April 16 (1934)

Stix, Baer and Fuller of St. Louis retains the National Challenge Cup (today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup) by beating the Pawtucket (R.I.) Rangers, 5-0, in the third and deciding game of the best-of-three series. The game is held before more than 8,000 fans (7,657 paid) at St. Louis’s Walsh Stadium in the first-ever National Challenge Cup final match played at night. Stix won the opener, 4-2, at Walsh Stadium April 1 and Pawtucket won, 3-2, at Pawtucket April 8. Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Billy Gonsalves, considered one of the best players in American soccer history, “uncorked his finest effort of the season,” Herman Wecke will write in the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Gonsalves opens the scoring on a header in the 41stminute. Stix breaks open the game with four second-half goals, one by Gonsalves, two by future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Werner Nilsen, and one by Willie McLean. The St. Louis team will three-peat in 1935, under the name Central Brewers, beating Pawtucket again in the Cup finals.