Owls Draw Triumph at Home

For the second straight match, Union Omaha jumped to an early lead, only to see the match finish with a final score of 3-3.  As the Greenville Triumph pulled up to Werner Park, the home fans filtered into the stadium, excited to celebrate World Soccer Night, as well as the newest edition of the Battle for the Belt.  For almost a full calendar year, The Belt has taken up residence in South Carolina, so fans were eager to see The Belt return to Omaha, alongside a Union Omaha victory.  That excitement crescendoed early in the match as the Owls took the lead.

In the 18th minute, Noe Meza headed an arcing pass from Conor Doyle into the path of Pedro Dolabella, who launched a thunderous one-time half volley straight into the back of the net.  The long-distance strike left Greenville’s goalkeeper helpless and flatfooted, not even bothering to feign an attempt at saving the Goal-of-the-Week contender.  Dolabella’s goal was his second in as many matches and third across all competitions.  The assist from Noe Meza was his first of the season.

After Greenville responded with a goal of their own, the two sides went to halftime even on the scoreboard.  Despite the tie at halftime, the Owls could take comfort in their first-half performance.  The home side held 62% of total possession, earned 6 corners, and displayed 81% passing accuracy.  The Owls were also keeping Greenville’s goalkeeper honest, taking a total of 13 shots in the first half.  Even the shots were well balanced, with six shots occurring inside the box and seven taking place outside the penalty area.

Not long after the break, Noe Meza etched his name on the stat sheet again, scoring his first goal of the night in the 53rd minute.  After a Greenville clearance, following a Union Omaha corner kick, the ball landed directly at the feet of captain Conor Doyle, who fed the ball directly back into the frey.  The pass back into pressure was perfectly placed, allowing Noe Meza to turn over his left shoulder, taking a quick touch to set up his low, driving shot to the back post.  The ball tucked itself into the net, just behind the upright, and gave the Owls another lead.  The assist from Doyle was his second of the season.  Less than 20 minutes later, the club’s leading scorer would add another tally to the scoresheet.

In the 70th minute, while both clubs exchanged clearing headers, Union Omaha’s Joe Gallardo finally settled the ball and, with a clever touch, found Luis Gil in the middle of the field.  Gil took a single touch inside the center circle before lobbing a beautiful ball into space, exposing Greenville’s backline.  The placement of the pass lead Noe Meza into the Triumph penalty area, who cut the ball back to lose the defender and cooly placed the ball into the near post to double the lead.  The goal was Meza’s fifth of the season, good enough to put him in second place for the Golden Boot race.  The assist from Gil was his third of the season and allowed him to become the club’s leading assist man.

With less than 20 minutes remaining in the match, the three points looked like a sure thing, but fans would soon experience an episode of déjà vu.  After a foul was called against defender Alexis Souahy inside the penalty area, the Greenville Triumph were awarded a penalty kick.  And who else was chosen to deliver the penalty, but former Union Omaha midfielder and 2021 USL League One champion Devin Boyce.  After playing together from 2019-2020, old teammates Devin Boyce and Rashid Nuhu would face off in the penalty kick.  Boyce sent a dagger into the hearts of Union Omaha fans as he converted the penalty with a panenka, sending Nuhu to his side.  The goal put Greenville one step closer to leveling the scoreline.  It would only take three minutes for that goal to happen, too.

In the 77th minute, Greenville Triumph midfielder Allen Gavilanes sent an arcing lob over the top to Jacob Labovitz, who one-timed the ball into the back of the net.  It’s sure to be another Goal of the Week contender, too.  With the scoreline even, there were only spare moments left in the match for either side to break the deadlock, but none would come to fruition.

The draw lifted Union Omaha from ninth place to eighth place and the Owls will return to Werner Park this coming Saturday to take on Forward Madison for “One Means All” night.  The draw also extends Union Omaha’s undefeated streak to five matches.  While The Belt stays in Greenville for the time being, the Owls will have another chance to win the prize, as Union Omaha travels to Greenville on June 10th for a Week 13 showdown.

After the match, Union Omaha team captain expressed his thoughts on the match.  “Another frustrating one,” Doyle said.  “I think it’s fairly similar to Saturday, obviously, in terms of us having a lead late and letting it slip and kind of making mistakes, but we’re putting ourselves in good position, so it’s frustrating that we aren’t closing out games the way we should at the moment.”  On the five-game undefeated streak, Doyle said, “Obviously, you don’t want to lose games, but tying games in the way we are, kind of feels like losses at the moment.”  When asked about leaving this match behind and focusing on the quick turnaround preparations for Forward Madison, Doyle said, “For Saturday, refocus and get ourselves right and recover properly.  [We] go again and kind of right the wrongs we’ve done in the last couple of games.  Hopefully we can make those things right and finally win a game at home.”

With two goals on the night, Union Omaha forward Noe Meza gave his thoughts on the evening, as well.  “I thought we started off the game really strong,” Meza said.  “We scored some really good team goals.  It was unfortunate, at the end, to not close off the game, but we learned from it and we’ll get ready to go for Saturday’s next game.”  When asked about Forward Madison, Meza said, “We played them once this year already.  That was a while ago.  I think we’ve improved our game since then…and look forward to them.  I think there’s a lot of positives that we could take out of this game, but definitely a lot of things we can fix and tweak to get right on Saturday.”  After being told he was one goal behind the current Golden Boot leader, Meza said, “I’m just glad to help the team in whatever way I can.  I’m happy to get two on the night.  [It’s] unfortunate that we weren’t able to get the win, but I’m looking forward to Saturday’s game.”

Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato provided his insight, as well.  “I thought we were excellent,” Casciato said.  “I really did.  I think we dominated the game for 90 minutes.  Really disappointed with the result because it should have been three points, but happy with the performance.  We’ve just got to find a way to turn these draws into wins.  This should have been a comfortable victory.  We were, by far, the better team.”  With Forward Madison coming to town on Saturday, Casciato said, “Another tough game, right?  Another rivalry game.  It’s a great opportunity for us now to go ahead and play another big rival of ours from here in the Midwest, a game that we always look forward to.”  When asked about keeping the players optimistic in the face of recent draws, Casciato said, “Yeah, it’s just about sticking to the program, sticking to the process.  Keeping the belief in what we’re doing because some of it is incredible, right?  With the ball, without the ball, it’s super organized and it’s tough to break down, but then in little moments we’re having lapses and that’s costing us now.  It’s just about sticking to the plans, staying focused, and staying switched on mentally.  Again, if we do that, then these draws will start turning into wins and we’ll be sitting pretty in the table.”

Match Summary

Goal Summary:

18’: OMA – #9 Pedro Dolabella (assisted by Noe Meza)

24’: GVL – #25 Leo Castro (assisted by Devin Boyce)

53’: OMA – #7 Noe Meza (assisted by Conor Doyle)

70’: OMA – #7 Noe Meza (assisted by Luis Gil)

74’: GVL – #11 Devin Boyce converts the PK

77’: GVL – 18 Jacob Labovitz (assisted by Allen Gavilanes)

Substitution Summary:

45’: OMA – #11 Joe Gallardo replaces #5 Marco Milanese

45’: GVL – #12 Evan Lee replaces #15 Brandon Fricke

60’: GVL – #19 Venton Evans replaces #10 Lucas Coutinho

60’: GVL – #18 Jacob Labovitz replaces #25 Leo Castro

74’: OMA – #44 Alex Steinwascher replaces #7 Noe Meza

84’: OMA – #10 Steevan Dos Santos replaces #20 Luis Gil

87’: GVL – #22 Nate Shultz replaces #24 Tevin Shaw

90’+2: GVL – #14 Hassan Gabo replaces #23 Allen Gavilanes

Discipline Summary:

6’: GVL – #2 Daniel Wu (Yellow Card)

21’: OMA – #95 Alexis Souahy (Yellow Card)

26’: OMA – #5 Marco Milanese (Yellow Card)

44’: GVL – #11 Devin Boyce (Yellow Card)

54’: GVL – #9 Lyam MacKinnon (Yellow Card)

73’: OMA – #24 Rashid Nuhu (Yellow Card)