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Game Preview: Kickers Playing in the US Open Cup on Thursday

Win and move on. Lose and dream of the Open Cup next year.

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What is the Open Cup? – Technically, The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is a knockout cup competition in men’s American soccer. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States. What makes it exciting is that it pits teams from all levels of U.S. soccer against each other. Amateur teams if they make far enough could end up facing top-level (MLS) professional teams. MLS teams have dominated the competition since the league began play in 1996. No lower division team has won the U.S. Open Cup since the Rochester Rhinos in 1999, and none have reached the final since the Charleston Battery in 2008. Our very own Richmond Kickers won the Open Cup in 1995 and in 2011 the Kickers went on the road and beat two MLS Teams the Columbus Crew and Sporting KC. They fell to the Chicago Fire in the semi-final.

1995 Open Cup Winners Richmond Kickers

Opponent:  Cleveland SC (Beat Lionsbridge to advance)
Date/Time: Thursday, April 6th, 7 PM
Last Result: League 1-2 loss to Charlotte

Weather Forecast From WeatherBug.com

Three Things to Kick About

  1. Underdogs Bite – Underdogs in this tournament have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They nearly always come in with a chip on their shoulder and aren’t afraid to make up for a lack of talent with a few (or more than a few) hard fouls. Open Cup games in these early rounds are rarely pretty but they are often exciting hard-hitting affairs. I expect this to be more of the same.
  2. Emiliano Where for Art Thou – Last year’s MVP and Golden Boot winner Emiliano Terzaghi has been completely MIA the first three games. This is through no real fault of his own. Regardless this needs to change.
  3. Time Off – The Kicker don’t have another game until April 15th after this match. That means the Kickers will be able to throw as many starters as they can and not have to worry about a league game on the horizon. This is great news because it gives the team to gel and get ready for the long season ahead.

Prediction

As always Open Cup games are a crap shoot to predict. Anything can and will happen. On paper this should be a piece of cake for the Kickers. Cleveland SC is an American semi-professional soccer club based in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio region. Cleveland competes in the National Premier Soccer League as part of the Midwest Region’s Great Lakes Conference. Other than that little information I don’t know much about the team.

Kickers 2, Cleveland SC 0

 

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Richard Hayes is the co-founder of RVAHub. When he isn't rounding up neighborhood news, he's likely watching soccer or chasing down the latest and greatest board game.

Community

Richmond Folk Festival Announces First Set of Performers

You’ll notice a well-known local band in the list performing at the best festival in the state of Virginia.

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The Richmond Folk Festival returns October 13-15, 2023, and celebrates its 19th anniversary, having become one of Virginia’s largest events. The beloved festival draws fans each year to downtown Richmond’s riverfront to celebrate the roots, richness, and variety of American culture through music, dance, traditional crafts, storytelling, and food.

The free event hosts 200,000 people over a three-day weekend. Featuring six stages and showcasing music and dance from more than 30 performing groups from around the nation and the world, the Richmond Folk Festival today announces the first eight artists of what will once again make up a culturally diverse and artistically excellent program.

“We are looking forward to showcasing downtown Richmond’s ever-changing riverfront once again for a beautiful weekend of music, dance, food, and crafts with the James River and our city skyline as the perfect backdrop,” said Stephen Lecky, director of events at Venture Richmond. “This is the 19th year of the festival, and we couldn’t be more proud of its legacy in Richmond and across Virginia.”

The Richmond Folk Festival is presented by Venture Richmond Events in partnership with the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA), Virginia Humanities, Center for Cultural Vibrancy, Children’s Museum, and the City of Richmond.

Artists to be featured at the 2023 Richmond Folk Festival include:

  • Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band (Mandinka)
    Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
  • Bio Ritmo (salsa)
    Richmond, Virginia
  • Chuck Mead (rockabilly and honky-tonk)
    Nashville, Tennessee
  • Genticorum (Québécois)
    Montreal, Québec
  • Hālau ‘O Lilinoe (traditional Hawai’ian hula)
    Carson, California
  • Kala Ramnath (Hindustani violin)
    San Francisco, California
  • Melody Angel (Chicago blues)
    Chicago, Illinois
  • Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper (bluegrass)
    Charlestown, Indiana

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Community

Activation Capital Announces Plans for Development of Innovation Center – A New Life Sciences Center at Bio+Tech Park

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Activation Capital, an innovation ecosystem development organization, announced plans to develop the 102,000-square foot Innovation Center in the Bio+Tech Park in Richmond, Virginia.

The 34-acre Bio+Tech Park is a commercial life sciences hub in downtown Richmond adjacent to the VCU Medical Center at Virginia Commonwealth University and is home to over 70 companies, research institutes, and state/federal laboratories. Activation Capital recently announced Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin awarded Activation Capital a $15 million portion of a total $66.7 million in grant funding for life sciences projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Amy J. Broderick and Kate Hosko of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, along with David Thomann of Cushman & Wakefield’s Life Science Group in Boston, MA, have been awarded the exclusive leasing representation for the Innovation Center. Planned for delivery in late 2025, the center will feature approximately 35,000+ square feet of trophy class lab and creative office space for a lead tenant. Approximately 45,000 sf will be dedicated to an incubator operated by Activation Capital and will include shared labs, private offices, and community gathering spaces. The new building will be located at the corner of 8th Street and Jackson Street.

“As part of our strategic plan to create a thriving ecosystem, Activation Capital will build an Innovation Center that anchors downtown Richmond’s innovation hub and serves as a magnet for innovators to build and grow deep tech companies. Once complete, the Innovation Center will catalyze downtown redevelopment around wealth-creating jobs, boost entrepreneurial growth, strengthen the region’s end-to-end pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster, and act as a platform for upskilling community members with STEM programming,” said Chandra Briggman, President and CEO of Activation Capital

“In addition to their strong commercial real estate brokerage experience and national life science expertise, Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer was selected due to their alignment with Activation Capital’s values of agility, collaboration, entrepreneurial thinking, future-focus, impact, and inclusion,” said Kipton Currier, Vice President of Operations at Activation Capital. “The teams selected for the Innovation Center understand our commitment to the community, our excellence in execution focus, and our dedication to creating a nationally renowned life science innovation center for the benefit of future generations.”

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Downtown

VCU Massey Cancer Center achieves comprehensive status from the National Cancer Institute

Massey’s receipt of the highest level of recognition from the NCI places it among an elite group of cancer centers influencing a new standard of care through research, education and community engagement.

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VCU Massey Cancer Center has been designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the nation’s principal authority on cancer research and training. Massey’s receipt of the highest level of recognition from the NCI places it among an elite group of cancer centers influencing a new standard of care through research, education and community engagement.

Massey’s director, Robert A. Winn, M.D., is the first African American to lead a cancer center to comprehensive status. Under Winn’s leadership, Massey has effectively championed a community-centered approach, recognizing community members as equal experts and strategic partners in its research efforts.

“We are so proud to reach this milestone, and to be leading the charge not just in research but in building trust and breaking down barriers between medical institutions and communities,” said Winn, who also holds the Lipman Chair in Oncology at Massey. “We are truly the first of a new generation of community-focused cancer centers, where world-class science and research is informed by the people we serve, and accessible for all.”

Since beginning his tenure as director of Massey in December 2019, Winn has focused on taking Massey’s mission into the 66 contiguous localities in central, eastern and southern Virginia comprising Massey’s catchment area. With the community’s involvement, Massey has successfully increased clinical trial enrollment, expanded its transdisciplinary research collaboration and strengthened its cancer research training activities.

The NCI commended Massey for its significant strengths in the full spectrum of cancer research, robust pathway for cancer research training and education and plans to further enhance the diversity of its trainees and faculty.

The renewal of its Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) provides Massey with funding for its cancer research programs over five years and makes the cancer center eligible for additional information-sharing and resources reserved for the top institutions that demonstrate superior research capabilities.

The road to comprehensive status

Massey was one of the earliest cancer centers designated by the NCI in 1975, just four years after the NCI Cancer Centers Program was created as part of the National Cancer Act of 1971. The comprehensive designation is earned through a peer-review process demonstrating excellence in laboratory research, population science and clinical research.

NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers must conduct transdisciplinary research that bridges those three scientific areas, show that they are effective in addressing cancer concerns in their catchment area through effective community outreach and engagement, and that they integrate cancer training and education of biomedical scientists and community health care professionals.

“This important national designation reflects our mission and our commitment to the highest levels of treatment, research, prevention and control as we focus on improving and saving even more people’s lives,” said VCU and VCU Health President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “VCU and Richmond were among the first in the country to establish an NCI-designated Cancer Center, and I have pursued this comprehensive status for Massey soon after I came to VCU. During that time, we have taken our efforts to extraordinary levels to benefit all patients in need and the many communities we serve throughout our diverse Commonwealth. This comprehensive designation demonstrates that we put the needs of patients and our communities first. I am particularly grateful to my dear colleague, Rob Winn, for his extraordinary work in the last few years that catalyzed our ability to achieve this pinnacle level with the National Cancer Institute.”

Reducing the cancer burden in Virginia

With Massey’s new comprehensive status, those living in its catchment area are promised even greater access to life-saving cancer screenings and clinical trials offering leading-edge treatments, more resources for critical education about cancer risk and prevention, and care informed by the top scientific minds brought to Massey through recruitment as well as its training of the next generation of physician-scientists.

“This is an incredibly exciting moment for Massey and VCU Health, and for the patients and families who come through our doors,” said Paula Fracasso, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, deputy director of Massey and senior vice president of the cancer service line at VCU Health. “With the increased funding from our CCSG, we will have additional research dollars to extend our reach into the forefront of science and translational work, that will provide better ways to predict, prevent, diagnose and treat our patients with cancer.”

“We celebrate Massey’s achievement as a huge win for our entire institution, and one that will help us continue to raise the bar for excellence at VCU Health,” said Marlon Levy, M.D., FACS, interim senior vice president of VCU Health Sciences and CEO of VCU Health. “The dedication to innovative research and education and to advancing health equity is a clear reflection of our health system’s core values.”

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