Other Colorado Soccer Teams and the Open Cup

With the release of the first two rounds of Open Cup pairings for 2017 I thought this was a good time to review some other soccer teams in Colorado.  We'll start from the "bottom" and work our way up through the leagues.

Azteca FC - Colorado Premier League - Azteca FC is one of 10 teams in the top level of the CPL.  The league plays their games in Broomfield and Dove Valley.  Azteca beat fellow league sides FC Denver and Harpos FC in qualifying rounds to be one of the local qualifiers in the 1st round of the Open Cup.  They'll travel to Wichita to take on NPSL side FC Wichita in the first round of the Cup.  If they win they'll travel to St. Louis to play USL side St. Louis FC in the second round.

Colorado Rush - Colorado Premier League - The Rush CPL team is the top level of the Colorado Rush club organization.  Rush beat FC Boulder of the 2nd division of the CPL and Oregon side IPS/Marathon Taverna (on the road) to make it to the first round of the Open Cup as a local qualifier.  They'll take on FC Tucson of the PDL in Tucson in the first round of the Open Cup with a trip to Colorado Spring to take on the Switchbacks awaiting the winners.

Colorado Springs Switchbacks - United Soccer League - As a member of the USL the Switchbacks automatically qualify for the Open Cup and get a bye to the second round.  They'll get the winner of the Colorado Rush - FC Tucson first round match.

Colorado Rapids - Major League Soccer - Likewise as a member of MLS the Rapids automatically qualify, and they get a bye to the 4th round.  The last two years they've hosted the Switchbacks in that round and I would expect that to continue should the Switchbacks (or any of the Colorado teams) make it to that round.

Veering away from the Open Cup for a sec I wanted to give a shout out to one other lower league team.  Kingston Stockade FC is based in Kingston NY in the Hudson River Valley.  They play in the North Atlantic conference of the Northeast region of the National Premier Soccer League.  The NPSL is roughly equiavlent to the PDL and unofficially they both kind of fill the 4th level of the U.S. soccer pyramid.  The reason I wanted to mention them that this season (their second) they're coached by former Rapids media director David Lindholm.  Stockade FC didn't qualify for the Open Cup this year sadly but there's always 2018.