The chaos of the U.S. Open Cup: Why Sharktopus gets a rematch

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  • Jeff CarlisleOct 22, 2025, 05:57 PM ET

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      Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.

Midway through the second round qualifying match in the U.S. Open Cup between Bellevue Athletic and the eye-catching name of Sharktopus FC, Sharktopus manager Leo Ohannesian noticed something odd. The Bellevue players seemed a little too friendly with the referee.

"As a passionate soccer coach, I could disagree with the calls," Ohannesian told ESPN. "There were some questionable ones, but there was [other] stuff during the game. They were calling him 'buddy' and by his first name, and I was like, 'That's kind of weird.' I usually refer to the referees as 'sir.'"

After the match, which was won by Bellevue, 4-3, Ohannesian understood better the reason for the familiar tone: one of the Sharktopus players relayed to him that the referee had, at one time, played for Bellevue.

When Ohannesian got home, he looked up the referee's Instagram page and found video of him playing for Bellevue's reserve team, B2.

"And so then I sent a message to U.S. Soccer and I was like, 'Hey, is this something that's protestable? Because this seems like a conflict of interest,'" he said. "And they were like, 'What?'"

As turns out, not only was the incident protestable -- for a $500 fee -- but it resulted in the U.S. Open Cup adjudication & disciplinary panel ruling that the game should be replayed in its entirety.

"The replay has been ordered to protect the integrity of the competition based on the presence of a conflict of interest, as the referee was confirmed to be a recent player for Bellevue Athletic's second team, B2," the panel said in a statement.

The statement added, "The Panel wants to be clear for the record that its decision does not reflect any evidence or belief that any party attempted to influence the competition, nor should the decision be viewed as a referendum of the on-field performance of the match officials during the match in question."

Welcome to the chaos that is the U.S. Open Cup, a competition that any team in the country can enter and at times features amateur sides going up against professional teams. The USOC was first played in 1913-14 and has been contested every year since save for the 2020 and 2021 editions, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The names of past champions are rife with the game's immigrant, working-class beginnings in the U.S., teams like Bethlehem Steel, Fall River SC and the New York Pancyprian-Freedoms.

That Bellevue Athletic or Sharktopus might join that illustrious list of giants is the longest of long shots. Since the advent of MLS in 1996, only one non-MLS team, the second-tier Rochester Rhinos, have won the trophy, having done so in 1999. These days, only 16 of the 30 MLS teams take part, a sad development for such a storied competition, but it does offer a chance for amateurs to rub elbows with the big boys and gain a little notoriety along the way -- be it with their play or even their team name.

Like other cup competitions around the world, it isn't unusual for lower-division teams to upend their more well-funded opponents. Just this year, San Francisco-based amateur side El Farolito defeated two professional side, Real Monarchs of MLS Next PRO and Monterey Bay of the USL Championship.

There have been other crazy moments besides the results. Former U.S. international Clint Dempsey was once suspended from the USOC for two years for tearing up a referee's notebook. The fact that the matches are often played in smaller venues makes for an intense atmosphere.

The story of how Sharktopus FC got its name has been lost to the sands of time. When asked about the origins of the name, Ohannesian said, "No one knows."

Amateur teams come and go, like raindrops in a thunderstorm, but they are often the ties that bind. Ohannesian recalled how when he first moved to the Seattle area in 2017, he found the city to be "kind of a lonely place" and it was through soccer than he found a like-minded community. Keeping with the animal-inspired theme, Sharktopus appropriately plays in the RATS League (for Recreational Adult Team Soccer), and has gradually upped its game to the level of taking part in the USOC.

The presence of such teams makes local bragging rights as much a part of the fabric of the tournament as hoisting the trophy, hence the kerfuffle over what took place in the Bellevue-Sharktopus match.

Bellevue Athletic sporting director Anastacio Rivera admitted that the situation should have never taken place. He told ESPN that the referee in question is well known in the Seattle area, and had played for B2 as recently as June. Rivera added that the referee was asked prior to the game if there was an issue with him working the match, and he indicated that there wasn't.

Bellevue now feels hard done by, that it is being punished for a situation that transpired through no fault of its own. U.S. Soccer sources have made it clear that neither team is in the wrong. The referee has also been highly rated in previous matches. But there is something to be said about maintaining the integrity of the competition, which Rivera understands.

"I just want to be clear. We support the whole sentiment. We support that," Rivera said about avoiding conflicts of interest. "[The referee] probably shouldn't be reffing a game of ours. We didn't think he should, but when you ask him and he says it's cleared with everybody, then there's not much we can do at the time."

Rivera added that Bellevue filed an appeal of the decision to the adjudication & disciplinary panel, beating a deadline of 4 p.m. CT on Wednesday, and paying a $500 fee of its own.

If the decision is upheld, the replay will have to take place prior to the start of the third round of the competition on Nov. 1. Once it's played, another wild chapter of the USOC will go into the history books.

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