U.S. Open Cup test against a similar club

When the Richmond Kickers take the field tonight for a first-round U.S. Open Cup match against Fredericksburg, they'll be seeing almost a mirror image of themselves.

"There's a huge Kickers influence," Richmond coach Leigh Cowlishaw said. "Most of the office staff, most of the coaching staff and several of the players have ties to the Kickers."

Cristian Neagu, who was a member of the Kickers' 2006 USL2 championship club, is Fredericksburg's coach, while forward Matt Lacey led the Richmond Future in scoring in 2006. Neagu also previously played for the Future.

Fredericksburg is a member of the Premier Development League, an amateur organization.

"That's what the Open Cup should be all about," Cowlishaw said. "Creating these type of matchups, where there's a little bit of a storyline for everyone.

"Clearly, they're going to be highly motivated, and that type of motivation is difficult for us to artificially create. It's the reverse of what it's like when we're playing [a Major League Soccer] team. Fredericksburg is an extremely good team. I've seen them play a couple of times and was impressed with them."

The Kickers reached the quarterfinals of the Open Cup last year, knocking off the Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) along the way, but lost to the Carolina Dynamo of the PDL in 2006.

"Considering their coaching staff is all from Richmond and most of the guys on the team are from around here, they're going to be up for it," said Richmond defender Kelvin Jones. "A bunch of college kids, they're going to be buzzing because they get to play against a professional club. They're fired up for it. We'd like to repeat what we did last year, but we're going to have to play well to beat Fredericksburg."

Gilkerson shines in Kickers' debut

The Kickers picked up defender John Gilkerson on loan Friday, and Cowlishaw liked what he saw from the property of the New York Red Bulls (MLS) in Friday's 4-1 loss to Harrisburg.

Gilkerson, who played collegiately at Winthrop and is a native of Winchester, is a member of the Red Bulls' developmental squad and could be available whenever his team doesn't have a reserve match.

"He's going to be involved a lot going forward," Cowlishaw indicated. "But it's not a case where he's going to be here full-time. We're going to pick and choose our moments to have him involved, but we'll certainly look to have him involved if we make it to the playoffs. We were very impressed with John in his first game."

With losses mounting, playoff spot precarious

With a 4-4-0 record in USL2, the Kickers have already lost more regular-season games than they did the previous two years. Richmond dropped three games in each of 2006 and 2007, en route to the championship match both years.

The Kickers currently sit in the sixth and final playoff spot. --John Packett