 in prize money, a berth in the Concacaf Champions Cup and have its name engraved on the Dewar Challenge Trophy – one of the oldest nationally-contested trophies in American team sports – now on permanent display at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas. The runner-up will earn $100,000, while the team that advances the furthest from each lower division will take home a $25,000 cash prize.

Houston Dynamo are defending Open Cup champions, having earned the club's second tournament title thanks to a 2-1 victory against fellow MLS club Inter Miami CF on September 27, 2023 in a Final played before a capacity crowd at Miami’s Chase Stadium.

usopencup.com is the official website of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Fans can also follow the competition on Twitter and Instagram @OpenCup and Facebook @OfficialOpenCup.