It is a storyline that unfolds unlike any other major professional sport — two professional teams, from different levels of play, play a game at a local high school. The game is not an exhibition match but rather a match of some significance. It is part of a tournament that crowns the sport's national champion.

Tonight, Hempfield will play host to such a game as the Harrisburg City Islanders square off against D.C. United in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $20 at the gate, and $1 of each ticket sold to members of the Hempfield Soccer Club will be donated to the "Seamus Benefit Fund." The fund was created to cover medical expenses for Seamus Donnelly, director of coaching and player development for the Hempfield Soccer Club, who was injured in an accident May 30.

This year's U.S. Open Cup began in June and was comprised of 16 amateur squads and 24 professional teams, including eight teams from Major League Soccer. Entering the third round, six teams remain from the United Soccer League First Division, and Harrisburg and the Richmond Kickers are the two lowest teams remaining, both from the USL Second Division.

Hempfield is an unusual site for a game of this magnitude, but the City Islanders are looking forward to opportunity to showcase the team in Lancaster.

"(Hempfield) is larger than our normal venue (on City Island)," said Harrisburg general manager Joe Sierko. "We played an exhibition at Manheim Township last fall and talked to the Hempfield Soccer Club about playing at Hempfield. We agreed that if we played a friendly with D.C. again, it would be at Hempfield."

The City Islanders, a first-time qualifier, opened Cup play with a 4-0 whitewash of the United States Adult Soccer Association's Aegean Hawks. In round two, the City Islanders slipped by the Professional Development League's Ocean City Barons, 2-1, to set up tonight's match against the United.

"Being in the Open Cup is great," said Sierko. "The guys are thrilled to be playing."

Now the City Islanders play host to a D.C. United team (7-5-2) that is tied for the top spot in MLS' Eastern Conference with New England at 23 points. The United most recently lost 1-0 to Houston Sunday. Prior to the loss, D.C. had been 7-1-1 in their last nine games following a 0-3-1 start.

The United roster is not set for the game and may not be until this morning. Captain and forward Jaime Moreno could return to the team following duty with the Bolivian national team. The United welcomed defender Bobby Boswell and forward and Middletown native Ben Olsen back Sunday, but both saw significant playing time and may not make the trip.

The United offense is led by forward Luciano Emilio (8 goals, 1 assist) and midfielder Christian Gomez (4 goals, 4 assists). Olsen (4 goals, 1 assist) and Brazilian midfielder Fred (1 goal, 4 assists) also play key roles in the United's regular offensive game.

It is expected United backup goalie Jay Nolly will start tonight. Nolly has made one start this year, a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake in which he made seven saves.

The City Islanders will counter with a side that is 7-2-4 in the USL-2 and has won six of its last seven games. The Islanders offense is keyed by Kenyan Mo Oduor, who leads the team with five goals and two assists. David Schofield has a team-high four assists and is the team's leading goal scorer in the tournament with two goals. Oduor, Adam Clay, Chad Severs and Hershey native Steve Fisher have tallied a goal each in the Cup.

If the Islanders reach the quarterfinals, they would pass the now-defunct Hershey Wildcats, who went 5-3 in three Open Cups, for the deepest run in the tournament by a Central Pennsylvania team.

"If we beat D.C., eyes from all over the soccer world would turn to us, the underdogs," said Sierko. "(Upsets are) the beauty of the Open Cup."

Notes: The official name of the tournament is the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, named for the late Kansas City Chiefs' owner and a pioneer of the early professional game in the United States. Hunt, a 1992 inductee of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, founded the North American Soccer League in 1967 and was an original investor in the MLS. He owned parts of the Kansas City Wizards, Columbus Crew and F.C. Dallas organizations. … Since the MLS was founded in 1996, the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the USL-1 (formally the A-League) are the only non-MLS team to win the Cup, taking it in 1999. … The tournament's format is unique among major team sports in the United States as any team in the country that is associated with the U.S. Soccer organization is eligible to qualify for the tournament. … A Pennsylvania team, Bethlehem Steel, won a record five Cups beginning in 1915 and the last occurring in 1926.

E-mail: wwelliver@lnpnews.com