Dom Dwyer’s four goals help Sporting KC to 6-2 rout of FC Dallas

By the end of the first half, Sporting Kansas City’s Dom Dwyer had done cartwheels, jumped onto the barrier in front of the crowd and notched the team’s first hat trick since 2010.

That seemed plenty impressive at the time, but he was not finished yet.

He added one more goal after the break to become the first player in club history to find the net four times in a game, leading Sporting KC to a 6-2 U.S. Open Cup rout of FC Dallas in the Round of 16 in front of a sellout crowd of 19,113 fans at Sporting Park.

With the victory, Sporting snapped a two-year losing streak in the round of 16 and advanced to face the Houston Dynamo at 7:30 p.m. on July 21 at Sporting Park.

“I told the bench ‘The Bull is out,’” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said. “He was, and as a team we played well and were smart.”

Dwyer said he plans on celebrating by traveling up to Canada for the weekend to watch his wife, Sydney Leroux, play with the U.S. Women’s National Team. She and her teammates topped Germany on Tuesday night to advance to the championship game of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The U.S. will face Japan at 6 p.m. on Sunday with a chance to win its third World Cup title and first since 1999.

In the fifth minute, Benny Feilhaber sent a corner kick across the back post and Dwyer was there to head it home. The two connected again in the 30th minute on a free kick, which Dwyer had to head out of triple coverage.

The goal was the 11th header for Sporting KC this season, which includes a league-best eight in MLS play.

Dwyer struck for the third time on a penalty kick after he was taken down in the box. It was the first hat trick in Sporting Park history and the first since Birahim Diop accomplished the feat on Oct. 23, 2010.

Krisztian Nemeth, who was tabbed as May’s MLS player of the month, joined the party in stoppage time to push the lead to 4-0. He tapped in a cross from none other than Feilhaber, who finished the game with three assists and 13 in all competitions.

Nemeth kept it up after the break adding his second goal on a mathematically curious shot he chipped in from the right byline.

FC Dallas finally broke through in the 62nd minute with a goal from Michael Barrios. It ended a streak of 448 shutout minutes for Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia at home.

Dwyer got the ball again on a free kick from 25 yards out in the 69th minute and promptly curled it around the wall and into the right side of the net for the team’s record-tying sixth goal in a game. The only other time the team scored six was in a 6-0 victory against New York on June 20, 1999.

“You might not believe this, but I walked into Krisztian tonight and said I was going to get five and he was going to get three,” Dwyer said. “That’s why we were laughing on the pitch, and we are pleased to get the result.”

Dallas added another goal in the 72nd minute with a shot from Kellyn Acosta, but could not get any closer.

Sporting KC extended its home winning streak to seven games with the victory and have outscored opponents 19-4 in that span. The team will play at home again at 7:30 p.m. on July 18 hosting the Montreal Impact.

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Sporting Kansas City 6

FC Dallas 2

DALLAS: Chris Seitz, Moises Hernandez (Victor Ulloa, 46th), Matt Hedges (Kellyn Acosta, 60th), Walker Zimmerman, Atiba Harris, Ryan Hollingshead (Alex Zendejas, 68th), Michel, Je-Vaughn Watson, Michael Barrios, Rolando Escobar, David Texeira.

KANSAS CITY: Tim Melia, Jalil Anibaba, Kevin Ellis, Matt Besler, Amadou Dia, Soni Mustivar, Benny Feilhaber (Paulo Nagamura, 62nd), Roger Espinoza, Jacob Peterson (Saad Abdul-Salaam, 50th), Dom Dwyer, Krisztian Nemeth (Connor Hallisey, 75th).

GOAL SCORING

Dallas: 6, Barrios (Texeira), 62nd minute. 8, Acosta, 73rd minute. Kansas City: 1, Dwyer (Feilhaber), 5th minute. 2, Dwyer (Feilhaber), 30th minute. 3, Dwyer (penalty kick), 41st minute. 4, Nemeth (Peterson, Feilhaber), 45th+ minute, 5, Nemeth (Abdul-Salaam), 59th minute. 7, Dwyer, 69th minute.

CAUTIONS

Dallas: Michel, 15th; Zimmerman, 69th.

Kansas City: None.

RED CARDS

St. Louis: None.

Kansas City: None.

OFFICIALS

Referee: c.

Assistant referee: c.

Assistant referee: c.

4th official: c.

Announced attendance: 19,113.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Dom Dwyer’s four goals help Sporting KC to 6-2 rout of FC Dallas."