Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup

The Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup is a Major League Soccer (MLS) series between FC Dallas and the Columbus Crew. The series is named after the late Lamar Hunt, who was one of the league's early major investors and a key supporter of American soccer. Initially, the series was contested between the two teams still owned by the Hunt Sports Group (Sporting Kansas City was also previously owned by the Hunt Sports Group, but was sold before the Pioneer Cup began). However, Columbus was sold in 2013, and thus FC Dallas remains the only MLS team still owned by the Hunt Sports Group. The Pioneer Cup is the second event in American soccer named after Lamar Hunt, whose name is also given to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup initial logo
TypeCup awarded to the team with the most aggregate goals per year
First meetingMarch 11, 2007
Friendly
Dallas 0–3 Columbus
Latest meetingSeptember 23, 2023
MLS regular season
Dallas 1–1 Columbus
Stadiums
Statistics
All-time recordColumbus: 6
Drawn: 5
Dallas: 3

The first two editions of the Pioneer Cup were single preseason matches. The inaugural edition was played on March 11, 2007 at Pizza Hut Park (now known as Toyota Stadium), with Columbus defeating Dallas 3–0.[1] Proceeds from the game went to the charity Dallas SCORES.[2] The second edition of the Cup was played on March 20, 2010, at Pizza Hut Park with Dallas defeating Columbus 2–1 in heavy snow.[3][4]

In 2011, the Pioneer Cup was changed to a two-game, aggregate-goal series played during the regular season. The first leg was played at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on April 1, 2011. The Crew took advantage of FC Dallas going one man down in the 33rd minute to win 2–0. The second and deciding leg was played at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, on July 2, 2011, with Dallas winning 2–0. Tied 2–2 on aggregate, Columbus regained the Pioneer Cup with the tie being broken by all-time head-to-head goals, 6–4 in favor of Columbus.

When Major League Soccer restructured scheduling ahead of the 2012 season, Columbus and Dallas would play only once in the regular season. Therefore, the Cup was changed to a one-game, winner-take-all contest. In the event of a draw, the all time head-to-head goals tiebreaker remained. In the 2013 edition, Columbus scored four goals with three different scorers to win the Cup for the second straight year. The 2014 contest was a bit more lackluster than previous encounters. An early summer thunderstorm suspended the start of the match and then eventually postponed it to the following day after a Columbus fan was struck by lightning and injured prior to the game being started.[5] The game was played the next day on a hot afternoon, but no player from either side could find the net in a match then ended scoreless. Due to the scoreless draw, Columbus retained the Cup for the third year in a row due to the all-time head-to-head goals tiebreaker being 12–7 in Columbus' favor.

Columbus played their last match with FC Dallas in 2019 at the Historic Crew Stadium (known as Mapfre Stadium at the time) on March 16, 2019. Columbus would later move to Lower.com Field in July 2021.[6]

In the 2021 MLS season, neither Columbus nor Dallas would play each other for the first time since 2009 due to the small number of inter-conference matches taken place between Eastern and Western conference teams.

Winners edit

Year Winner Columbus pts Dallas pts Note
2007 Columbus Crew 3 0 Won in pre-season
2010 FC Dallas 1 2 Won in pre-season
2011 Columbus Crew 2 2 Won via head-to-head goals tie-breaker (6–4)
2012 Columbus Crew 2 1 Won in regular season
2013 Columbus Crew 4 2 Won in regular season
2014 Columbus Crew 1 1 Retained via head-to-head goals tie-breaker (13–8)
2015 FC Dallas 0 3 Won in regular season
2016 Columbus Crew 1 1 Retained via head-to-head goals tie-breaker (14–12)
2017 Columbus Crew 2 1 Won in regular season
2018 Columbus Crew 0 0 Retained via head-to-head goals tie-breaker (16–13)
2019 Columbus Crew 1 0 Won in regular season
2020 Columbus Crew 2 2 Retained via head-to-head goals tie-breaker (19–15)
2021 None 0 0 No matches were held
2022 None 0 0 No matches were held
2023 Columbus Crew 1 1 Retained via head-to-head goals tie-breaker (20–16)

Match results edit

  Columbus win   Dallas win   Draw

Date Venue Score Competition Attendance Ref.
March 11, 2007 Pizza Hut Park 3–0 Preseason friendly
March 20, 2010 Pizza Hut Park 2–1 Preseason friendly [4]
April 1, 2011 Crew Stadium 2–0 MLS regular season 14,459 [7]
July 2, 2011 Pizza Hut Park 2–0 MLS regular season 20,074 [8]
May 12, 2012 Columbus Crew Stadium 2–1 MLS regular season 11,120 [9]
September 29, 2013 FC Dallas Stadium 4–2 MLS regular season 11,422 [10]
June 29, 2014 Columbus Crew Stadium 0–0 MLS regular season 20,617 [11]
September 6, 2015 Mapfre Stadium 3–0 MLS regular season 20,217
April 2, 2016 Toyota Stadium 1–1 MLS regular season 13,174 [12]
August 26, 2017 Mapfre Stadium 2–1 MLS regular season 18,379 [13]
September 15, 2018 Toyota Stadium 0–0 MLS regular season 16,030 [14]
March 16, 2019 Mapfre Stadium 1–0 MLS regular season 9,687 [15]
October 3, 2020 Toyota Stadium 2–2 MLS regular season 3,572 [16]
September 23, 2023 Toyota Stadium 1–1 MLS regular season 17,948 [17]
CLB wins Draws FCD wins
6 5 3

References edit

  1. ^ Hunt, Steve (March 11, 2007). "FC Dallas fall to Crew in Hunt tribute". FC Dallas. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  2. ^ Hunt, Steve (March 10, 2007). "Hoops, Crew set to honor Hunt". FC Dallas. Retrieved July 14, 2008.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Carrick, Buzz (March 4, 2010). "Pioneer Cup Returns". 3rd Degree. 3rdDegree.net. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Crew falls to FC Dallas in Lamar Hunt Cup". Columbus Crew. TheCrew.com. March 24, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  5. ^ "Soccer | Crew: Firefighter struck by lightning; game rescheduled for today". Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  6. ^ "Columbus Crew SC 1-0 FC Dallas". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Crew beat FCD for first win of the season". Major League Soccer. TheCrew.com. April 1, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  8. ^ Casner, Robert (July 2, 2011). "Match Recap: FC Dallas 2, Columbus 0". FC Dallas. FCDallas.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  9. ^ "Recap: Miranda, Crew rally past 10-man FC Dallas 2–1". MLSsoccer.com. May 12, 2012. Archived from the original on May 16, 2012.
  10. ^ "Recap: Crew draws closer to playoff picture with key road win". September 29, 2013.
  11. ^ "Black & Gold draw FC Dallas at home in postponed match". MLSsoccer.com. June 29, 2014.
  12. ^ "FC Dallas 1, Columbus Crew SC 1 | 2016 MLS Match Recap". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  13. ^ "Columbus Crew SC 2–1 FC Dallas". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  14. ^ "FC Dallas 0-0 Columbus Crew SC". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  15. ^ "Columbus Crew SC 1-0 FC Dallas". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  16. ^ "FC Dallas 2-2 Columbus Crew SC". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  17. ^ "DALvsCLB 09-23-2023". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 27 September 2023.