Union Omaha (1-3-1, tied for 9th) vs Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (2-1-2, 8th place)
All competitions: OMA (5-3-1) vs NCO (4-1-3)
Werner Park – Papillion, Nebraska
7 PM (CST) ESPN+
It’s Week 9 of USL League One action and soccer fans are in for a treat this Saturday as Union Omaha hosts Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC for the second time in 17 days. Both clubs are in the bottom half of the league table, but with three games in hand for both clubs, there’s plenty of room for either side to climb back into playoff contention. This match will be pivotal for either side in jumpstarting their good fortunes.
In their first season of USL League One play, and existence, Northern Colorado has shown the capability of surprising clubs. If you don’t believe me, ask fans of Colorado Switchbacks of the USL Championship and MLS-side Real Salt Lake. Even within league play, Northern Colorado defeated both North Carolina FC (5th place) and Charlotte Independence (1st place) on the road. Their first match in USL League One was a road match against Richmond Kickers where they drew 1-1, but managed to take the lead going into halftime. This is a club that shows no fear against their opposition.
Union Omaha will enter the home match riding on just 72 hours of rest time, after defeating the 2019 US Open Cup runner-up Minnesota United 2-1 in St. Paul, Minnesota during this year’s edition of the US Open Cup on Wednesday night. In league play, the Owls are coming off of a 1-1 draw at Richmond last week. So far this season, Union Omaha is undefeated in the matches immediately following a US Open Cup match and in those league matches, the Owls doubled their opponent’s goal production, scoring six goals and only allowing three across three matches.
In the US Open Cup match, and first time these sides competed face-to-face, Northern Colorado lined up in a 4-2-3-1. At the time, the Hailstorm was missing a key component to their offense: striker Irvin Parra. With his absence, Northern Colorado’s offense looked stagnant at times and had trouble creating viable chances on goal. Parra is a scoring machine and terrorizes defenses wherever he goes, so Union Omaha’s backline will certainly have their hands full on Saturday evening. Serving as the orchestrator to the Hailstorm offense will most likely be central midfielder Stefan Lukic, who looked confident on the ball against Union Omaha, but was often swarmed by pressure and ended up looking backward for relief instead of pushing forward.
There’s plenty of buzz surrounding Union Omaha, so make sure that you’re a part of the crowd supporting the Owls to victory. With more and more chatter on social media and exposure on national media outlets, Werner Park is bound to see more and more tickets sold ahead of kickoff, so reserve your seat to witness another historic season of action from Union Omaha.
After the match, stay tuned for the best coverage of Union Omaha action by subscribing to Who Gives A Hoot. Ryan, Camille, and Jon put out a couple of great episodes of the podcast leading up to the Open Cup match against Minnesota United, so you know they’ll do the same in breaking down the Northern Colorado match. We also have plenty of action on the website with our articles, as well as all of the social media content. Who Gives A Hoot offers all of the fun, the banter, and analysis for your beloved Owls, so follow and subscribe to keep up to date with all of the latest. As always…¡Viva Búhos!
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