Regular season record 5,167 crowd on hand for Owls’ 7th straight unbeaten match
Papillion, NE (July 30, 2022) – Union Omaha was able to keep its record intact at home Saturday thanks to some late stoppage time heroics.
Omaha and Chattanooga came in back-to-back places in the standings, sitting at 7th and 8th, respectively, with both sides looking for statement wins in their July finales. Chattanooga came in losing 3 of their last 5 matches but still boasting the league’s second-highest scoring offense. Subduing a powerful attack was going to be the main task for the Owls’ league-leading defense on the night.
It was a strong start for the home side, who came racing out of the gates applying lots of offensive pressure early. Omaha recorded its first shot in the second minute, with Luis Gil taking a heading stab from Conor Doyle.
Kemal Malcolm attempted a banger from outside the box in the 11th minute but couldn’t get enough on it as it was scooped up by Carlos Avilez. JP Scearce targeted another shot just moments later, attempting from distance but narrowly missing over the crossbar.
“I thought we had probably our best start of the year at home,” Doyle said. “The first 10 -15 mins we had 3-4 chances that if we put away, probably would’ve been an entirely different game.”
It was Chattanooga’s Pedro Hernandez who broke the deadlock in the 20th minute, taking advantage of a rare defensive miscue by the Omaha defense. It was the first goal the Owls had given up in three matches and just the fourth they had given up all season at Werner Park.
Rashid Nuhu nabbed a beautiful save at the end of the first half, preventing Rafael Mentzingen from doubling the advantage by punching the shot out of play.
Omaha went into the half still looking to find the breakthrough on the scoresheet but had plenty of time to do so in front of the home crowd.
Chattanooga’s first caution came in the 51st minute on Pedro Hernandez after a foul on Nuhu. Union Omaha head coach brought in a pair of substitutions later in the 62nd minute with Alex Bruce and Dion Acoff coming on for Malcolm and Gil.
Omaha got its biggest advantage in the 66th minute, when Hernandez was issued his second yellow card and promptly sent off the field to give the Owls an extra man to close out the match. The Red Wolves earned another yellow card with a referee challenge, this time falling to Aaron Lombardi.
The Owls had a golden opportunity soon after to equalize in the 78th minute, when Conor Doyle found Alex Bruce in the middle of the box, but his shot slipped just wide. Mims made another swap soon after, bring on Chavany Willis for Scearce.
Omaha would once again find magic in stoppage time. An interception started a series of passes from the Owls, ultimately finding Acoff who tipped the ball over to Willis, who delivered a lethal strike from distance to pull the score even. It was the first goal scored by the Jamaican international for the club and gave the record-breaking regular season crowd an excuse to celebrate.
“It’s an amazing feeling to score in front of our home fans, especially a record-breaking crowd tonight,” Willis said. “I like to shoot. That’s my strength, so I’m going to always shoot.”
“I’m happy for the guys to get that goal,” Mims said. “We just never gave up, never stopped fighting until the very end.”
It was only a minute later when Willis looked poised to slam another in the 94th minute, almost pulling up from outside the box once again to get the go-ahead. It was the 15th shot the offense had tallied on the night, while the defense held the aggressive Chattanooga offense to just 5.
“We went the last hour, hour and ten minutes, without Chattanooga having a shot, so defensively, it was a dominating performance,” Mims said.”
The Owls will take their 7-match unbeaten streak over to Central Valley Fuego FC next Saturday for the sides’ first meeting since April. They will return home for a busy 3-match homestand at Werner Park, starting with Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC at 7 p.m. on August 13 for Women in Sports Night and One Means All Community Night.
ABOUT UNION OMAHA
Union Omaha, the 2021 USL League One Champion, is the only professional soccer team in the state of Nebraska. USL League One is a United States Soccer Federation-sanctioned professional men’s soccer league that occupies the third tier of the American soccer landscape, below USL Championship (tier two) and Major League Soccer (tier one). Union Omaha plays its home matches at Werner Park in Sarpy County, also home to the Omaha Storm Chasers of Minor League Baseball. The team is led by General Manager Peter Marlette in the front office and by Head Coach Jay Mims on the field.