Union Omaha’s first crack at the Jäegermeister Cup ended in a 2-2 draw against an always tough Northern Colorado Hailstorm squad. A quick strike by Bruno Rendòn had the hosts reeling, but an even quicker brace by Missael Rodriguez turned the game around right before halftime. The seemingly inevitable Ethan Hoard equalized in the second half and ultimately sent the game into penalties. The heroics weren’t done for the Owls, however, as Wallis Lapsley stopped three Hailstorm penalties. The PK win earned Union Omaha an extra point in the Cup standings sending them to the top of their group.
Coach Casciato used the Cup tie to start a little bit of rotation heading into a cramped two weeks which will see the Owls play 4 games in the space of 11 days. Aside from the aforementioned Lapsley starting in goal, Anderson Holt and Brandon Knapp got their first starts of the season on the right side of the pitch. Missael Rodriguez replaced Pedro Dolabella in midfield and Lagos Kunga continued his run of starts in the absence of Steevan Dos Santos. Blake Malone also saw his return to the bench following a spell on the injury list.
Eamon Zayed put out a team almost completely unchanged from the side that rescued a late draw in Chattanooga 11 days prior with the only change being the debut of Haruki Yamazaki, the young collegiate standout midfielder that had signed with the team a mere 2 days before the match.
Despite the rotation, the Owls started the match on the front foot and looking dangerous in attack. 2’ into the match Joe Gallardo delivered a great corner that found Anderson Holt for a free header about six yards out Lalo Delgado’s net. The Hailstorm keeper was quick to react and put it over the bar, showing why he’s one of the best in the league.
Just three minutes later, another corner would find Luca Mastrantonio, whose flick would just glance off the crossbar and out of play. The pressure would continue, concentrating mostly up the left side, and Northern Colorado didn’t seem to be able to find an answer for most of it, leaving Delgado or inaccurate shooting to save them early.
That would change in the 17’ as the normally disciplined Búho backline would get caught by a well-timed run from Bruno Rendòn. A chaotic sequence in midfield saw Luca Mastrantonio gain possession, but his off-balance pass was easily intercepted by Ethan Hoard. With Rendòn called onside by the assistant referee, Hoard was able to put a pass in that beat Mastrantonio and a wrong-footed Marco Milanese to put the Hailstorm man in on goal. Rendòn managed to slip the ball past Lapsley on the 1-on-1 and into the far corner for the opening goal. Despite dominating the play for the first 15’, the Owls found themselves staring at a deficit.
The goal seemed to rattle Omaha just a bit, as Northern Colorado found themselves getting more and more into the match. Hailstorm would find several decent opportunities, but the defense would find a way—sometimes just enough—to keep the ball off target. The lack of breakthrough for either side led to some more physical play, a couple of hard fouls, and then both teams attempting to play the ball long in hopes of getting past a couple of defenses that had withdrawn some into themselves.
Despite leading the match in possession, shots, and passes, it seemed that the Owls were destined to go into the half down a goal and needing to regroup. That was when Missael Rodriguez announced himself to the game and the crowd in spectacular fashion.
Following a good defensive recovery in the final third, Joe Gallardo got a pass off to Aaròn Gòmez who started a counter up the right side. Despite six Hailstorm defenders tracking back, Gòmez found Ryen Jiba on the left side and switched the ball to him in stride at the edge of the 18-yard box. Jiba dribbled into the box and placed a pinpoint ball onto the right foot of Rodriguez who made no mistake from the 6-yard box. Delgado had no chance to save a very well worked goal, and the Owls looked to be heading into halftime with a tie game.
But Rodriguez wasn’t done yet. About 90 seconds later, Lagos Kunga was able to pounce on a misplayed ball by Johnny Fenwick. With the defense off balance, Rodriguez began another millisecond-perfect run and Kunga hit him in stride. Alone with the keeper, Rodriguez found his initial shot saved by an on rushing Delgado. The rebound, however, bounced very kindly and with two defenders now around him, the Chicago Fire loanee headed the ball into the empty net. Despite adamant protests of offside, Hailstorm had squandered their lead and would go into the half down 2-1.
While you could argue that the halftime lead was deserved, the Owls knew they could very easily be down, and possibly by more than one goal. The halftime period would need to be a chance to breathe, remember the compact defense and team play that had gotten them thus far, and to take control of the game from a Northern Colorado team that is never out when Zayed is on the sideline and Hoard is on the pitch.
Dom would make two changes at halftime, bringing on defender Will Perkins in place of Joe Gallardo—partially to have the extra help, but mostly to rest an important piece of our team ahead of league and Open Cup play. At the same time, Zeiko Lewis would get his Omaha debut in place of Aarón Gómez.
Despite the changes, the first 15 minutes of the second half played out a lot like the end of the first half, but without the goals. Northern Colorado remained dangerous on the quick counter attack, while the Búhos dealt with it each time of asking. The midfield was doing well in winning first and second balls, but despite continuing to out-possess the Hailstorm, there weren’t a lot of clear chances that threatened the defense.
As good as the defense was playing, a bad decision in the back would lead to Hailstorm’s equalizing goal. While trying to control the ball and play out of the back against the Northern Colorado press, Brandon Knapp completely misplayed his pass back to Luca. Mastrantonio raced for the loose ball, but the opportunistic Ethan Hoard was there to take the ball in stride at the edge of the area. Hoard attempted to toe-poke the ball past Lapsley, but the keeper managed to get his body in front of it. Unfortunately, in a very familiar looking sequence, the ball caromed off of Hoard and into the back of the net for an unlikely, but very real, equalizer.
Both teams would continue to attempt to press each other and try to get past the tight defenses. By the later stages of the second half, the rain would intensify turning the pitch into a nightmare for traction. While this generally opened up play, the Omaha defenders were always able to get back and force an errant shot, pass, or otherwise keep Hailstorm from fully flipping the lead.
Even when the lightning delay came in the 84’ minute, the players didn’t seem to lose too much of their enthusiasm to try to find all three points. The teams continued running and pressing, finding more space in behind on the wings and in the midfield, but the best chance of the second half would go to Rodriguez off a free kick.
A good run by Adam Aoumaich between three defenders would end in a foul on the left side of the box, about 21-yards out. On a hat trick, Rodriguez stepped up and put a great curling ball in to Delgado’s near post. Though the keeper may have gotten to it, the ball was just off target into the side netting, and that would be the last real chance to secure the win for the Owls.
With the format of the Jäegermeister Cup awarding a second point in a drawn match to whomever wins a PK shootout, the teams lined up in front of the Berm end to secure a win. Omaha was able to go first and immediately put pressure on the visitors when Zeiko Lewis fooled Delgado with a stutter-step kick for the first shot. Johnny Fenwick would then come up for Northern Colorado, but this only increased the pressure as the Hailstorm captain tried to fool Lapsley to the keeper’s left. Lapsley easily made the save, and the Owls were in great position to take the point.
In the next round, Marco Milanese would also beat Delgado, while Lapsley guessed correctly again, stopping Isidro Martinez by diving to his right.
The third round would see Northern Colorado claw back a little bit as Adam Aoumaich got under his kick and blasted it over the bar and the Parliament behind. Noah Powder would step up and finally beat Lapsley, who guessed correctly but couldn’t get a glove to the well-placed shot.
Next, Mark Bronnik, whose PK saw Omaha past El Paso Locomotive in the Open Cup, calmly beat Delgado with a shot down the center. Irvin Parra would keep the pace up by putting it past Lapsley, who again guessed correctly but couldn’t make contact.
With a chance to put the match away, Missael Rodriguez came up and beat Delgado to the middle, however, the shot was a little too high and clanged off the crossbar. Northern Colorado had an opening that didn’t seem possible after the second spot kick.
But our keeper put the Wall in Wallis by shutting it down just as quickly. His third PK save of the night bested Jake Keegan, who tried to power a shot into the low corner to Lapsley’s left. The ball parried away and the celebrations began, if not slightly later than the 2,135 fans in attendance might have liked.
The Positives
I could talk about finally scoring a goal after almost 275’ of play in all competitions. I could talk about being the first team to score two goals in the Jäegermeister Cup. I could talk about Missael Rodriguez, beating a tough Northern Colorado side while in rotation, or even how green the pitch at Werner Park looked. But the biggest positive I have is Wallis Lapsley. The backup keeper took his shot at glory in getting the first start of the season for us. He played remarkably well, made six saves, only let in two goals (which were not his fault), and made three huge saves in penalties. As much as we love all-everything keeper Rashid Nuhu, he has struggled in PK shootouts before. Knowing that we have a backup that can not only answer the call, but can be outstanding when needed, is an amazing feeling for a club to have. We are lucky to have Wallis on the team, especially now that his heroics might wash away any unpleasantness that may have been around from his time at Tucson. The man could probably start in a lot of places, but he’s here for us now.
The Negatives
The goal scoring drought is over, but finishing still needs a little work. If you don’t count the three shots that Missael put on target, we had 4 shots on goal from 14 total shots. We took 5 of those 14 from inside the box. We’re getting in decent positions, even when we take shots from outside the box, but they are either getting blocked or are flying off target. And as much as I hate to pick on him, Adam Aoumaich’s penalty kick is a prime example. He has done a great job when on the pitch getting in position, but his aim seems to be quite off. That’s fine when being contested, but his first clear shot of goal was well over the target and the mark. Call it nerves, youth, or what you want, but if the accuracy on these shots gets better, it’ll force the keepers in this league to work—often by pulling the ball out o their net.
Interesting Facts:
- Until the third round of this shootout, Union Omaha had gone 7/7 on penalty kicks this year.
- This was the first match this season that the Owls were beaten in touches and shots from inside the box (17-23 and 8-10).
- Another oddity with the Jäegermeister Cup is that while goals, assists, saves, and points don’t transfer over to the league standings, discipline does. Lucky Opara’s yellow card in the 79’ will count toward any card accumulation suspensions in the league.
Key Events:
Northern Colorado Goal: 17’ – Bruno Rendòn (A: Ethan Hoard)
Union Omaha Goal: 44’ – Missael Rodriguez (A: Ryen Jiba)
Union Omaha Goal: 45’+1 – Missael Rodriguez (Unassisted)
Union Omaha Sub: 46’ – Zeiko Lewis On; Aaròn Gòmez Off
– Will Perkins On; Joe Gallardo Off
Northern Colorado Sub: 58’ – Noah Powder On; Patrick Langlois Off
– Isidro Martinez On; Marky Hernandez Off
– Irvin Parra On; Danny Robles Off
Northern Colorado Goal: 62′ – Ethan Hoard (Unassisted)
Union Omaha Sub: 62’ – Mark Bronnik On; Lagos Kunga Off
Union Omaha Sub: 73’ – Blake Malone On; Nortei Nortey Off
Northern Colorado Yellow Card: – 79’ Lucky Opara (hard foul)
Union Omaha Sub: 79’ – Adam Aoumaich On; Ryen Jiba Off
Northern Colorado Sub: 83’ – Jake Keegan On; Haruki Yamazaki Off
Penalty Shootout:
Union Omaha – Zeiko Lewis – Scored (1-0)
Northern Colorado – Jonny Fenwick – Saved (1-0)
Union Omaha – Marco Milanese – Scored (2-0)
Northern Colorado – Isidro Martinez – Saved (2-0)
Union Omaha – Adam Aoumaich – Missed (2-0)
Northern Colorado – Noah Powder – Scored (2-1)
Union Omaha – Mark Bronnik – Scored (3-1)
Northern Colorado – Irvin Parra – Scored (3-2)
Union Omaha – Missael Rodriguez – Missed (3-2)
Northern Colorado – Jake Keegan – Saved (3-2)
Who Gives A Hoot? 