Alexis Souahy scores first club goal to seal Owls’ victory
PAPILLION, Neb. (July 29, 2023) – A season-record crowd of 3,573 was on hand to see Union Omaha defeat South Georgia Tormenta FC 3-2 Saturday night.
Some nifty Italian link-up play in the 13th minute nearly led to an opening goal, with Marco Milanese driving a ball in from distance that found Luca Mastrantonio for the headed attempt, prompting a tough save out of Tormenta’s Pablo Jara.
The Owl press was creating plenty of trouble for the South Georgia midfield, as Dion Acoff worked to intercept a ball and push the opposite way, clipping a beautiful cross in to Noe Meza who narrowly missed scoring his 10th goal of the year.
Steevan Dos Santos earned the Owls’ their first penalty kick of the year in the 29th minute. Omaha’s all-time appearance leader JP Scearce stepped up to calmly slot it home and give the Owls the lead. The score marked Scearce’s 5th career goal against Tormenta and his 4th overall of the season.
“This whole season we’ve been struggling to get calls our way, especially penalties, and Steevan was able to draw one,” Scearce said. “I’m always practicing and taking penalties during training, being ready whenever there is one, so I stepped up and took the opportunity.”
The Owls would carry the advantage into the halftime break, where they are undefeated this season when leading.
The momentum continued out the half for Los Buhos, as Joe Gallardo took a touch from the endline and put a curling ball on a platter for Dos Santos, who tapped in the header for the insurance goal in the 50th minute.
Tensions rose as the visitors began to pick up steam midway through the second half, with Nick Akoto finding the opening goal for Tormenta and Mukwelle Akale equalizing in the 77th minute.
Down to their final minutes of trying to save a win, the Owls won a prime scoring opportunity off a corner kick. After an initial Tormenta defensive stand, Conor Doyle kept the play alive, playing to Dos Santos who flicked the ball to Alexis Souahy. Picking no better time to score his first goal for the club, Souahy blasted a long strike from distance that threaded through the South Georgia defense to give Omaha the win and send the visitors home empty-handed.
“It felt good to get the winning goal and, most importantly, to get the win,” Souahy said. “That was an important match bounce back. That was important for us to get back on track in this run of three games in seven days.”
“Great win tonight,” Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato said. “think, 2-nil, we’re looking to see the game out pretty comfortably, and they got into the game — credit to them. But we kept going to the end, and I think when they got the equalizer, it just gave us a little bit more momentum, more belief, and great to get the winner at the death there.”
The Owls get a chance at more points at home this week, next looking for revenge against Lexington Sporting Club Wednesday, August 2 for Women in Sports Night presented by Carson Wealth. Omaha then hosts One Knoxville SC to close out the season series Saturday, August 5 for Educational Outreach Night presented by Bellevue University.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
“For us, we’ve spoken about it since day one of preseason, just about getting better and better and learning from every experience. We have every training session, every game, just trying to get better, and I think tonight is another example of that. We’re not going to get too distracted with a table. If we keep performing, we keep working the way that we can, and playing together and working together, results will come.” -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.
