Shaft Brewer Jr. scores first club goal
PAPILLION, Neb. (May 27, 2023) – Union Omaha’s five-match undefeated streak ended after a 2-1 loss to Forward Madison FC Saturday night.
The Owls were hungry for three points after recording back-to-back 3-3 draws their last two times out, and Saturday brought a perfect opportunity to take down avion adversaries Forward Madison FC in the latter’s second visit to Omaha of the year. The Midwestern foes each came away with a hard-fought point to open the season back in April with a 1-1 draw.
Omaha won an early set piece opportunity thanks to a Madison yellow card in the 10th minute, and Luca Mastrantonio nearly put the Owls ahead with a headed shot that got captured by the Madison goalkeeper.
The Owls faced some early adversity, with Madison’s Aiden Mesias working around the defense to put away the first score of the night to go up 1-0 in the 14th minute.
Steevan Dos Santos, being subbed on due to an early injury, sent a back-post cross for Shaft Brewer Jr. to finish and pound into the back of the net for the 1-1 equalizer in the 22nd minute. It was the first goal scored in the Black and Lightning for the 23-year-old former U.S. Youth National Team member.
“I love the fans, love the environment, love the club, love my teammates, and all of them helped me get there and help push to get this goal,” Brewer said. “So really exciting night and hopefully more to come.”
A long touch by Dos Santos to beat his man nearly found an Owls’ foot for the tap-in in the 39th minute but was cleared by the Madison defense before it could find the net. The teams went into the locker room still knotted up at 1-1, but the half looked promising for the Owls, who recorded 10 shots and held 55% of the possession.
The ’Mingos got the half started again, with Christian Chaney putting Madison up 2-1 in the 53rd minute.
The Owls nearly got their second equalizer in the 71st minute, with Pedro Dolabella sending a bouncing header just inches over goal off a corner kick. Just seconds later, Chavany Willis went for another signature banger, attempting to catch the Madison goalkeeper off his line.
Brewer Jr. attempted to put his name on the stat sheet again, this time with an assist, as he floated a beautiful ball to Noe Meza in the 82nd minute, but the header couldn’t stay down. The Owls worked to create more chances to even the match in the final minutes, but ultimately weren’t able to find an answer before the final whistle.
“We always want to win, and we always push, and we’re training and pushing to put out good performances and always wins, especially at home,” Brewer said. “But, you know, it was a one that got away from us, and it’s really something that we shouldn’t happen much, but we’ll go back to the table and go back to training and prep and get ready for the next one.”
“Look, I think if you if you watch the game we didn’t do a lot wrong,” Union Omaha Head Coach Casciato said. “We dominated the game but dominating is not enough. You’ve got to put the ball in the back of the net, and you’ve got to make sure that you’re defending your area and defending the box well. It’s a lesson for us to make sure we punish teams and we close the door on the back end because it hasn’t been good enough the last couple of games.”
Los Búhos will hit the road once again next week as they travel to Charlotte Independence for the second time this season Saturday, June 3. Omaha will have a string of road games before returning to Werner Park on Wednesday, June 21 against League One newcomer One Knox SC for Party at the Disco Night.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
“Disappointed. I think the guys were tired. After a three-game week, I thought we played well. I thought we maybe rushed things a little bit in the last ten minutes. We weren’t in control of the game and sending too many long, straight balls that we weren’t getting on the end of. I think if we needed to have a little more patience in the last ten minutes, then we would’ve created a couple more chances for ourselves.” -Dominic Casciato
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 Dominic Casciato on the field.
