March 30 (1924)

A then-record crowd for a final of the National Challenge Cup (today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup) sees Vesper Buick of St. Louis lose, 4-2, to the Fall River (Mass.) Marksmen at High School Field, Grand and Laclede avenues. The paid crowd of 13,686 provides no advantage for the home team, which is outplayed for most of the game. “The St. Louis team did well to score two goals in the face of the vastly superior game of the visitors,” future U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame journalist Dent McSkimming will write in the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Using speed and long passes — typical of the style employed by St. Louis teams of that time — Fall River player-manager Harold Brittan says, “We beat them at their own game.” Brittan scores the game’s final goal in the final minute. Fred Morley scores twice and Johnny Reid once for the winners. Although outplayed, Vesper comes back twice to tie the score. Tom Harris converts a penalty kick in the 36th minute, and Joe McCarthy scores in the 52nd minute.