It looked as though Union Omaha was well on their way to a second consecutive victory, but a second-half equalizer from Northern Colorado was enough to dash the hopes of another three points for the Owls.
On a beautiful Saturday evening, Werner Park was filled with another impressive attendance – 4,312 people. There was an air of optimism, especially since it was Single’s Night and Women in Sports Night. The stadium even played host to a group of FC Köln fans, so there was plenty of energy and cause for celebration.
From the opening kickoff, Union Omaha had their foot on the gas pedal. The first quality chance came in the fourth minute of play, when defender Alex Touche connected with midfielder Dion Acoff on a deep ball. Acoff had to fend off Hailstorm defender Brecc Evans, but once he had space, he tried to head the ball into the net. The attempt ultimately went just wide of the near post, but it was enough to put Hailstorm goalkeeper Johan Peñaranda on high alert and get him to go horizontal.
Union Omaha broke the deadlock in the 12th minute, when midfielder JP Scearce intercepted a Hailstorm pass and immediately fed the ball up to the newest Owl on the roster, forward Corey Hertzog. As he carried the ball up the field, forward Noe Meza took over the possession and allowed Hertzog to float out wide to the left. Once Hertzog had the ball again, Meza was able to make a run against the flow of Hailstorm’s backline and find some space. Hertzog took advantage of the opportunity and sent a chip into the box. Hailstorm defender Wolfgang Prentice lost a step as he switched the direction that his body was facing, which was more than enough time for Noe Meza to bring the ball down and bury the shot low and inside the far post. The goal was Meza’s fifth goal of the season, tying him with JP Scearce for most goals scored so far this season. To go one step further, the goal was also the quickest goal scored at home, across all competitions, by Union Omaha. It narrowly bested Hugo Kametani’s 14th-minute goal against FC Tucson in Week 16.
In a quote released by the club after the game, Union Omaha head coach Jay Mims said, “It was great to have Noe finish that and Corey [had a] great pass, a great debut.”
Northern Colorado had a chance to tie the score in the 25th minute, when midfielder Jerry Desdunes had the ball deep at the corner of the penalty area on the left side of the field. He thread the needle with a pass to Danny Robles, who was able to tee up Nortei Nortey for a great shot on goal. Union Omaha goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu was forced into another reflex save as the ball took a deflection off defender Daltyn Knutson while en route to the goal. After the ball hit Nuhu’s hands, it deflected off the underside of the crossbar and away from danger.
There was a common theme for both teams, as their offense schemes seemed to flow along the same side of the field. Union Omaha fancied a perceived mismatch along their right side of the field and continuously forced the issue along that flank. Meanwhile, Northern Colorado opted to run their offense down their left side of the field. When the Hailstorm dropped the ball back, swung the possession to the right side, there was often very little offense generated along that sideline. There were a few times when Hailstorm midfielder Arthur Rogers was able to create one-two passing opportunities to open up the corner, but crosses were rarely successful, which forced Northern Colorado into favoring the left side of the field on the next possession.
By halftime, Union Omaha was up a goal and looking like the team with the better chances on goal. Despite carrying 40.9% of the possession at the break, Union Omaha was stretching the Hailstorm formation, as seen by the 45 long passes noted on the stat sheet. The Owls looked far more dangerous with the ball on the ground and players were finding space to infiltrate. A glaring issue for the Owls was connecting passes and crosses in the attacking third. All five of their crosses were unable to connect with a teammate, netting a 0% success rate on the crossing accuracy at halftime.
The second half went very similar to the first half, with both sides favoring the one side of the field. Those first moments of the second half were an exercise is build-up play, as neither side was able to make a connection in the attacking third. One element of the game started to present itself with more importance, though: set pieces.
In the 66th minute, Corey Hertzog was fouled by Brecc Evans on Union Omaha’s right side of the field. The direct kick was taken by none other than Joe Brito, who sent another masterful cross into the box. Daltyn Knutson was wide open near the penalty spot, but his header went just over the crossbar. The would-be goal would have provided the delicate insurance policy the Owls needed at the final whistle.
Northern Colorado waited until the 79th minute to inject their own dose of drama to the evening. Second-half substitute Stefan Lukic had the ball along the right side of the field and went to send a powerful pass between Union Omaha players Chavany Willis and Ryen Jiba, but the ball took a deflection off Willis’s leg and went straight to the right side of the penalty area where Hailstorm forward Trevor Amann was able to run to and immediately find Irvin Parra at the penalty spot for the easy finish. The goal was Parra’s ninth of the season and Amann’s third assist, as well.
In a series of quotes, released by the club, Union Omaha’s Noe Meza said, “We kind of took our foot off the gas pedal a little bit and let the team get back into the game, and they had a good gameplan building up.”
Jay Mims echoed that sentiment saying, “The result was disappointing. I thought we were in control of the game, in control of the match.”
Meza still remained optimistic, as he was quoted saying, “If we can get that final piece right, we can start getting the wins definitely.” He continued that thought with, “I thought we started the game off really strong. We just need to find a way to keep that tempo going and we can be a very dangerous team attacking-wise.”
Corey Hertzog expressed his views on the matter as well, saying, “They controlled the ball more in the second half. I think we just need to get higher up the pitch a little bit, but I think we played well. We got unlucky with the through ball. It was off the deflection right to them again and we had three guys and the goalie trying to block it, and he mishits it and it bounces over.”
The draw dropped Northern Colorado a spot in the standings and are now in ninth place. The Hailstorm will have two matches in Week 21: a Wednesday night home game against FC Tucson, followed by a Saturday night home game against Forward Madison. The team is still on the outside of the playoffs, but only by a single point.
Union Omaha remains in fifth place in the league standings after the draw. The Owls have two matches in Week 21: a Wednesday night home game against Charlotte Independence and a Saturday night game against North Carolina FC. The Wednesday night game will be “Pups at the Pitch” and the Saturday night game will be “Around the World Night.” The Owls still have at least two games in hand on the teams above them in the league standings, so there are still opportunities for the team to climb.
The next time these two clubs face each other will be on Wednesday, September 21st in Windsor, Colorado.
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