That game was definitely… something. A truly wild game that ended with 10 players for each team and a late giveaway leading to a player’s first goal for the team. There is so much to talk about from it, so I’ll get right into that!
Leaving the Drought with Tucson
Finally, after three whole games, 284 minutes into having not scored a goal at home, the drought was broken. It was the longest home scoring drought we have had in the club’s history. We’ve only had one prior stretch of home games that could actually be considered a goal drought, during the losing streak in 2020 we didn’t score in two consecutive home losses. There have been other games where we have failed to score at home but those have been one-off events. So finally getting through this rough patch was such a relief.
And how did we do so? Well, it was through Hugo’s goal in the 14th minute which also ended his own goal drought. He hadn’t scored in the league since the first goal of the first home game, all the way back in late April. He did score in the game against Minnesota in the cup in May but seeing him able to get that weight off his shoulders was just incredible to see. Hope to see many more in the coming games as well (頑張って宇々護!).
A Quick xGdate
Last week I talked a bit about how against North Carolina we weren’t as efficient with our xG as we could have been. I gave some examples of our best and worst performances based on that metric as well. Well guess what? This game would also make that list as one of the better games we’ve had this year xG-wise!
We scored 2 goals (1 somewhat gifted) on only 0.8 xG while only giving up 1 goal from 1.31 xG. That’s great as not only does it mean our offense produced more than it necessarily should have, but our defense was more solid than expected as well. Though why those numbers are so skewed in general comes to the last point…
Cards Gone Wild
The red card we received in the first half was indeed an interesting one. But I’ll let the others talk about that incident and instead focus on what the stats as a whole mean. 10 yellows, plus 2 second yellows which resulted in 2 reds. That’s a lot of cards. In fact, that is the most cards in one of our games ever. We’ve had 9 in a couple of other games, but that doesn’t even touch those 10 initial yellows in this game. Tucson continues to be one of teams that we have the most cards with, with on average 3 yellows per each team per game, and this exacerbated that even more in the overall numbers. That even isn’t mentioning the otherwise relatively modest number of fouls this game (10 for us, 12 for them, for 22 total) which is actually lower than the usual mark which is on average almost 30 total fouls per match with them.
The stat that really sticks out to me though, is the red cards. This is not the first game in which both us and the opponent have received reds, that goes to the game in North Texas in 2020. It is only the second time we’ve had that happen, though. It also means that, along with the red received in the prior game this season, both Tucson and us now have received 2 reds each against one another. And that is definitely a first for us, as only North Texas had split reds before and only Tormenta have multiple reds against us. It also means they are the first team that we have had 2 red cards against. It all comes down to the truly special match-up this fixture is. Maybe not special in a good way, though our 8 wins and only 1 loss may actually end up having us still feel pretty good about it, despite the rough nature of each game.
After a contentious 90 minutes and change, Union Omaha was able to find their 5th league win of the season, defeating FC Tucson 2-1 on Saturday night. The Owls even spent a third of the match down a man, after an early (soft) red card was given to JP Scearce in the 30th minute of play. It was what happened between Union Omaha’s goals that took attention away from the victory.
In what could easily be a record-setting occasion, Union Omaha and FC Tucson ended the match having received a combined 14 cards, including 2 soft red cards. The majority of the yellow cards were handed out shortly after the second half began when, after a foul was called, the two teams came together to exchange pleasantries. Less than ten minutes later, FC Tucson would receive a soft red card of their own and the two sides would finish on level player counts. While the cards are what is likely to be talked about, the goals are what ultimately decided the greater scheme of things.
Union Omaha opened the deadlock with a 14th-minute goal from Hugo Kametani, assisted by Kemal Malcolm. In typical fashion, Union Omaha was able to build an attack with less than a handful of passes, but instead of working up the sideline, the link-up play took place straight down the middle of the field. Malcolm was found along the right sideline and sent a quality service into the box and Kametani was able to finish it with relative ease. The goal was Kametani’s first since Union Omaha played Minnesota United in the US Open Cup on May 25th. The assist was Malcolm’s first assist of the season. As suddenly as this goal occurred, the second goal took even less time to develop.
In the 90+1’ minute of play, former Union Omaha player, and current FC Tucson defender, Jake Crull made an errant pass backward toward his goalie. Union Omaha second-half sub, Alex Bruce, was within striking distance and pounced on the opportunity. Bruce sprinted toward the ball, was the first to arrive, and swept the ball wide to avoid the FC Tucson goalkeeper. He made the goal look easy, but it was from a tough angle and in the heat of the moment, so full credit to Bruce for remaining calm and composed enough to score the goal. The unassisted (Editor’s Note: Jake Crull cannot be credited with an assist but we all know what happened – RL) goal is Bruce’s first goal as an Owl.
When the dust from Week 16 action settled, FC Tucson remained in last place in the league. The closest team in the standings is five points away, so if they are going to make the playoffs, they’re going to need a win streak at the end of the season similar to what we saw last year. FC Tucson will host Charlotte Independence on Saturday, July 23rd and kickoff is scheduled for 9:00 PM (CST).
By virtue of their win, Union Omaha jumped three spots to end Week 16 in 4th place and return to the playoff grouping after dropping below the threshold in Week 15. The 4th-place finish to the week is their highest finish since Week 4, when the Owls finished in 2nd place. Union Omaha remains in the thick of the hunt, as teams 4th through 10th are separated by a mere 3 points. Next week, the Owls travel to Greenville, South Carolina for another edition of Belt Week. Tune into the match on Saturday at 6 PM (CST) on ESPN+.
Union Omaha (4-6-2, 8th Place) vs FC Tucson (3-4-7, 11th Place)
All competitions: OMA (8-6-3) vs TUC (4-4-8)
Werner Park – Papillion, Nebraska
7:00 PM (CST) ESPN+
It’s Week 16 of the USL League One regular season and Union Omaha’s most familiar foe returns to Werner Park: FC Tucson. If you felt let down by the lack of fireworks at the last home match, you’ll definitely want to be there tonight for the abundance of metaphorical fireworks. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM (CDT), so make sure you’re at Werner Park in time to catch the action.
If home is where you’re most comfortable, then FC Tucson has made themselves mighty comfortable at home in last place this season. Of the 15 weeks of action this season, FC Tucson has resided in 11th place in 12 different weeks. Last week, the club hosted Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. They may have earned a point, but they’re still four points from the nearest club in the standings. Don’t let the last-place standing fool you, though: this team is poised to play the spoiler.
While FC Tucson may not be the best overall team, they are a deceptively better team on the road. Every single win they have managed to collected came on the road. Their highest-scoring game also came on the road. Of their 13 overall goals scored this season, 8 of them were scored as the visitor. In the seven matches where FC Tucson was able to earn a result, six of those matches were against a team that is a current playoff contender. Yes, the last-place ranking jumps off the page, but don’t let it tell the whole story.
Union Omaha looks to rebound off another draw, this time from a trip to North Carolina FC, where the match ended 1-1. Union Omaha has had six draws so far this season, nearing the 2021 season and club record of nine draws in a season. The Owls still have three games in hand on the league leader, so points earned now not only keep pace with the results above them in the table, but also positions them in a more favorable place to take advantage of their opportunity. The team currently ranks in third place when you look at the average points earned per game, so don’t let the eighth-place position in the standings deceive you, either.
Historically speaking, when these two clubs meet, they tend to see more cards than a Hallmark shop. Only once has Union Omaha finished a match against FC Tucson with less than two yellow cards, only because the yellow turned into a soft red card. Every other match has seen the Owls earn at least two yellow cards. FC Tucson has only one game in the history of this matchup where they did not earn a single color of either color, but they counteracted that effort with a match that featured five yellow cards, so their average is over two yellow cards a match, as well. Both teams play physical and it’s no surprise that things heat up before the final whistle.
These two teams faced each other earlier in the season, resulting in a 2-1 road victory for the Owls, but not before a soft red card entered the equation and adjustments had to be made. Throughout the night, FC Tucson was showing good efforts in trying to sneak players up the field and expose the space between Union Omaha’s backline and midfielders. There were moments where they were creating good offensive chances because of that ability, but they couldn’t seem to generate anything once the ball was fed to those players. Speaking of a lack of offensive production, the last time FC Tucson scored a goal on Union Omaha in the regular season was September 25th, 2021 – almost ten months ago.
Tonight is sure to bring some excitement and drama, so get to Werner Park early, enjoy the tailgates, and get inside to catch all of the action. The theme tonight is “402 Night,” where the club celebrates the local area, so don’t miss out on those celebrations, either. It’s going to be another warm afternoon and evening, accompanied by a slight chance of rain and/or storms, so make sure you’re fully prepared when you get to Werner Park. Get excited, bring that energy with you to the stadium, and let’s cheer the Owls on to another victory! As always…¡Viva Búhos!
The Data Dive is a little late this week as I was actually in North Carolina this past weekend with family, so was able to attend the game. It was a good experience, even with the rain! In this Dive I’ll mention a few things from this game as well as some other things that I’d been collecting for a bit now.
Rainy Days
It was storming quite a bit this past weekend in the Raleigh area, so it wasn’t a big surprise when we ended up in a rain delay. We haven’t had many rain delays in our games that didn’t just end up rescheduled (like Chatt in 2020 and Madison last year).
So it was interesting to see how we started, after having that big delay. How much that effected the play I’m not sure, especially as it is only our second rain delay. The first home game we ever had, against North Texas in 2020, was the only other rain delay game that I can recall. With more data, maybe across all of the teams in the league, it might be interesting to consider. But as for now, it was an odd quirk to our normal schedule and an interesting experience having been there for it.
Unexpected Goals?
After this past performance where we had the run of play the whole second half but weren’t able to score, I thought now would be a good time to talk about some Expected Goals (xG) metrics. Here are our xG stats during the league season compared to how many goals we’ve actually scored/conceded:
xG Scored: 12.74 goals. Actual Scored: 14. xG Scored Against Us: 9.93. Actual Conceded: 11.
So we are actually slightly above the expected on both ends. There are a few games to point to in particular as well for how these came to be.
For goals scored, the best games for us are the home game against Fuego and at Tucson, where we over-performed our xG by about 1.5 each game. On the other hand, we under-performed by a whole 1 xG in the games at Charlotte and home against Hailstorm. The home games against Greenville and Charlotte were not the best either in that respect.
For goals conceded, we were poor in this last game, as NCFC only scored with 0.18 xG. We’ve had a few other games like this, at Charlotte, the second time at Tormenta and home against Greenville. In each of those games we allowed about 1 xG more than we should have. Those really hurt our otherwise good numbers. Both the first time at Tormenta and at Chatt,they had over 1 xG but we were able to shut them out. This is on top of a number of other games where we kept clean sheets while teams had some very good chances.
Does this mean we don’t need to still score more and give up less? Sort of. We are tracking behind other teams in goals per game, but we are also actually doing really well in goals conceded. So there is some mixed results in these stats, which seems to match how the season has gone so far.
Fitting Combinations
This last one is more of a personal project that I’ve been doing, though it is a fun coincidence that it was actually mentioned on the pod this week. A couple of weeks ago, there were a few weird looks on the berm when we saw the uniform combination chosen against Charlotte. The White/Volt/White look was definitely… odd. After discussion during that match I decided to take a look at what combinations we’ve all worn this season.
Of the total 17 games we’ve played this season, we’ve only worn the Black jersey 6 times, going 2-1 in the cup and 1-1-1 in the league. That’s the easiest to look at on it’s own, aside from the goalkeeper kit. The Volt GK kit has 2 wins and 3 draws in the league, but has a very ugly open cup loss. The Blue kit has the 3 early cup wins plus a win, a loss, and three draws in the league. Finally, the Gray kit has 1 cup win, 1 league win, and 1 league loss.
Here is the combination table:
And here is the full table:
Does it mean anything? No. Or at least I wouldn’t think so. But some interesting data to compile, especially since Gabe said on the pod this week that he liked the Black/White/Black, which we’ve yet to see. So I guess we’ll see what is chosen for the next match to see if he gets that combo.
Union Omaha (4-5-2, 7th Place) vs North Carolina FC (5-2-6, 6th Place)
All competitions: OMA (8-5-3) vs NC (5-2-7)
WakeMed Soccer Park – Cary, North Carolina
6:00 PM (CST) ESPN+
Saturday evening is setting the stage for some primetime action as Union Omaha travels to North Carolina FC in what could be a very contentious game. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 PM (CST) and will be broadcast on ESPN+, so make sure you have your schedule cleared for this exciting matchup.
North Carolina FC limped into Week 15 having suffered two losses in Week 14 (1-3 at Greenville and 1-4 at Richmond). In their last five games, they’ve managed to only win one and tie another, both before losing three straight. This isn’t the North Carolina FC of yesteryear, though. This year’s edition of the squad is young, fast, and much improved. They’ve been above the playoff threshold every week except three. North Carolina FC also has two players in the Golden Boot race (Garrett McLaughlin with 8 goals and Oalex Anderson with 6 goals). They’ve reversed their fortunes and recently injected a huge boost of confidence to the club and fanbase.
On Friday, North Carolina FC announced the addition of forward Shak Adams. He joins the club on loan from USL Championship-club Charleston Battery and will remain with North Carolina FC for the remainder of the 2022 USL League One season. The 23-year-old is no stranger to USL League One play, as he played with FC Tucson for two seasons. During his two seasons with FC Tucson, he played in all seven matches against Union Omaha, scoring two goals along the way. His offensive acumen and excellent athleticism will make him a tough target to battle on Saturday evening.
Union Omaha looks to refocus after a disappointing home draw against Charlotte Independence in Week 14. The Owls, at times, showed difficulty adjusting to the youthful aggressiveness from the Jacks, coupled with Charlotte’s defensive strategy of loading numbers in the defensive third and closing down passing lanes. The Owls reluctantly took the point and finished the week above the playoff threshold for the first time since Week 11. After 14 weeks of action this season, the Owls have been in the playoff grouping four times. In defense of Union Omaha, they still have three games in hand and sit in third place when measuring average points per game.
Depending on other results tonight, Union Omaha could rise as high as third place when the final whistle is blown on league action this week. There’s a lot on the line with tonight’s match, so make sure you’re settled in for another exciting week of Union Omaha action. Whether you’re at the game, watching at home, or spending time with your fellow búhos, wear the colors and cheer loudly. The players need our support – our unwavering support. Let them know that even when times aren’t ideal, they can rely on this fanbase to come together and lift them up. We love the club and we love the players. They’re working hard to perform for us, so let’s match that energy and return it. Enjoy the beautiful weather, your favorite concessions, your favorite people, and let’s have a great game day! As always…¡Viva Búhos!
The only numbers in this game that would suggest Greenville had such an easy time with North Carolina is the final score. Greenville was incredibly efficient in this game, and North Carolina was anything but. Allen Gavilanes scored on the team’s very first shot, set up by a Conor Doyle-esque pass from Noah Pilato, and they cruised from that point on. North Carolina didn’t register a shot on goal until the second half, their threats were very few and far between. But, both keepers and defensive lines allowed howlers in the second half that probably made Phil Breno blush. Greenville continues to take advantage of its schedule to pad their lead.
FC Tucson 0-1 Richmond Kickers
A spirited at times Tucson squad weren’t able to capitalize on any of its three best chances in this game, and a rip on the bounce by Jonathan Bolanos gave Richmond a vengeance-away win to help separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Tucson looked as creative as a team with only one shot on target could look, but it’s clear their early season problems haven’t been quite fixed yet.
Thursday, June 30
Northern Colorado Hailstorm 2-1 Chattanooga Red Wolves
A lively first half left Chattanooga looking lost, and Northern Colorado looking like they could turn any opportunity into a goal-scoring one. Two first half goals for Hailstorm could have easily been four, and Chattanooga head coach Jimmy Obleda’s anger on the sideline was so evident it could even be seen by a viewer off camera. Chattanooga got one back in the second half, but they didn’t put up near as much of a fight as one would expect a trailing team to do.
Saturday, July 2
Richmond Kickers 4-1 North Carolina FC
Whatever was being used by North Carolina to curse Richmond has apparently worn off, as Richmond were finally able to defeat North Carolina for the first time in six league matchups dating back to last season. Poor passing by Richmond in their defensive-third allowed North Carolina to hold the lead until almost the hour mark, Richmond quickly unleashed a flurry of goals, all either coming from poor efforts to clear by North Carolina’s defense or quick counters from Richmond’s own half. Richmond has lost only one of their last seven (5-1-1) and has emerged as a clear long-term threat for the top of the table over the course of the season.
Central Valley Fuego 0-1 South Georgia Tormenta
Tormenta’s efforts on the road this season continue to keep them within striking distance of a playoff spot nearing the half-pole of the season, and they remain the only team without an away loss. Fuego’s non-stop barrage of shots in the first half proved fruitless, and when they started the second half slow, Tormenta took advantage to sneak in a goal that was akin to a “playoff hockey” goal. Fuego once again found their urgency after conceding, but it’s clear that Tormenta continues to thrive away from the Land of Future Publix.
Sunday, July 3
FC Tucson 1-1 Greenville Triumph
This was about as fair as draws get, because neither goalkeeper deserved to take the loss in this one. Even in their run of really good form, Greenville may still feel a little relieved to go home with a draw, even if a top of the table team is expected to take three points away to the worst team in the league (which Richmond did earlier in the week).
Tuesday, July 5
Northern Colorado Hailstorm 1-2 Forward Madison
This is a game Northern Colorado probably wishes they had to play again. Madison took three shots in the first half and found the net twice, including an Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu goal that was likely a cross, but one he now can’t admit to. Parker Smith started in place of Phil Breno at goal, something to watch for in the coming weeks. Madison bounced back well with the extra rest, and they will once again wait more than a week before their next game.
USL League One Table: Week 15 (and a little extra)
Team
W
D
L
GD
PTS
Richmond Kickers
7
3
4
13
24
Greenville Triumph
7
3
4
5
24
Forward Madison
5
5
4
-3
20
Charlotte Independence
5
3
6
-8
18
Chattanooga Red Wolves
5
2
7
5
17
North Carolina FC
5
2
6
-4
17
Union Omaha
4
5
2
3
17
Central Valley Fuego
4
5
4
-1
17
South Georgia Tormenta
4
5
4
-1
17
Northern Colorado Hailstorm
4
4
5
-1
16
FC Tucson
3
3
7
-8
12
Richmond’s rise to the top of the table is likely the most notable update to the table, along with Madison looking like they can pull away from the middle pack of teams that have played 14 games. Omaha can still make a move from their current position, but draws will need to become wins sooner or later
Week 15 Matches (less one)
Friday, July 8
Charlotte Independence v. Richmond Kickers
This will already be the third and final matchup of these two teams, and Richmond have won the first two by an aggregate of 6-1. Since May 21 Charlotte have only played one match at home, so they’ll be hoping to find comfort in a stadium where they’ve won more than half of the games they’ve played so far this year.
Saturday, July 9
Greenville Triumph v. Central Valley Fuego
After their hot start, Fuego blinked and suddenly fell in a funk. Netting five points in their last six games (five of which were at home) Fuego have to admit they let an opportunity to accumulate points at home slip away and move on. It will be difficult, but not impossible, against a Greenville team that hasn’t lost at home in two and a half months. A draw might be the most they can ask for, but they need to start picking up points soon.
North Carolina FC v. Union Omaha
Both teams can use the win here: North Carolina lost three in a row on a two-week road trip, while Omaha were left with a draw in their second game of a four-game stretch with plenty of opportunities to pick up wins. Look for Rich’s preview at the week’s end.
South Georgia Tormenta v. Chattanooga Red Wolves
It has to happen at home for Tormenta at some point, who have managed a paltry three points in seven games at home, scoring only four goals. A loser in this game will be in trouble, especially if it’s Chattanooga. They seem to be a team whose players have not been in unison with one another these past few weeks.
FC Tucson v. Northern Colorado Hailstorm
This isn’t exactly a matchup of league minnows, but a loss to Tucson will likely insert Hailstorm in the Wooden Spoon race. Tucson will be the last team to play its first game against Hailstorm, and they’ll do so after a string of not-horrible results.
Home Blues Yet again, for the third time this season, we fail to score at home. That third time as well happens to be with only 4 games at home, with the first game being a 3-0 win. So we are really talking about a three game, 270 minute scoreless streak when playing at Werner Park. That’s not great.
This was most of the talk I was hearing on the berm and on Discord this past week. Why can’t we score at home? It’s not that we don’t play well either, in the past three home games we were essentially equal or above the other team in xG. So we are expected to score more goals than them for the most part. Instead we end up with 2 draws and a loss, gaining only 5 points total at home so far. This is compared to 12 points from 7 away games at this stage. So what gives?
I don’t have a definitive answer, but I have a couple of guesses.
The first comes back to our old friend, possession. Teams know that we don’t like to possess the ball. But it’s harder to not posses it at home, the crowd is urging you on. That’s why even though teams know this they’ll try to possess it more when they are home, which allows us to do what we want to. On the other hand, we get that same feeling at home, so tend to possess the ball more, especially if we aren’t winning. Since we haven’t been able to score, we actually have ended up winning the possession battle in each of the past three home games, averaging almost 55% across them. So we aren’t playing to our strengths at home.
The other comes from this just being a new team comprised of mostly new players. They haven’t nearly had the time on this field yet. Remember that we’ve only had 4 home games at Werner this season. We’ve played 11 games. In fact, when we hit the halfway mark of our season, after playing in Madison midweek towards the end of July, we will have only played 5 home games compared to 10 away games. With only 1/3 of your games at home, you don’t get nearly as accustomed to the field than if you were playing on it more frequently (especially with how… questionable the field has been this season). This hopefully will change as players get more minutes as pros and become more comfortable in the system, but also as they get more playing time at Werner.
In all honestly, that’s what the month of August is going to be critical for. From July 30 to Sep 3rd, so just a little on either side of August, we will play 6 home games and 2 away games. This will almost equal out our home/away totals (11/12). Having so many home games so fast isn’t ideal, but hopefully it will get the players more used to the surface and to the home atmosphere. That stretch is really where we’ll see if we can turn around this lack of scoring, though hopefully we’ll find some goals against Tucson in lone home game before that period as well.
Seeing Red (…way more than normal) Potentially one side effect of winning a championship and having players become better recognized is that there are seen as more of a threat, and as such are fouled more. That might not be the actual reason but it is one I’m trying to come up with as we see yet another red card for an opposing team this season. While this one could be argued, as us on the berm couldn’t see it that well (and seemed like a makeup for not calling a clear penalty just a minute prior), it still counts towards a total that is higher than you would expect.
In fact, we have the most Red cards against us in the league this season (4). We also are tied for 2nd most Yellow cards against us, despite having played fewer games than anyone else. Here is the full list:
(I’m never sure where to put second yellows that lead to reds. So I’m putting them in a separate column that indicates a Yellow card given that led to a Red card, which is not included in the normal Yellow card total)
So, not sure why, but another curious statistic to consider for this season.
Appearance Milestones Continue Here is the updated League 1 appearances table for us (including playoffs):
Shido had his 50th league appearance for us this past game, a big congrats to him! He has just been so consistently a force in net for us. We also had Dalton hit 45 league appearances for us (67 overall) and Emir hit the 40 mark just after Connor did the previous week. Glad to continue to see these players hit these milestones for this club and hope to see more hit the 50 mark soon!
Union Omaha (4-4-2, 8th Place) vs. Charlotte Independence (5-2-6, 5th Place)
All competitions: OMA (8-4-3) vs. CLT (5-2-7)
Werner Park – Papillion, Nebraska
7:00 PM (CST) ESPN+
Good morning, Búhos Nation, and welcome to another week of USL League One action! Week 14 brings a much-needed home match to Union Omaha, as Charlotte Independence ambles into the Omaha area. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM (CST), so make sure you get off work in time to head over to Werner Park or situate yourself in front of a television. Can you think of a better way to kick off the holiday weekend than a Union Omaha home match? Neither can I.
Charlotte Independence had a wild ride in Week 13, losing the midweek match on the road in Chattanooga 1-7. In the Sunday night home match, Charlotte hosted Forward Madison and doled out a similar punishment, winning 6-2. Both results went down as their highest-scoring loss and highest-scoring win of the season so far. While they split results last week, Charlotte still hasn’t fared well in their last five, winning one match and losing the other four. On the road, the picture isn’t any brighter – the Jacks have only one win, one draw, and four losses. More to the point, the Jacks have only scored three goals across five matches and were held scoreless in three of those five matches. They’ve allowed 16 goals when playing as the visitor, which makes their road goal differential -13. Even removing the shellacking from Chattanooga last week, their road goal differential would still be -7. Tonight, they’ll find themselves lined up against a Union Omaha squad headed in the opposite direction.
Week 13 brought Union Omaha another victory, but it wasn’t without its late-game drama. The Owls defeated South Georgia Tormenta FC on the road by a score of 3-2, but allowed an own goal for the second time in three weeks. Nonetheless, the victory lifted the club past Tormenta in the standings and provided a firm hold on 8th place, still with 2 games in hand. In their last 5 matches, the Owls have 3 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss and have outscored their opponents by a total score of 8-3. At home, Union Omaha has an even record of one win, one draw, and one loss, scored three goals and allowing two. Tonight, the Owls look to reverse the fortunes of their first meeting against Charlotte Independence.
The first, and only, matchup between these two clubs came in Week 5 of the season when Union Omaha traveled down to Charlotte. It took until the second half for the scoreboard to see any action, but Noe Meza delivered an unassisted goal for the Owls in the 65th minute. The Jacks saved all of the drama for the last 10 minutes of the match, scoring in the 83rd minute and sealing the victory in the 90+4th minute. The loss dropped Union Omaha from 2nd place down to 6th place and lifted Charlotte into 3rd place. The clubs are now separated by a single point, but Union Omaha has three games in hand against Charlotte. A win tonight for either club would lift them into third place in the updated standings. There’s a lot on the line, which makes for a great night of soccer for the fans watching.
With only league matches ahead, Union Omaha needs your support now more than ever. It’s a long and arduous journey to get through the season, so make sure your voice is literally heard tonight inside Werner Park. The club has a great chance to climb the standings, continue their run of success, and put on a great show for the fans. There will be a tailgate occurring before the match tonight as well, so if you’re fortunate to get off work in time, head over and hang out with some great people. There’s beautiful weather in the forecast, so take advantage of that opportunity, as well. All in all, it’s going to be a wonderful evening with some great entertainment. Wear the colors, don’t forget your scarf, and bring the noise. As always…¡Viva Búhos!
A perfectly executed corner kick where Miguel Ibarra found Héctor Acosta to open the scoring was basically all Charlotte were able to do last Wednesday. After a quick equalizer from Rey Ortiz, a go-ahead goal from Juan Gailndrez that he followed up by converting a questionable penalty, Charlotte packed it in. They finished the night playing incredibly sloppy. Independence were constantly allowing Chattanooga to eat up large areas of open space, and ended the match with only eight defensive clearances. The win was desperately needed by Chattanooga, who had lost four in a row before.
Northern Colorado Hailstorm 4-1 Central Valley Fuego
Another match where the away side scored first, only for the home team to find a groove and build unstoppable momentum. Northern Colorado peppered Fuego with 23 shots, but Hailstorm mostly capitalized on chances where Fuego either seemed unprepared, or goalkeeper Ofek Antman was caught flat-footed. In a bizarre sequence for Hailstorm, the first goal by Lachlan McLean was assisted by Trevor Amann… who was then assisted by Irvin Parra… who was then assisted by Marky Hernández… who then scored on his own. In just as bizarre of a sequence, Fuego winger Nathan Smith (who started the game) received a yellow card for dissent in the sixth minute of stoppage time, and a second yellow card for a separate foul less than a minute later. These fouls during a meaningless portion of the game kept him out of their weekend match against North Carolina FC
Thursday, June 23
Forward Madison 2-1 Richmond Kickers
Madison were on the front foot for the entire match, but a late first half goal by Richmond’s Nil Vinyals was the difference in the game until after the 80th minute. Akira Fitzgerald’s four saves in the first 70ish minutes would prove to be not enough. Madison scored two goals in quick succession from Jeremiah Streng and Matheus Cassini, and were able to steal a game that they frankly deserved to win all along. Cassini’s game-winner was his third goal in two games, and Madison’s third straight win at home.
The actual match itself may not seem like old hat for Greenville, but the results sure do. Triumph’s win is their fourth straight at home, and Northern Colorado has still only accumulated a single point in the league so far in matches following wins. Northern Colorado will continue a stretch on the calendar where they do not get a full week’s rest between games until July 30.
Chattanooga Red Wolves 1-2 FC Tucson
New FC Tucson signing Fernando Garcia looked like he belonged right away, as the former Des Moines Menace player scored what would end up being the game winner in his FC Tucson debut. While still bottom of the table, many are wondering if this is the beginning of a Tucson midseason run like we saw last season. Meanwhile, Chattanooga seem to still be unable to show enough evidence that they are turning a corner, after having lost their second game at home to the league’s bottom team.
Central Valley Fuego 3-2 North Carolina FC
This was an interesting one, as each of Fuego’s three goals were memorable. The first was scored by Maxi Schenfeld, former Union Omaha midfielder Devin Boyce’s best friend, on an admittedly beautiful volley that sent North Carolina keeper Nic Holiday’s ankles all the way to Bakersfield. The second goal may not have actually been a goal, and with USL League One’s lack of cameras, Christian Chaney’s score just before halftime is forever lost in the ether. But don’t worry, because his third goal can be best described as, “failing to sweep the leg, but getting a header as he was in the process of standing up”. The result helped jumble up the table, as it left both teams on 17 points.
Charlotte Indpendence 6-2 Forward Madison
Another howler caused by miscommunication between Madison keeper Phil Breno and his backline opened the floodgates of a resounding Charlotte victory, where six different Charlotte players took part in the scoring. The result snapped a four-game losing streak for Charlotte, who still somehow lost the week 7-9 on aggregate.
USL League One Table: Week 14
Team
W
D
L
GD
PTS
Greenville Triumph
6
2
4
3
20
Richmond Kickers
5
3
4
9
18
Chattanooga Red Wolves
5
2
6
6
17
North Carolina FC
5
2
4
1
17
Charlotte Independence
5
2
6
-8
17
Central Valley Fuego
4
5
3
0
17
Forward Madison
4
5
4
-4
17
Union Omaha
4
4
2
3
16
South Georgia Tormenta
3
5
4
-2
14
Northern Colorado Hailstorm
3
4
4
-1
13
FC Tucson
3
2
6
-7
11
Two weeks since our last look at the table, and we’re only seeing potential for a slight increase in the gap from the bottom of the table to the rest of the league. Hailstorm have the best chance to climb up the table with the matches they have in hand at home, but they still have a very compact schedule to work through, as do Omaha.
Week 14 Matches
Wednesday, June 29
Greenville Triumph v. North Carolina FC
North Carolina’s season is far from slipping after their loss in Fresno, but back-to-back road matches in Greenville and Richmond before hosting Omaha isn’t an ideal stretch for trying to avoid a slump. They could do themselves, and the rest of the league, a huge favor by at least getting a result.
FC Tucson v. Richmond Kickers
Tucson have only a point in four matches at home so far this season, but so far this year Richmond’s road struggles have been a carbon copy of last season. And under pressure in Tucson last year, Richmond dropped both of their matches to end their 2021 season.
Thursday, June 30
Northern Colorado Hailstorm v. Chattanooga Red Wolves
Hailstorm will try to find some consistency in their hyper-compacted schedule, while Chattanooga has the luxury of knowing they have more than a week off following this game. They’ll hate sitting on a loss during an extended break while teams with matches in hand begin playing catchup behind them on the table.
Friday, July 1
Union Omaha v. Charlotte Independence
Will the historically steady play of Union Omaha be able to trump what has been a rollercoaster of a season from Charlotte Independence, whose games are averaging 3.7 goals? Stay tuned for Rich’s update later in the week.
Saturday, July 2
Richmond Kickers v. North Carolina FC
Both teams will be coming off games the previous Wednesday, with Richmond having traveled back home all the way from Tucson. Tucson isn’t the only demon of 2021 Richmond has to potentially exorcise this week: last season, they managed only two points out of a possible twelve against bottom of table North Carolina.
Central Valley Fuego v. South Georgia Tormenta
Tormenta has already, impressively (or unimpressively), matched a previous five match unbeaten run in league play with the six match winless run they currently find themselves mired in. This current slide all started with a 4-0 home defeat to Fuego, but Fuego themselves have managed only one win since. Fuego has a bit more buffer to work with than Tormenta, who probably feel like this is a must-win game.
Sunday, July 3
FC Tucson v. Greenville Triumph
Greenville is on a nice little run right now, and the schedule is really working in their favor to build some padding in their lead. Arguably, their next difficult game isn’t for almost another month when they go to Richmond. Anybody that thinks Tucson’s recent win in Chattanooga and the recent addition of Fernando Garcia is signs of a mid-season run will be looking carefully at this back-to-back home stretch hosting Richmond and Greenville.
Penal! We won this game thanks in part to a second-half penalty. While it was definitely an arguable one (it was fairly soft in all honesty), it ended up helping in us getting the narrow 1-goal win we ended up pulling off. JP was the one who both earned and scored this penalty. This season we have now won two penalties, both of which have been scored by JP. In club history we have won 6 penalties, with only Dami’s against Tucson in the Morrison game being the lone miss. So we are 5/6, or 83.3% accurate, with penalties.
Now, how does that stack up with the rest of the league? Well, here is how the rest of the league looks this year:
And here is how the rest of the league looks over their time in League One:
Now of course this should be mentioned that some clubs have had more years in the league than others (Fuego, Charlotte, and Hailstorm just this year; NCFC 2 years; us 3 years; while the rest have 4 years). One thing that stood out to me in this data is that some of the traditional penalties earners have not been earning them this year. Richmond (13) and Tormenta (11) haven’t been awarded any so far this year. And the team who has won the most in League 1 history, Tucson (15), having only been awarded one so far this season. It would be interesting to see how the makeup of the team effects this, as teams like Tormenta and Tucson have had high turnover from past seasons, but Richmond has not had nearly as much. There is also Greenville, who has been given 3 this year already when they only were awarded 3 in each full season so far, despite not having much change there as well. It could, of course, just be the reffing, but I am curious if there is more to it than that. Either way, something I will keep track of as the season progresses.
Double Trouble Another key note from the game was that we saw a red card given. Oddly enough, this is now the only team ever that has 2 reds given when playing us. More so, it was given in this exact same fixture in April (same season, same venue). The most curious of all, it was given to the same player! So not only is Tormenta the only team with two reds against us, Joshua Phelps is the only player to have that mark as well. A weird coincidence for sure.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel As you all may have felt… this past week hadn’t been all that great. Losing to Greenville at home and then letting in so many goals against SKC were not looking like good omens for this game, especially after we let in the first goal. It was great to see us fight back, that first goal in particular felt like such a relief when it happened.
I think partly why it felt so needed was because of the scoreless streak we were on. It wasn’t a long one in terms of days, not nearly as long as any of the ones we’ve had in the past, but in terms of goals against it was historic. Our scoreless streak in the 3-loss run in 2020 we let in 5 goals without scoring, which wasn’t great. The streak in 2021 was better, only one loss in August where we let in a single goal, and the rest were 0-0 draws. But in the time since we had scored our last goal against Tucson, we let in 10 goals: 1 against Tucson, 2 against Greenville, 6 to SKC, and that first goal against Tormenta. That was the most we had conceded without scoring ourselves ever. Not only that, if you count just this week, we let in 10 goals (not counting Tucson and counting both for Tormenta). Those 10 goals doubled the number we have conceded this season, as before this past week we had conceded 6 in the league and 4 in the cup. So that goal, and the ones that followed, really did ease the mind that the run was over. I know I had a big sigh of relief when it went in. And hope that things come a bit easier for us on Friday, as we go for a little bit of revenge against Charlotte Independence.
Who Gives A Hoot? 