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Joey Zalinsky made his first appearance a memorable one.

The defender scored on a blast from 25 yards out the 68th minute to propel St. Louis City SC to a 2-0 win over Union Omaha in a U.S. Open Cup contest on Wednesday at Energizer Park.

City SC advances to face Minnesota United in the second round of the tradition-rich 110th tournament May 20 or 21 in Minnesota.

Joao Klauss added an insurance tally in the 87th minute off a pass from Cedric Teuchert.

Zalinsky had spent the entire season on the bench with just a pair of appearances for the City2 squad on his resume.

But coach Olof Mellberg took a chance on the New Jersey native for the Round of 32 match against Omaha, a third division USL League One squadron.

The move paid dividends at the perfect time.

Zalinsky smashed a volley from outside the box that just eluded Omaha goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu, who had frustrated the hosts all night long.

Zalinsky, a shut down defender, scored two goals in four seasons at Rutgers. He was part of New York Red Bulls developmental system.

St. Louis keeper Ben Lundt recorded a clean sheet. He made a pair of nifty saves over the final 10 minutes.

City SC is competing in the Open Cup for the second time. It beat Omaha 5-1 in the Round of 32 in 2023, then lost to the Chicago Fire in the next round.

Union Omaha came into the match with the reputation as somewhat of giant killer with wins over the Chicago Fire and Minnesota United in 2022.

City SC used its experience to take control right from the start.

St. Louis also inserted Xande Silva into the starting lineup. A native of Portugal, he was acquired right before the transfer window late last month.

City SC forward Simon Becher had the biggest scoring chance of the opening half. His blast, labeled for the upper right-hand corner, was punched aside by Nuhu.

Celio Pompeu and Tomas Ostrak also created legitimate opportunities.

St. Louis midfielder Alfredo Morales suffered a knock late in the first half and did not return. Omaha was issued three yellow cards in the physical contest. Becher went down twice with ankle injuries.

City SC midfielder Eduard Lowen came in to start the second half. It was his second appearance after missing six weeks due to personal issues.

St. Louis is still winless in its last seven MLS matches and will host San Diego FC at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Big thrill

The coaches and captains from the Missouri state high school boys championship teams delivered the ceremonial match ball before the contest.

Valley Park (coach Tom Probst, midfielder Joe Buckman), Ladue (coach Dave Aronberg, forward Ahmad Shebl), Clayton (coach Brendan Taylor, forward Wole Adeoye) and St. Louis U. High (coach Bob O'Connell, forward Andrew Wolf) all claimed titles last fall.