RICHMOND, Va. – Heviel Cordovés’ goal with seven minutes to go lifted the Richmond Kickers to a thrilling 3-2 victory against fellow USL side Penn FC on Wednesday night at City Stadium to book a place in the Fourth Round of the 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The Kickers had taken a two-goal lead in the first half as Luiz Fernando struck twice for the hosts, but after Penn fought back on goals either side of halftime by Jorge Rivera to level the score, Cordovés put home a cross by Austin Yearwood to send the Kickers on to face MLS opposition in two weeks.

“We found a way to do it,” said Kickers Head Coach Leigh Cowlishaw. “Cordovés and Shriver made the difference for us [off the bench]. We got some real opportunities in the last 20 minutes and it’s good to get the win. It gets us in the draw for tomorrow and hopefully we get a home game against a top MLS team.”

Richmond struck first when Conor Shanosky found Fernando on a long ball over the top that released the young Brazilian behind the Penn defense. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Fernando found the back of the net on a first-time left-footed volley to put Richmond on top in the 13th minute.

“He [Luiz] told me before the game, ‘Look for me. Look for me,’” Shanosky said. “We were trying to go side-to-side to break them down. We decided to go a little more direct. Luiz made a good run. He did the hard part. Credit to him, he mentioned it before the game.”

Shanosky also played a role in Richmond’s second of the night nine minutes later as he found Yudai Imura breaking free down the right side, and the Japanese midfielder sent a pass to an open Fernando in the center of the penalty area. Fernando gathered the pass and fired a left-footed shot into the bottom-left corner of the net

“I felt very happy to play tonight,” Fernando said. “Every player helped me. We’ve been training hard. I feel very happy to come back and score two goals.”

Penn hit back in the 36th minute when Saalih Muhammad collected the delivery off a corner kick and rifled a pass to Jorge Rivera, who redirected home a header to halve Richmond’s lead at the break. The visitors almost leveled three minutes into the second half when Salvatore Barone’s volleyed finish was denied by Kickers goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg, but on the hour-mark Penn found its equalizer as Fabio De Sousa played a deep ball on the counterattack and found Rivera alone, allowing the forward to round Spangenberg and tap home.

Fernando almost put the Kickers back ahead in the 77th minute, only to send his chance at a hat trick high over the crossbar, but with seven minutes to go Cordovés came through for the hosts with a left-footed finish on Yearwood’s cross to send the 1995 Open Cup champions into the Fourth Round for the first time since 2015.