On the back of three Union Omaha players getting their first goal of the season, and in front of the biggest home crowd of 2023, the Owls remained perfect as they finished off their three match home series with a 3-1 victory over One Knox.
Fans ignored the heat and humidity, turned out in droves, and brought the excitement to Werner Park as Union Omaha and One Knox lined up to finish their regular season series. The two faced off in Weeks 15 and 19 of the 2023 USL League One Regular Season, with both matches featuring their fair share of drama and tonight’s match was no different.
One Knox had the opening kickoff and wasted little time in testing Union Omaha goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu. In the fourth minute of play, One Knox midfielder Ilija Ilić fed a through-ball to forward Jake Keegan as he looked to split Union Omaha’s defense. With the ball at his feet and defenders on his heels, Keegan was suddenly in a one-versus-one with Nuhu. Keegan tried to thread the ball low, but Nuhu played it right and made the clearance look easy. Believe it or not, that was the only save Nuhu had to make for the entire match. The Golden Glove leader and One Knox goalkeeper Sean Lewis was not as fortunate.
Union Omaha broke the deadlock in the 26th minute and it was a culmination of many Owls touching the ball before it crossed the goal line. From the time defender Dion Acoff put himself between a One Knox player and the ball and Joe Brito scoring the goal, a total of eight Union Omaha players found themselves involved in the development of the goal with touches along the way. The execution of the goal followed 8 passes, with only Nuhu and team captain JP Scearce taking more than two touches on the ball, and the entire play took 31 seconds. As the ball found its way into the box, Brito was there to clean up the loose ball and give his side the early lead. The goal was his first of the season and Pedro Dolabella’s third assist. With a goal in hand, the Owls carried the lead into halftime feeling confident, but yearning for more.
The halftime stats were fairly even between the two clubs, but the one of the biggest notes that was conveniently left off the halftime stat sheets was unfinished chances. Union Omaha had two big chances, scoring one, tallied on the halftime stat sheets, but the Owls had several other opportunities for an easy tap-in on the far post. The home side did a good job of routinely forcing the ball into the penalty area and creating a path along the mouth of the goal, but couldn’t connect to a body on the far post for the goal-scoring opportunity. The second half was far different and so was the scoreboard.
Just as One Knox was trying to recover from the deficit, the visitors were dealt another blow in the 46th minute when midfielder Angelo Kelly was issued a second yellow card, resulting in a red card. Now One Knox had to make even more adjustments, all while finishing the match without a vital player roaming the midfield. This seems like an appropriate time to mention that One Knox entered the match down four defenders for various reasons: suspension, injury, and illness. While nothing seemed to be going in favor of One Knox, the opposite rang true for Union Omaha.
Second-half substitute and Union Omaha midfielder Joe Gallardo received a great over-the-top pass from Luis Gil and Gallardo suddenly found himself working along the flank without a defender. After settling the ball, Gallardo sent a picture-perfect cross to the head of Conor Doyle, who was able to get his head on it and double Union Omaha’s lead. The goal was Doyle’s first of the season and Gallardo’s third assist, two of which have come in the last three matches.
Another second half substitute made a big impact in the very late stages of the match. Midfielder Chavany Willis was subbed on in the 88th minute and scored Union Omaha’s 3rd goal less than 10 minutes later. As One Knox was still establishing possession, Willis pressed high and forced a turnover, to which Scearce rewarded Willis with the ball immediately afterwards. Willis, who is always eager to shoot from a distance, took one touch to turn towards goal and unleashed an absolute banger to twist the already-present dagger in the hearts of One Knox fans. The Jamaican bathed in the cheers of Union Omaha fans for an extra moment, as the goal was his first of the season, too.
One Knox would erase the clean sheet two minutes later with a goal of their own, but the Union Omaha victory was already in hand.
The win gave the Owls another trio of points, which lifted them to third place in the league standings. Next week, Union Omaha travels to Windsor, Colorado to face off against Northern Colorado Hailstorm for the last match in that series. The next home match for Union Omaha will be on Saturday, August 19th, when Chattanooga Red Wolves come to Werner Park for Hispanic Heritage Night.
Random Facts
- Union Omaha just did what only two other USL League One clubs have been able to do this season: win each match of a three-game homestand.
- Union Omaha has now played a total of 540 straight minutes at home without trailing.
- The Owls have scored 3 or more goals in 6 different matches, something never accomplished in club history. The closest was the 2021 team, who did it in 5 different matches.
- This year’s squad is averaging 1.57 goals per match, which is the same average as the 2021 squad at the end of their regular season.
- In Union Omaha’s 11 home matches so far this season, the team has experienced a monumental shift in their defensive performance. In the first 5 matches, in which the team only had 1 win, they gave up 10 goals. In the last 6 home matches, in which the team has won 5 and drawn once, the team has only conceded 5 goals.
- Union Omaha continues to be undefeated when scoring first. The Owls are also undefeated when scoring two or more goals.
Postmatch Interviews
Head Coach Dominic Casciato
General thoughts on the evening:
“Yeah, satisfied. A little tired, obviously. It’s been a bit of a heavy week for us, but really pleased for the guys. We spoke about taking maximum points from this homestand and being able to do that now is fantastic. I’m just really proud of the guys and the effort they put in.”
On the secret to Union Omaha’s recent success at home:
“We have a great fanbase and I think that fanbase makes it difficult for teams to come here. I think the guys really relish playing in front of the crowd that we have and tonight’s biggest home crowd of the season, it’s just great. It’s great to play in front of our fans. We love our fans and long may that continue. Hopefully we get more and more at each home game.”
On first goals from Joe Brito, Conor Doyle, and Chavany Willis:
“Yeah, we’ve spoken about how everybody is responsible for the team’s success. Everybody has to step up at different moments in the season, in a game, in a difficult period that you’re going through. So with Joe Brito, we’ve spoken to him about adding goals to his game and it’s great for him to get his first one of the season. Conor, he’s got plenty of assists. His set piece delivery has been outstanding. His recent form has been excellent. I think that run towards the front post tonight was excellent, as well. So, super pleased for him to get his first goal and then super pleased for Chavany. He’s somebody that opportunities have been a little bit limited for him, but he came on tonight. His attitude was good and obviously a great strike from outside the box. We all know he can do that. He’s got great quality and hopefully we see more of that this season.”
On limiting One Knox’s offense:
“Yeah, look, we do a lot of work. We watch a lot of games going into it. Us as a staff: Ladulé, Kevin, Beto, myself, we do a lot of homework on the individual players, on them as a unit, as well. We knew they could move between two shapes: between a 4-4-2 of a diamond and a free box free. So we had prepared for that. I think outside of Jake Keegan’s chance early when he got in behind us, and there was another one in the second half, he didn’t have a ton of opportunities, which we were pleased with. Disappointed with a goal we conceded at the end of the game, but I think it’s about us doing our homework as a staff and then the players being able to take in that information and execute it like good pros as they are.”
On his secrets to successful second half substitutions:
“I don’t know if there is a secret. I think we have good players, so I think it’s down to the players that come on with the right attitude. Sometimes guys can be sour coming off the bench, right? They want to be starting games, and I get it. Everybody wants to start, but as I said earlier, different moments in the season, different moments in games, are going to call for different things from different people, so if everybody has the attitude that they’re responsible for the team’s success when they come off the bench, then we’re just going to get stronger and stronger as the game goes on. I think that was the case tonight. Obviously, them going down to ten changed the pattern of the game a little bit, but I thought we managed it and we managed our emotions and it’s looking like a really good three-nil win. So, disappointed with that last goal, but I don’t want to be too harsh on the guys. I thought they executed our game plan tonight really well and the mentality was excellent. We spoke about being ruthless in both boxes and I thought for the most part we did that.”
On Noe Meza’s status:
“Yeah, so he’s had some series of cramps. He came off with a cramp on Wednesday night, so he’ll be back in soon.”
On next week’s match at Northern Colorado Hailstorm:
“Yeah, we’re looking forward to it. Obviously they’re top right now, but I think if you look at the two games we’ve played against them: the first game, obviously they had a man sent off early, but we were definitely the better team. I think the second time we played them, when we went to their place, I think we were much better. I think we were a better team, but they got one goal off a deflection and the second one was a little bit of a breakdown on our part and we just couldn’t really create any clear opportunity. So, hopefully when we go there this weekend, we’ll be a little bit more clinical in the final third and be able to come away with a win.”
Team captain JP Scearce (1 assist)
General thoughts on the evening:
“Yeah, it felt amazing to close out the week with nine points and obviously it was a very important win. Keep climbing the table and yeah, a little bit disappointed at the end to let off that goal and not get the clean sheet, but got to focus on the positives and happy to win.”
On seeing Joe Brito, Conor Doyle, and Chavany Willis score their first goals of the season:
“Yeah, when Chavany scored, I was thinking about it, like how it’s three guys who get their first goal of the season and I mean, that’s the type of depth we have, where we have a lot of players who could score and they got important goals for us tonight.”
On playing in front of this season’s biggest home crowd:
“Yeah, it felt amazing, as always. We have probably the best support in the whole league and, like I said last game, they’re the twelfth man out there. They give us the energy to keep going, especially late in the game, so it felt amazing.”
On limiting One Knox’s offense:
“Yeah, I think we were sort of letting them have the ball a bit. I think they didn’t really have many ideas going forward and they were going direct and we were just being patient and waiting for a moment to press, so I don’t think the possession stat is too important. As long as we just get the win, I think.”
On next week’s match against Northern Colorado Hailstorm:
“Yeah, we’re excited to go out there again and try to get a result. They’re one of the best teams in the league right now, so we beat them once and I think we have the capability to get a result again, especially with this hot streak we got going.”
Joe Brito (1 goal)
General thoughts on the evening:
“Feels amazing. You know, we wanted to cap off a great week with a win to get all nine points this week and that was one of our goals coming to this week and that’s what we did. So, we’re all really excited and moving up the table. So, we’re all ready to go for the rest of the season.”
On having success on home turf:
“Yeah, it’s really nice to have a home field advantage. It’s a big thing, especially if we can secure home field for the playoffs. So, that’s something we want to take with us for the rest of the season and hopefully into the playoffs.”
On playing in front of the record-setting crowd:
“Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s always amazing to come in front of this crowd and they just keep showing up for us and we’re always setting records: with the crowd on Wednesday and then the crowd today, so they’re always doing great to support us and it helps push us across the finish line.”
On scoring a goal tonight:
“Yeah, it felt amazing. Last time we played them, I think I should have scored, so I really had that in my mind that I wanted to get one today and I was able to do that. Hopefully the floodgates are open now.”
On next week’s match against Northern Colorado Hailstorm:
“I know they’ve had a good season. Last time we played them, they beat us and the time before that, we beat them. So,we’d like to win this series this season and it’s a big win because they’re top of the table, so that’s where we want to be.”
Match Summary
Attendance: 4,095
Availability Report:
OMA: DF #3 Stefan Mueller (Out – Injury)
ONE: DF #13 Dani Fernandez (Out – Suspended)
ONE: DF #16 James Thomas (Out – Injury)
ONE: DF #40 Sean O’Hearn (Out – Injury)
ONE: DF #3 Kyle McDowell (Out – Illness)
Goal Summary:
26’: OMA – #8 Joe Brito (assisted by #9 Pedro Dolabella)
59’: ONE – #22 Conor Doyle (assisted by #11 Joe Gallardo)
90’+7: OMA – #6 Chavany Willis (assisted by #17 JP Scearce)
90’+9: ONE – #12 Callum Johnson
Substitution Summary:
45’: OMA – #11 Joe Gallardo replaces #9 Pedro Dolabella
56’: ONE – #11 Frank Ross replaces #10 Ilija Ilić
56’: ONE – #30 Jan-Erik Leinhos replaces #6 Yesin van der Pluijm
60’: OMA – #28 Shaft Brewer Jr. replaces #26 Dion Acoff
63’: OMA – #13 Anderson Holt replaces #5 Marco Milanese
66’: OMA – #44 Alex Steinwascher replaces #10 Steevan Dos Santos
66’: ONE – #91 Gio Calixtro replaces #55 Gabriel Claudio
80’: ONE – #21 Matthew Vowinkel replaces #7 Jake Keegan
81’: ONE – #23 Sam Fletcher replaces #14 Jimmie Villalobos
81’: ONE – #12 Callum Johnson replaces #9 Rodolfo Castro
88’: OMA – #6 Chavany Willis replaces #8 Joe Brito
Discipline Summary:
37’: OMA – #9 Pedro Dolabella (Yellow card)
38’: OMA – #5 Marco Milanese (Yellow card)
44’: ONE – #8 Angelo Kelly (Yellow card)
45’+1: ONE – #4 Jordan Skelton (Yellow card)
46’: ONE – #8 Angelo Kelly (2nd Yellow – Red card)
85’: ONE – #23 Sam Fletcher (Yellow card)
90’+6: ONE – #21 Matthew Vowinkel (Yellow card)
Who Gives A Hoot? 