March 9, 1924 – Fall River Marksmen 2:0 Bethlehem Steel, National Challenge Cup at Dexter Park (Att.: 20,000)

The Boston Globe headlined: “Soccer Fans Spent About $100,000 Going to that Game Yesterday” after Fall River defeated Bethlehem Steel. 2-0, in the National Challenge Cup Eastern final in Brooklyn.

The Globe estimated 5,000 supporters had traveled from Fall River “and other Massachusetts towns,” a trip estimated to cost about $25 – teams and fans usually traveled by boat. Each club received about $2,500 in gate receipts.

The match drew “a record crowd,” to Dexter Park, which had a capacity of 25,000. Attendance figure in the game story is illegible on the Boston Globe Archive site. Later estimates were a 20,000 crowd.

Johnny Reid headed in a Dougie Campbell cross and Campbell finished a Frank McKenna free kick. Alec Lorimer (Fall River) and Tommy Maxwell (Bethlehem) were red-carded.

The Marksmen’s direct play was effective because the field was muddy and “in deplorable condition.”

Fall River owner Sam Mark, asked by the Globe’s George M. Collins about the upcoming final, responded: “Believe me, boy, there is no bigger game than this one for me. Beating Bethlehem Steel was our objective and we did it.”

March 9, 1929 – Boston Wonder Workers 2:3 Philadelphia at Everett Stadium

Goals: Nygren, McIntyre; Purvis, Wall 2

March 9, 1930 – New Bedford Whalers 4:4 Hakoah All-Stars

Goals: Grainger, Florie, McLeavy, Burness; Gruenwald 3, Wortmann

U.S. national team captain Tommy Florie, Johnny Grainger, Mike McLeavy and Gordon Burness scored for New Bedford. Max Gruenwald had a hat trick and Siegfried Wortmann scored once for Hakoah, which rallied twice from two-goal deficits. With one minute to play, Gruenwald scored his third goal to equalize. The Hakoah team, which won the 1929 U.S. Open Cup, had several Austrian, Czech and Hungarian internationals, among them Bela Guttmann. Guttmann would go on to coach Benfica to the 1961 and ’62 Champions Cup titles, defeating Barcelona in the ’61 final, ending Real Madrid’s five-year winning run.

Several other games were played that day involving New England teams:

• Providence 1×1 Pawtucket (Atlantic Coast League)
• Brooklyn Wanderers 1×1 Fall River at Hawthorne Field
• Fore River 3×1 Sturtevants of Hyde Park at Fore River Field, Quincy                               The Shipbuilders were missing “crack center forward Freddy Greer.” Charley Travers, “just back from his visit to Scotland,’’ scored two goals, according to the Boston Globe report
• Haverhill 1×0 Lynn Riversides (Bay State Soccer Cup)
• Lynn General Electrics 4×1 Revere Jayvees (Victoria Cup);
• Clan Murray 2×1 Clan McGregor of Quincy (State Challenge Cup in Springfield, Mass.)

March 9, 2005 – U.S. 3:0 Colombia at Titan Stadium (Att.: 7,086)

Pat Noonan scores first international goal in first start, giving U.S. 1-0 lead.

March 9, 2013 – Chicago Fire 0:1 Revolution, MLS season-opener (Att.: 13,242)

Goal: Bengtson 62^’

NEW ENGLAND SOCCER HISTORY