Friendly banter and jokes were flying around the Loons’ dressing room after a dramatic 3-2 win over St. Louis City in the U.S. Open Cup round of 16 on Wednesday at Allianz Field.

Everything was directed at back-up left wing back Anthony Markanich, who scored two goals in the final five minutes to send MNUFC through to the quarterfinals of the national tournament. The Loons’ quarterfinal matchup in July will be determined Thursday morning.

Teammates were nicknaming him “Ant” — as if his newfound stardom rivaled Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards. Assistant coach Zarek Valentin borrowed Markanich’s fiance’s custom hat from her in the stands. The cream-colored hat had his surname in all caps across the front. Tani Oluwaseyi tried to get Markanich to wear the ballcap during his post-match interview.

“We might just put (Markanich) as a striker,” said Kelvin Yeboah, who scored the opening goal Wednesday. “I might just give him my No. 9, if he keeps scoring like this.”

Markanich said he hasn’t scored two goals in a game since high school in Illinois. He has now scored in three of his last four games, including one MLS tally apiece against Inter Miami and Austin FC.

Markanich, who is thrust into a starting spot with the three-game suspension of Joseph Rosales, relished the chance to score against and beat St. Louis, which traded him to MNUFC for $50,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) last August.

“I mean it’s always nice to score against your old team but it’s all with respect,” Markanich said.

Before the jokes with Markanich, there were serious moments inside the locker room over how poor defending led Minnesota to trail 2-1. Marcel Hartel was left alone in front of goal for St. Louis’ first goal in the 56th minute and Joao Klauss rose up over Loons young center back Morris Duggan for the go-ahead goal in the 65th minute.

“There is disappointment there,” head coach Eric Ramsay said. “… I know there has been comments about that already. It speaks to the group that the first thing they talk about when they come off the pitch in that situation is how disappointed they are to have conceded the goal there and how self-critical some of those guys are in there. That is pleasing in one sense.”