Union Omaha, down a man for the entire second half, flipped the script on Richmond and scored three unanswered goals to secure a 4-1 victory at home on Saturday night. En route to the historic victory, Noe Meza became the club’s all-time leading scorer and Steevan Dos Santos earned his first brace with the club.
As fans filtered into Werner Park in season-high attendance on Saturday night, most of the excitement seemed to be drawn towards the Star Wars costumes, music, and other attractions throughout the stadium. Once the match kicked off, it didn’t take long for the action on the field to steal the attention.
In the 5th minute of play, Richmond forward Emiliano Terzaghi took a shot from midfield, trying to catch Union Omaha goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu off his line, but there was little cause for concern in the end. That lone shot would be Richmond’s only shot for nearly ten minutes. In that same time frame, Union Omaha pepper Richmond’s goal with six shots, four of which were inside the box. As the Owls continued to knock on the door, fans would soon be pulled to their feet for the first of many goals on the evening.
In the 24th minute, Union Omaha midfielder Conor Doyle delivered a corner kick that was lofted just high enough to clear the heads of most of the players, yet dipped just in time for club captain JP Scearce to head the ball into the back of the net for the early lead. The goal was the second straight home match featuring a connection between Doyle and Scearce on a corner kick. This was Scearce’s third goal of the season and Doyle’s third assist of the season.
In the 39th minute, Richmond’s Terzaghi was able to draw a foul in Union Omaha’s penalty area and converted the following penalty, as well. The League MVP and Golden Boot Winner scored his second all-time goal against the Owls, the fewest of any League One clubs present from 2020 to 2023.
Soon after the penalty kick, Terzaghi was involved in another crucial moment of the match: drawing the ire from Union Omaha’s Joe Gallardo and baiting him into a straight red card. After a play along the goal line, words were exchanged between the two and then the players went face to face, touching foreheads. With a thrust of Gallardo’s head against Terzaghi, his fate was sealed and the marching orders were given. For the same interaction, Terzaghi was given a yellow card, one of five awarded to the Kickers by the end of the night.
With the scoreline even, Union Omaha had to make some adjustments in the locker room. When the team appeared on the field, the mentality didn’t seem to be one of preservation, but one of perseverance. Richmond started the second half with the kickoff and Union Omaha, surprisingly enough, pressed more often than they had in the first half. The adjustments made put Richmond on their heels, interrupted the flow of their offense, and allowed Union Omaha to gain more possession, despite the disadvantage.
All night long, Richmond left Union Omaha defender Dion Acoff wide open along the flank. Time and time again, the Owls would spot him wide open, pick him out with long crosses, and utilize him masterfully into developing quality offensive opportunities. One of those came in the 49th minute, when a ball was served to Acoff and he was able to beat his defender with a couple of moves, opening up a window to serve a cross into the box. On the other end of that service was none other than Noe Meza, who finished the cross with a header past the keeper. The goal was Meza’s ninth of the season, keeping him in second place of the Golden Boot race. More importantly, the goal earned him sole possession as the club’s all-time leading scorer.
Up a goal and not letting off the gas, Union Omaha would double the goal difference in the 68th minute, when second-half substitute Steevan Dos Santos scored his first goal of the night. After Noe Meza’s attempt was thwarted by the Richmond defense, the ball was served on a platter for Dos Santos to finish, but he had to react first in order to get there. With his long leg outstretched, he was able to send the ball into the goal for his first goal since Week 4. His celebration had all of the elements of a man exulted in his escape from the scoring dry spell.
The nail in the coffin came in the 79th minute, when Union Omaha’s Joe Brito sent a beautifully low driven ball from the goal line toward the top of the goal area. As the ball was tightly threaded between two defenders and the goalkeeper, all Dos Santos had to do was lose his man, which he successfully did and positioned himself for the easy tap-in. The goal was his third of the season and Brito’s fourth assist of the season, making him the club’s assist leader this season.
The victory and three points lifted Union Omaha into seventh place in the league table and placing them well inside the playoff hunt. The victory over Richmond was the second all-time and first since the 2021 season. This was the first time the Owls scored four goals in a single match since August 20, 2022, when they defeated NC 4-1 at home. That same match was also the last time Union Omaha had a greater winning goal differential than two goals. Saturday’s victory was the third straight victory and only the second time the club has ever tied together three consecutive victories in a row. The only other time was the first three matches of the 2021 season. The victory also strung together five straight matches without a single loss, the second time the club has accomplished this achievement this season.
The club made history in their own accomplishments, but also put themselves into Richmond’s history book. The Owls are the only club to score four goals on Richmond this season, something no club has done since October 30, 2021, when FC Tucson defeated Richmond 4-2 at home. Saturday’s goal differential was the greatest of Richmond’s season, as well. The last time Richmond had a loss involving a greater goal differential was on July 21, 2021, when they lost 0-4 at North Carolina. Another big stat came as a result of Terzaghi scoring his goal. Leading up to Saturday night’s match, no other club has been able to defeat Richmond when Terzaghi had scored at least one goal. Saturday was the first time this season when an opponent was able to defeat Richmond in a match involving a Terzaghi goal. In fact, the last time an opponent defeated Richmond after a Terzaghi goal was May 28, 2022, when North Carolina FC defeated Richmond 2-1.
After the match, the Unified Series match between Union Omaha and the Colorado Switchbacks stepped into the spotlight. The Owls remained undefeated this season and all-time, finishing with a 4-0 victory. Next up, the Unified Series team takes to the road, as they travel to Colorado Springs next month to take on the Switchbacks.
The League One Union Omaha squad will also travel to Colorado, as they take on Northern Colorado Hailstorm this coming Saturday night at 8PM CT.
Keep an eye out for a soon-to-be-posted article from Bryan, as he details all of the festivities from Union Omaha’s victory and Star Wars celebrations. Don’t forget to like, follow, and subscribe to Who Gives A Hoot for all of the latest Union Omaha content, like new episodes of the podcast.
Postmatch Quotes
Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato
Thoughts on the evening:
“Yeah, obviously, things went a little bit askew in the first half. We knew that Terzaghi was going to throw himself to the ground and we wanted to avoid unnecessary contact with him in the box. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that. Then, obviously, Terzaghi feels the need to run 40 yards and get in our guy’s face, which, again, he gets away with. I don’t know why the referee is letting him get away with that, but we’ve got to be smarter in those moments. This team’s got a lot of character and we’ve spoken about being together as a group and fighting through difficult moments, knowing that things are never going to be perfect, and I think the second half response was just outstanding from the guys and I’m super proud of the fight and the togetherness that they showed.”
On the second-half impact from substitute Steevan Dos Santos:
“Yeah, big Steevan. That’s why we signed him, right? He’s a goalscorer. He’s a physical presence and he’s got a lot of quality as well for a man of his size. His first touch and his hold-up plays. He’s outstanding, so that’s why he’s here and hopefully he has plenty more goals to come from him.”
On Noe Meza becoming Union Omaha’s all-time leader in goals:
“Yeah, great for Noe. He’s been putting them away this year and long made that continue.”
On Northern Colorado Hailstorm:
“Yeah, obviously we go to Colorado. They’re doing well, but we’re five unbeaten now and won three on the spin, so we’re confident. I think us as a staff, as a group, have really come together over the last few weeks and we go there with total confidence and going there to win the game.”
Team captain JP Scearce (1 goal):
Thoughts on the evening:
“Yeah, it was a great win for us. A great performance, obviously. We faced a little adversity in the first half with the penalty and then the sending off, but the guys responded pretty well to it coming into the second half we obviously could have felt sorry for ourselves and had our heads down, but we had a positive mentality going into the second half and we knew we had to get the win so it was a good, good response from the guys.”
On his goal:
“Yeah, it’s just like last time we played at home. Conor and I have that connection and I was lucky to get on the end of it.”
On the big home crowd attendance:
“Yeah, obviously you could hear the atmosphere, feel the atmosphere and hear the crowd out there. Obviously they had a big part to play as well in the second half, just pushing us on and thankful to have good support out there on the field.”
On Northern Colorado Hailstorm:
“They’ve been doing well in the season, but we’ve been doing well the past few games and we’re going in with confidence. We already got a result against them and hopefully we’ll get another one this next weekend.”
Forward Steevan Dos Santos (2 goals):
Thoughts on the evening:
“It was a very difficult game, but after the first half, we spoke about it and we said that we are the home team. Even though we were a man down, we had to fight to try to get the three points here.”
On his brace:
“It’s always good when you score, but I think the more important thing is how the team wins. If the team wins and I score, I’m happy with that. Today I scored two, but the more important thing was the three points here on a very difficult game.”
On Northern Colorado Hailstorm:
“Yes, they have been doing good, but I think the last couple of games, we are playing better. We are in a good moment now, as well. I think we have to focus on ourselves. We play them there and we know it’s a difficult game, but we have to focus on ourselves and try to get three points away.”
Forward Noe Meza (1 goal):
Thoughts on the evening:
“Got a little chippy out there, for sure. Yeah, so it was a lot of back and forth. I thought the ref made a couple bad calls in the beginning and then, unfortunately, we went down to 10 men, but at halftime, we kind of came together. We knew we were going to get chances. We just had to stick to the game plan and have the same belief that we were going to win the game and then we were able to carry out the game.”
On becoming the club’s all-time leading goal scorer:
“It’s just an awesome feeling. Yeah, this year and last year, I just want to give thanks to the organization. [Former Union Omaha Head Coach] Jay [Mims], for initially giving me the opportunity to come here and then this year, Dom [Casciato], with his playing style, I think it’s been really good for me individually, but then also the team and I think we’re seeing it now with the results that we’re getting. Yeah, it feels great.”
On playing in front of a season-high crowd:
“Well, it felt great. I mean, to get a win like this in front of everyone, I think it’s just great for the club. It really helps with the fans being here. It helps us. They give us energy to keep going and so it feels great to get a result in front of that many fans.”
On the differences seen in the team over the last three matches:
“I think we’ve been playing well. We’ve been giving good performances. I think throughout the year, we’ve been tying a lot. I think defensively, we’ve improved these past couple of weeks. We’ve been really focusing on that and then we’ve been able to see it in our games a little bit better.”
On how it feels to be a part of such a dominant win:
“Yeah, I think it’s really good. I think we’re on a good run. We’re really clicking together, so getting a win like this tonight, scoring a lot of goals, and not really giving much up. Except for that questionable PK, it’s a really good sign. Now we have a little stretch of away games, but I think we’ll be in a good spot to get what we want.”
On Northern Colorado Hailstorm:
“Yeah, last year we were there. I’m not sure if it’s the same place. I think it’s a different place this time. They’re a really good team. We played them here at home. I thought we had a really good performance against them as well, but we know they’ve been doing really well and we’re up for it and we’re ready for that game as well.”
On the keys to success moving forward:
“Yeah, I think [the key is] just sticking to what we’ve been doing, sticking to our game. We’ll be looking at Colorado, seeing what type of system they’re playing, and then sticking to our game plan, which never really changes. Our identity is always working hard, staying together. And then, yeah, we’ll be ready for that next game.”
Match Summary
Attendance: 3,524
Injury Report:
OMA: #12 – Eddie Gordon (Questionable)
OMA: #3 – Stefan Mueller (Questionable)
RIC: #7 – Ethan Vanacore-Decker
Goal Summary:
25’: OMA – #17 JP Scearce (assisted by Conor Doyle)
39’: RIC – #32 Emiliano Terzaghi converts the PK
49’: OMA – #7 Noe Meza (assisted by Dion Acoff)
68’: OMA – #10 Steevan Dos Santos
79’: OMA – #10 Steevan Dos Santos (assisted by #8 Joe Brito)
Substitution Summary:
45’: RIC – #3 Chris Cole replaces #16 Jake Mecham
61’: OMA – #10 Steevan Dos Santos replaces #20 Luis Gil
69’: RIC – #9 Matthew Bentley replaces #32 Emiliano Terzaghi
70’: RIC – #27 Chandler O’Dwyer replaces #10 Nil Vinyals
70’: RIC – #99 Khartlon Belmar replaces #17 Ryan Sierakowski
75’: OMA – #44 Alex Steinwascher replaces #7 Noe Meza
75’: OMA – #18 -Junior Palacios replaces #26 Dion Acoff
78’: RIC – #33 Gabe Cox replaces #8 João Gomiero
Discipline Summary:
26’: RIC – #10 Nil Vinyals (Yellow card)
31’: OMA – #7 Noe Meza (Yellow card)
41’: OMA – #11 Joe Gallardo (Red card)
41’: RIC – #32 Emiliano Terzaghi (Yellow card)
66’: RIC – #19 Justin Sukow (Yellow card)
71’: OMA – #6 Chavany Willis (Red card)
73’: RIC – #6 Zaca Morán (Yellow card)
86’: RIC – #24 Nathan Aune (Yellow card)
Who Gives A Hoot? 
So nice to hear of a strong win in a great article
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