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The Premier Development League's Carolina Dynamo had to come from behind twice Wednesday night but managed to outlcass their USL-1 rival Seattle Sounders for a 3-2 victory in the third round of the US Open Cup.

Carolina started the match strong, attacking from the opening kickoff and were lucky not to convert several opportunities in the first ten minutes into one or more goals. For a half hour, it appeared Seattle were tired from their long flight or simply disinterested in their PDL competition. Sloppy turnovers from the Sounders defense and more desire from the Dynamo lead to the balance of play in Carolina's half for the first third of the match.

The game then settled into a back-and-forth affair until a costly defensive lapse by Carolina gave Seattle a corner which Cam Weaver converted with his head in the 76th minute. Although many of the 500 or so on hand to see the Dynamo play their biggest match of the season probably felt their side was done for, someone forgot to send the memo to the players. Carolina attacked straight-away from the ensuing kickoff and within 90 seconds, Michael Lahoud, who had entered as a sub just before the Sounders goal, slotted home an equalizer.
With neither team finding a winner before full time, the teams moved to 30 minutes of extra time to settle the third round tie. 5 minutes into the first extra session, Seattle drew a penalty on the Dynamo and Andrew Gregor converted the spot kick which looked to have staved off a dramatic upset. But once again, the Dynamo were not interested in playing from behind and within 2 minutes UNC's Ben Hunter had leveled the score once again.

By this point, Seattle's travel-weary legs were beaten and their spirit broken. With the hometown fans urging their team on, the Dynamo pressed forward and Darryl Roberts headed home a corner midway through the second session of extra time to give Carolina a remarkable upset victory in the US Open Cup.

The win for Greensboro's amateur side sets up a dream "Dynamo Derby" in the fourth round as Carolina will travel to Robertson Stadium to take on the MLS's Houston Dynamo on August 2. In other action on Wednesday night, the Wilmington Hammerheads beat the Atlanta Silverbacks 2-1. The Hammerheads will host Red Bull NY in the fourth round at the Legion Sports Complex in Wilmington on August 2nd at 7:30pm EDT.

>> Pictures from the match are available at Flickr.