Domestic soccer in the United States is in full swing and the most prestigious tournament in the sport’s history returns this week. The US Open Cup is back with Cinderella stories, shocking game winners, and plucky underdogs just around the corner. Last year, the Box State had four representatives in the tournament including the 2024 USL Champions Colorado Springs Switchbacks, the (now league-less) inaugural Jagermeister Cup champions the Northern Colorado Hailstorm, the Colorado Rapids second team Rapids 2, and the local representative that year Azteca FC. This year, the tournament will have just two representatives in the cup that being the Switchbacks and local representative Harpos FC who have previously been profiled before.
I had a chance to reconnect with managing director of Harpos Johnny Freeston ahead of their tournament preparations and was invited to one of their trainings on a balmy Wednesday night in Lafayette. The Bullshit Pub Team are eager to make a good impression in this tournament and will do so first against El Paso Locomotive of the USL Championship.
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Return to Form
Harpos are no stranger to this tournament. They’ve missed out on qualifying the last four years but have had prior runs in 2015, 2016, and 2020. The 2020 edition of the tournament was scrapped due to COVID and the club went into a rebuild-as much of the world did-following the economic impact of the pandemic. That rebuild culminates to today with Harpos back in the competition and feeling hopeful. Harpos’ qualification came against league rivals Azteca who played MLS Next Pro side Rapids 2 in a Colorado-matchup at Dicks Sporting Goods Park. That matchup resulted in a 3-0 loss ending their cup run. Harpos won’t have the benefit of home field advantage as they will be traveling to Southwest University Park in El Paso, Texas. The downtown ground boasts 10,000 capacity but it is a baseball stadium with a rugged pitch. Harpos have been keeping this in mind throughout their preparation.
I was fortunate to be in attendance for one of their training sessions at Centaurus High School. Training, as with most teams at this level, happened in the evening to accommodate work schedules. The club embraced the evening’s cold grasp and quickly began match preparation. Kevin Pugh, Harpos’ goalkeeper coach with a robust background in education, was the first face I met. Pugh is a varsity assistant coach for Centaurus HS and had access to Spangenberg Field for training. Once training began, I was able to capture some pictures, videos, sound bytes from Freeston and two players Joel Chavez and Judson McKinney.
Training was led by Harpos FC coach Colin Harrison. A Colorado native, Harrison has an extensive history both playing and coaching soccer across various levels. He’s also a Colorado School of Mines assistant coach. Pugh took the goalkeepers off to the side and did some work with them. Freeston and I looked on exchanging soccer stories and I sporadically excused myself at various moments to capture some of the fun. Found below are all my interviews from the night including some training footage.
Johnny Freeston
Judson McKinney
Joel Chavez
Opposition Brief
As far as opposition team quality goes, Harpos will like their chances here. On occasion, they’ll scrimmage against the Switchbacks so there’s familiariaty with the level they’re coming up against here. El Paso Locomotive ended last year at the bottom of the USL Western Conference. They have just recently started their 2025 Season with a record of 0W-2D-0L and will need to navigate the early fixture congestion and fatigue of a First Round US Open Cup. Another factor worth mentioning is El Paso’s ground. As the Open Cup has shown, there’s quite a few interesting places that soccer is played. El Paso will host Harpos playing out of a baseball field which has a rougher pitch than the team is normally used to.
Harpos have had some tune up matches to get in some final polishing minutes and head into this encounter with plenty to be hopeful for. Will that be enough for a Harpos cupset? At the end of the day, there’s a clear talent disparity between the two teams. But coming up against one of the weaker sides in the Championship should be a good test for the side. Would Harpos have a better shot against a top end USL League One side or a Next Pro side? As far as peaks go, if the highest metaphorical mountain they’ve faced is Colorado Springs, El Paso looks like the obvious next highest. As Freeston said above, it’s Pros vs Joes, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a cheeky cupset here. Why not Harpos?
Lot Sessions
As is tradition for the clubs, after training the squad posted up next to their tailgates, popped out some coolers, and began their lot session which fosters the brotherhood and companionship mentioned in the interviews above. Luckily for me, I was invited to this session and cracked a beer with the squad as they exchanged stories regarding work, school, and their general US Open Cup ambitions and excitement. I want to thank the club for letting me hang around to help tell their story and preparation for this matchup.
Amidst a freezing night, I was welcomed by a club that exudes passion, sticks to it’s core tenants, and basks in the underdog mentality. Thanks again to the club and Johnny Freeston for the invite, access, and the interviews.
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Harpos first round matchup in the prestigious US Open Cup is this Wednesday, March 19th against El Paso Locomotive at 7:00 PM MST.
