After an early goal in the second half, Union Omaha was on the cusp of winning their first match since Week 7, but One Knox converted a penalty kick in second half extra time to hand the Owls their fifth draw in seven matches.

Union Omaha entered the match with a clean bill of health, seemingly assisted by the bye week in Week 14.  USL League One newcomer One Knox had three defensive players mentioned on their injury report, which the Owls used to their advantage by putting pressure on the visitors soon after the opening whistle.

One Knox’s goalkeeper, Sean Lewis, was called into action early in the match thanks to a shot from Joe Brito, his only of the evening.  Mere minutes later, team captain JP Scearce made an attempt of his own to beat the keeper, but drove the shot just wide of the post.  Lewis was kept on his toes in the first half, facing a total of seven shots – three from inside the box and four from outside.

Both sides seem to favor carrying the ball down their attacking left side, which lended a lot of looks from the fans at how each side would settle their possession, transition out of pressure, and build their next attack.  By halftime, Union Omaha had claimed 55% of the possession with 85% total accuracy in their passing, which still held relatively strong at 76% in the opposing half.  Union Omaha also kept One Knox’s defense busy with handling crosses.  Before the break, the Owls had 14 crosses into the box.  The pressure was there, now the home side simply needed to put one in the back of the net.  Búhos Nation wouldn’t have to wait long to celebrate in the second half.

In the 48th minute, after Union Omaha’s Steevan Dos Santos won a direct kick in a favorable position, team scoring leader Noe Meza stepped up to deliver a beautiful, finesse-filled strike that rose over the defensive wall and snuck inside the near post.  The goal was his seventh of the season, keeping him only one goal behind the current Golden Boot leader.  Union Omaha maintained the lead and with each passing second, the home fans were drawing closer to the field with anticipation to witness the team’s first win since late April, but One Knox had a chapter yet to be told in the night’s drama.

Late in the second half, after the fourth official had already held up the sign alerting the fans of the six extra minutes, One Knox earned a corner kick.  With the ball in the air, Union Omaha’s Alexis Souahy battled for prime position to clear the incoming threat, but the ref called a foul against him, gave him a yellow card, and awarded a penalty kick to the visitors.  One Knox’s second-half sub Ilija Ilic converted the penalty kick and brought the scoreboard to an even level.  Though the ref continued more time for play, the result would stay the same.

Union Omaha conceded their eighth equalizer of the season, far and away the league leader in that category.  Of the 18 total goals conceded this season, Union Omaha has allowed 12 in the second half.  It was also the second time that the Owls have ever drawn against an expansion side in their first meeting.

Next up for Union Omaha is a home match against Tormenta FC on Saturday, June 24th.  The promotional night for that match is Pride Night, which comes on the heel of the club’s recent release of their Pride jersey.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7PM.

Postmatch Quotes

Head Coach Dominic Casciato

General thoughts on the evening:

“Yeah, I think it was a tough one for us to take because I think we were in control of the game for most of it, especially after scoring.  I thought we looked pretty comfortable with it and [One Knox] didn’t really cause us any problems.  I think it’s a foul on Alexis [Souahy] in the build up to the corner.  I think that should be a free kick to us and not a corner and then we probably see the game end.  Tough one to take, but again, a lot of positives: we defended well and played some good stuff, so you’ve just got to stay positive and keep moving forward.  And these decisions that are going against us, they’ll start going our way soon and when they do, we’ll be unstoppable.”

On match tactics (i.e. the heavy play along the flanks, outside crosses):

“Yeah, obviously with every opponent, we watched three, four games of them going into it and we noticed some stuff with Knoxville that we thought we could expose them in certain areas.

So that was one area you look to exploit tonight.”

Thoughts on the penalty call:

“I haven’t seen it.  I haven’t seen it, but I don’t think it should have been a corner because I think it’s a foul on Alexis [Souahy].  When Alexis makes the clearance, the big center forward smashes him once he clears it, so it should be a free kick to us.  I don’t think it should be a corner, but I haven’t seen the penalty, so I don’t know.  I’d have to see it.

On a clean injury report, yet sights of Eddie Gordon in a boot:

“I think that’s the fashion these days.  I think Eddie likes wearing a big black boot now.  So yeah, that probably explained that one.”

On the upcoming match against Tormenta:

“Yeah, obviously a quick turnaround for us.  They had a good season last year.  I know their staff, I know it’s a good club and they’ve got some good players, but I will be ready for them and looking forward to the game on Saturday.”

Team captain JP Scearce:

Thoughts on the match:

“Obviously frustrated.  Frustrated with the results.  Started out pretty good.  We’re dominating in the first half, dominating in the second half as well.  Second half, we dropped off a little bit, which is natural because we’re holding on to lead and guys are cramping up, getting subbed off, so we’re on the defensive end a lot, but just frustrated to give it up like that at the end.  I didn’t see if it was a pen or not.  I think it was a questionable call, but it is what it is.”

On wearing the armband:

“Yeah, I mean, it obviously feels good to wear the armband.  We all know Conor [Doyle] is the main captain, but if he’s not on the field, then it feels good to be the leader on the team, but at the end of the day, it’s just an armband that goes around my arm.  Everyone on the field is a leader on the team.  Everyone off the field is a leader, as well.  It just feels nice to wear the armband, but everyone’s a leader on the team.”

On the intense battles in the midfield:

“Yeah, it was.  I mean, we had them played in a little bit with the break we had, but it was a tough game, obviously.  Very, very humid and hot.  It was tough to run out in the field, but I’m just used to it. I’m used to playing as a box-to-box midfielder.  I’m just used to running that much, covering all that distance.”

On the Tormenta match on Saturday:

“We’re obviously looking forward to it.  After the results we’ve been getting, we want to turn this luck around and get on the winning side.  For me, it’s a special game because we got a few of the guys that used to be on the team with Toby [Otieno], Dalton [Knutson], and Johnny [Murphy].  It’ll be good to see those guys and play against them.  Hopefully we can come out with a win.”

Noe Meza:

General thoughts on the match:

“I thought it was overall a pretty good performance.  I thought defensively we were pretty solid, not giving up very many chances.  We created a few.  I was glad to get the free kick early in the second half to set the tone and then I think we were really unfortunate with the call against us right at the end of the game.”

On scoring, staying in the Golden Boot race:

“I’m just trying to pay attention to getting back on the right track in terms of getting wins.  I’m really happy that I keep scoring.  More importantly, I just want to do what I can to get the win.”

On Saturday’s Tormenta match:

“I think there’s a lot of positives to take out of this game.  We’ll build from it.  The good thing is it’s a quick turnaround, so we’ll be ready for Saturday.”

Marco Milanese:

General thoughts on the match:

“I think it was a good performance by the team.  I think we needed to manage the results better at the end and a very subjective goal at the end influences the results, but I think with this effort good results will come soon.”

On his busy, intense night of defensive battles:

“Yes, it was a very good game defensively, I think, until the end when the ref got back there.  I am a little bit tired, so I need to recover also because we play Saturday.  It’s a quick turnaround and I really need to focus on Saturday right now.”

On being included in the offensive side of the ball:

“Yes, I’m trying to work. I’m more of a defender and I’m trying to work every day on my attacking side.  I’m getting better.  In the second half, I stayed a little bit more inside to protect the result.”

On Saturday’s Tormenta match:

“We’re going to start scouting them tomorrow and see what their weak points are, but I think we need to focus on ourselves now because I think we’re starting to turn around.  The performance is getting better.  Even if the result doesn’t show it, but we are analyzing the game and we see that we’re creating more chances every game.  I think that it’s going to be a tough game because they’re a good team, but we need to win it, so our focus is on scouting tomorrow, recovering, and preparing for the game.”

Saturday night was the 7th regular season edition of the Battle for the Belt and the two sides drew for the third time in a row.  Union Omaha scored early in the first half, but Greenville was able to answer just before the halftime whistle was blown and both clubs spent the entire second half looking for the elusive winner that would never take place.  With a final score of 1-1, the season series will be decided in Week 22, when Greenville hosts Union Omaha for the last regular season matchup between the rivals.

Union Omaha fans watching the broadcast hardly had a chance to get settled into their seats before Noe Meza pulled fans to their feet to celebrate the early lead.  In the 8th minute, Joe Brito ripped a shot from the right side of the penalty area and the Triumph’s netminder Jared Mazzola was unable to secure the shot, deflecting the ball directly into the path of Union Omaha’s leading goal scorer.  Noe Meza’s easy follow-up goal was his sixth of the season, keeping him in second place for the Golden Boot.  It was also his third goal against Greenville this season.

In the club’s postmatch write up, Meza expressed his happiness in notching another goal to his season tally.  “I’m glad to get on the scoresheet again,” Meza said. “I thought we started the game strong. There’s a number of areas we will improve on to get the results we want. We’ll use the upcoming weekend break to work on those aspects and make things right.”

Despite the fact that Union Omaha and Greenville are on opposite ends of the league rankings in total passes and passing accuracy, the match was surprisingly even in both of these regards as the contest continued.  Historically speaking, as fans of both clubs can attest, the midfield battle was as alive as it ever has been in the rivalry matchup.  This is the first half heat map from both clubs:

The middle third of the field has several splotches of red, noting the heavy amounts of play in those areas.  Union Omaha was often seen operating the offense along the sidelines, causing their presence in the central portion of the field to be less active than normal.  Here’s an image of Union Omaha’s heat map:

It’s also evident that while the team was highly present in the middle third of the field, the team had a harder time establishing a heavy presence in the final third.

As the first half continued, it looked as though the Owls might be able to take the lead into the locker room for the halftime break, but Greenville had other ideas.  In the second minute of stoppage time, Tyler Polak took a direct kick that eventually found its way to the foot of Leo Castro, whose shot was blocked, but the follow up from Lyam MacKinnon gave the Triumph the equalizer.

With the score level at halftime, Union Omaha also carried a slight edge in possession, with 54% going their way.  The Owls also earned four corners and had eight crosses from open play.  Union Omaha only had two total shots in the first half and their possession in the opponent’s half was 59%, one of the lowest this season.  It was a hard fought first half with moments of quality link up play and combinations.

After the teams made their way back onto the field and the whistle was blown, the battle for the midfield commenced.  With long stretches of the match passing in the middle third of the field, it seemed as though neither side would ever have another quality chance on goal, but Union Omaha would soon have their chance.

In the 72nd minute, the Owls looked to counter after a Triumph set piece.  As the team moved up the field, Pedro Dolabella stretched the field with a pass to Steevan Dos Santos, who was able to evade several Triumph defenders and put a shot on frame.  The threat was real enough that Mazzola had to make himself big to defend his goal.  That shot on goal was one of three for the Owls in the second half.  Moments later, the Triumph provided an opportunity for Union Omaha goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu to shine, as well.

Just as the second half was drawing to a close, Greenville midfielder Noah Pilato took a long range shot towards goal.  If not for Nuhu’s late-match heroics, the Triumph would’ve taken all three points on that shot alone.  That save has already been nominated for Save of the Week, his fourth in a row and his eighth nomination of the season.

The draw keeps Union Omaha in ninth place for the fourth straight week.  The Owls have a bye week in Week 14, but return to action in Week 15 with home matches against One Knox and South Georgia Tormenta.

Match Summary

Attendance: 2,164

Goal Summary

8’: OMA – Noe Meza (unassisted)

45’+2: GVL – Lyam MacKinnon (unassisted)

Substitution Summary

73’: OMA – Alex Steinwascher replaces Luis Gil

73’: OMA – Eddie Gordon replaces Shaft Brewer Jr.

76’: GVL – Venton Evans replaces Lyam MacKinnon

85’: GVL – Aaron Walker replaces Daniel Wu

87’: GVL – Lucas Coutinho replaces Leo Castro

88’: OMA – Conor Doyle replaces Joe Brito

Discipline Summary

41’: GVL – Leo Castro (Yellow card)

45’+1: OMA – Shaft Brewer Jr (Yellow card)

62’: GVL – John Harkes (Yellow card), Lyam MacKinnon (Yellow card)

90’+7: OMA – Eddie Gordon (Yellow card)

Despite their efforts to develop quality attacks in the final third, Union Omaha suffered a 0-3 loss to 2nd-placed Charlotte Independence on Saturday night.  It was the first time that the Owls were held scoreless in almost a month and the third overall match which featured Union Omaha finishing without a goal.  Of the three scoreless matches, two of them were against Charlotte.

In the first half, Union Omaha seemed to work solely along the right flank.  A lot of the time, JP Scearce and Junior Palacios were opening up channels along the sideline, but there were few developments found beyond the midline.  Here’s a heat map of a few players from the entire first half.  You’ll start to notice some trends as you see them:

Junior Palacios

JP Scearce

Conor Doyle

Joe Brito

Some of the trends to notice in these heat maps:

1. Shape stability was becoming an issue.  With Junior Palacios advancing up the sideline and creating opportunities to advance up the field, JP Scearce was often caught sitting back too far to overwhelm the opposing defense.
2. We’ve become accustomed to seeing Conor Doyle sitting back on defense, but seeing Joe Brito residing heavily in those three large splotches of the heat map tells me there were times when the two players were too close together and need to spread out to keep Charlotte honest.  It’s good to see Brito taking up space in the center circle because he has the obvious qualities to facilitate on offense, yet still shepherd the attacks to the outside before they can develop too far into the Union Omaha half.
3. Not many of the players advanced high enough in the opposing half to create a meaningful attack.  With less players advancing, more emphasis was placed on 1v1 battles, rather than team-oriented attacks.  This meant the defense could swarm on Steevan Dos Santos and Noe Meza.

Not all was lost at halftime, though.  The Owls were down by a single goal, which came in the 7th minute.  Union Omaha also held strong on stat sheet: 84% overall passing accuracy, 73% passing accuracy in the opposing half, and 8 total shots.  Despite the three bullets above, the Owls were still able to maintain consistent possession and generate threats on offense.  The defense left a little more to be desired, on the other hand.

The defense had a successful duel rate of only 20%, which is extremely low, especially against a high-powered offense like Charlotte.  Fortunately, the five fouls lost in the first half were all on the opposite end of the midline, so there weren’t any set piece opportunities against the Owls.

The second half was a lot more like the first, in that most of the passing and offense was generated along one side of the field.  Despite having 10 shots in the second half, only 2 were on frame.  There were chances for Union Omaha to finish and get on the scoreboard, but none would come to fruition.  The Owls often resorted to long balls in an effort to give the defense a moment of respite, while also trying to catch the Charlotte defense asleep.  It just seemed like a night which wouldn’t go their way, no matter what was attempted.

At the final whistle, Union Omaha lost 0-3, giving up two goals in the second half – one in the 55th minute and the last in the 90th minute.  The loss kept Union Omaha in 9th place for the third straight week.  This Saturday, the Owls travel to Greenville to take another stab at bringing home The Belt.

After the match, Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciatio summed up his thoughts succinctly, saying, “It’s a disappointing result. We’re giving away too many soft goals, so it’s something for us to work on this week and get back to next weekend.”

Match Summary

Attendance: 2,562

Goal Summary:

7’: CLT – Joel Johnson (assisted by Miguel Ibarra)

55’: CLT – Tresor Mbuyu (unassisted)

90’: CLT – Khori Bennett (assisted by Lùis Álvarez

Substitution Summary:

61’: OMA – Pedro Dolabella replaces Joe Brito

61’: OMA – Stefan Mueller replaces Junior Palacios

69’: OMA – Alex Steinwascher replaces Shaft Brewer Jr. (due to injury)

70’: CLT – Khori Bennett replaces Dane Kelly

79’: CLT – Gabriel Obertan replaces Miguel Ibarra

80’: CLT – Lùis Álvarez replaces Tresor Mbuyu

82’: OMA – Chavany Willis replaces Luis Gil

90’+1: CLT – Héctor Acosta replaces Joel Johnson

Discipline Summary: 

No cards handed out during the match

Midwest rivals get ready for second of three matchups

For the second time this week, Union Omaha will only have several days to move on from a 3-3 draw that resulted from multiple lost leads. The good news is that there isn’t an added day of travel in-between as there was following their 3-3 draw in Chattanooga, but this weekend’s opponents in Forward Madison obviously don’t have a far distance to travel themselves. Madison have also had slightly longer than one week to recuperate from their last match, a 2-0 loss at home to Northern Colorado Hailstorm, their first blemish in the league this season.

Both teams and their supporters are pining for wins as they’ve combined to draw nine of their 15 matches, which can be consolidated down to eight draws in 14 matches to account for the 1-1 draw between these two teams back in March on the season opener at Caniglia Field. Neither side are strangers to draws, not only during this season, not just in general, but also historically against each other. There have been six draws between these two sides in their ten matches historically, and each has only managed to win twice. The last win in the series was a 1-0 UO victory at Werner Park last August, when a 10-man side was able to get the result with a Corey Hertzog goal. Madison’s last win was a 2-1 victory in Omaha back in October of 2021, the result of a replay from a match that was previously postponed due to weather. It was the last blemish Omaha logged before lifting the League One trophy the following month. Defense has dominated the rivalry, unsurprisingly, with a paltry 18 goals having been scored in the combined 10 matches.

Whether or not defense will be the name of the game on Saturday is definitely up in the air. While Madison have given up just four goals in their seven matches, they’ve also only scored seven goals of their own. In fact, Madison have been shut out in four of their first seven games. At barely 1.5 goals per game, Madison’s games have been the lowest scoring so far at this still-early point of the season. Meanwhile, a goal explosion since the end of April has led to a total of 17 goals scored in Omaha’s last 4 games, and over the course of the entire season only Greenville Triumph have seen more goals scored in their games so far. So while Madison’s 2023 season has been old hat so far, UO’s has been far from the norm.

The preview of the previous game missed the mark a good deal when assuming not only lineup rotation, but also the possibility of predetermined substitutes at the start of the second half. So I think it’s safe to say any prediction about Saturday’s lineup should be taken with a grain of salt. Eddie Gordon making the bench was the only unfamiliar look to the lineup we’ve seen recently (at the expense of Dion Acoff), and that’s with looking at both the bench and starting XI. The most unfamiliar look we’ve seen to date was JP Scearce looking like a right-back in the second half against Greenville, almost certainly a result of Joe Gallardo’s halftime sub-on of Marco Milanese, who had been booked earlier in the game. If there is anything that could be strongly suggested, it’s that JP Scearce starting Saturday’s game at right-back would be a pretty big shock.

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)

After taking the lead three times, Union Omaha finished the match by drawing the Chattanooga Red Wolves 3-3.  The Owls had the hosts on their heels for most of the first half, but a second-half showdown forced Union Omaha to settle for the single point on the road.  A literal last-second penalty save from Rashid Nuhu was the last verse of a long dialogue between the two sides on Saturday night.

In the opening ten minutes of the match, Union Omaha had already amassed two free kicks in scoring position, a corner kick, and a live shot from outside the box.  That steady stream of offensive opportunities never seemed to slow down in the first 45 minutes.  Time and time again, the Owls threatened the goal, but were unable to put substantial distance between themselves and the Red Wolves.  By the time the halftime whistle was blown, Union Omaha was ahead 1-0, thanks to a 21st-minute goal from Pedro Dolabella, his first in league play.

At halftime, the stat sheets leaned heavily toward Union Omaha, thanks for the one-way traffic.  The Owls maintained 55% of the possession, as well as winning 60% of the duels.  Union Omaha dominated in the air, winning 90% of the aerial duels.

Head Coach Dominic Casciato was keen to take advantage of a mismatch because a lot of the traffic in the first ten minutes of the match seemed to go along the left side of the sideline:

When that failed, the next ten minutes from the Owls seemed to be spent more mixing long balls with attacking the right corner.  One thing to notice in this time span is the lack of passing in the middle of the field.  Another thing to notice is the lack of penetrating passes deep in the final third.  The buildup play is developing, as is the accuracy inside the opponents half, but presence of a maestro in the middle to quarterback the offense doesn’t seem to be present at the moment.

By halftime, Union Omaha’s shot map looked like this:

You can see shots on target (green), shots off target (red), blocked shots (blue 20), and the goal (blue 9).  The attacking stats in the first half leaned heavily toward Union Omaha, as well:

Once the second half started, Union Omaha was suddenly playing far more defense than they did in the first half.  The pass maps displayed earlier in the article were 10 minute windows of action.  The image below is the first 20 minutes of the second half.  The Owls had dramatically less passing opportunities:

The heat map in the second half showed the Owls abandoning the first-half mismatch and attacking the right flank far more often:

Another thing to notice here is the greater presence spent in their own half.  Those blotches are a lot bigger and more intense than the first half.

After giving up a goal in the 53rd minute, the Owls put together a quality attacking opportunity, culminating in an Alex Steinwascher goal in the 66th minute.

The Red Wolves equalized in the 73rd, inspiring the Owls to take the lead for the final time of the night in the very next minute of play.

Union Omaha seemed to be comfortable with a one goal lead, but Chattanooga was determined to push the match to the brink, scoring in the third minute of second-half extra time.  In the last minute of extra time, the Red Wolves were awarded a penalty kick, but Union Omaha’s Rashid Nuhu came up big with a save to keep the sides even.

In the postmatch article on the club’s website, Head Coach Dominic Casciato provided some quotes with his thoughts on the match.  “Disappointing to just come away with a point, but Rashid obviously came up big in the last minute with a huge penalty save,” Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato said. “We had an opportunity early in the second half to kill the game off, which we didn’t take.”  He also took a brief moment to recognize Chattanooga’s effort.  “Credit to Chattanooga for fighting back every time we scored and putting us under pressure,” Casciato said. “Every time you score 3 goals away from home, you’re expected to win the game, but we go again Wednesday now.”

Union Omaha has two matches in Week 11, so stay tuned for some great previews from Jon in the coming days.  He’ll have you fully informed for the upcoming matches.  As always, more episodes of the podcast will keep you updated on the latest Union Omaha happenings, as well as reactions to the latest matches and takes on your questions.

Match Summary

Attendance: Unannounced

Goal Summary:

21’: OMA – Pedro Dolabella (unassisted)

53’: CHA – Chevone Marsh (unassisted)

66’: OMA – Alex Steinwascher, assisted by Conor Doyle 

73’: CHA – Ropapa Mensah, assisted by Ernesto Espinoza

74’: OMA – Joe Gallardo, assisted by Joe Brito

90’+3: CHA – Alex Tejera, assisted by Ernesto Espinoza

Substitution Summary:

61’: CHA – Mayele Malango replaces Pedro Hernandez

64’: OMA – Joe Gallardo replaces Luis Gil

65’: OMA – Alex Steinwascher replaces Noe Meza

70’: CHA – Ernesto Espinoza replaces Ryley Kraft

70’: CHA – Alex Tejera replaces Ualefi

84’: OMA – Chavany Willis replaces Pedro Dolabella

88’: OMA – Junior Palacios replaces Shaft Brewer Jr.

Discipline Summary: 

22’: CHA – Nicolás Cardona (yellow card)

74’: OMA – Joe Gallardo (yellow card)

77’: OMA – Rashid Nuhu (yellow card)