I'm going to steal some of Shoe's thunder and hand out some cupcakes...

That's right, those are monkey cupcakes.

I'm giving them to the Silverbacks for tonight's win. No, I'm not drunk. I'm actually going to praise them for tonight's performance.

It wasn't the best game I've ever seen, and it wasn't the best performance I've seen by the 'Backs. But they got it done. They live to play an MLS team. They're one of the final 16.

After a first half in which it was difficult to distinguish which team was the USL-1 team and which was the USL-2 team, one change made all the difference.

When McManus came on for Rivillo at the half, things changed quickly. The team held possession much better, picked up a scrappy goal off a corner, and held on.

As Shoe said after the game, that 2nd goal was never coming for the Silverbacks. And McIntosh saved Jarun's bacon by saving the penalty kick. My guess is that it was the shoes.

But in any case, the Men of Monkey will now play at Dallas on July 10.

And what do ya know, we have AJC coverage!

Around the Open Cup tonight, no real shockers to speak of. I guess the biggest upset would be California's victory over Minnesota in extra time in Minnesota, just days after falling by the same score in the same stadium.

Rochester almost blew it but was rescued by a late goal to send it to extra time before eventually beating Western Mass.

Hopefully all of the big surprises in this year's tournament will come in the following rounds...