CINCINNATI – The chant of “Mitch Says No!” has reverberated around Nippert Stadium ever since FC Cincinnati first took to the field at the start of the 2016 USL season.

They have never sounded as loud as on Wednesday night, when the 2016 USL Goalkeeper of the Year saved three penalty kicks in a shootout in front of the second-highest attendance in the history of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, as 32,287 fans saw FC Cincinnati advance to the Quarterfinals with a 3-1 penalty shootout victory against the four-time Open Cup winner Chicago Fire.

After the game ended scoreless after 120 minutes despite numerous chances and big saves from both Hildebrandt and his Fire counterpart Matt Lampson, Cincinnati took first in the shootout directly in front of the Bailey. Aodhan Quinn shot over with the first effort, but Hildebrandt’s diving save to his left on MLS leading goalscorer Nemanja Nikolic kept the shootout scoreless.

Josu then converted for Cincinnati, and Hildebrandt saved again to deny a shot by Arturo Alvarez that was too close to him on the right. After FCC defender Harrison Delbridge and former German international Bastian Schweinsteiger both converted in the third round, FCC’s Jimmy McLaughlin scored to open the fourth round.

Then Hildebrandt pulled his third save of the shootout to deny Juninho diving to his left, and Cincinnati’s dream night was complete.