Midweek record crowd of 3,524 on hand for Owls’ 4th straight home win
PAPILLION, Neb. (August 2, 2023) – The largest midweek crowd in club history got treated to a show Wednesday night as the Owls defeated Lexington SC 2-0.
The Owls came into the match-up looking to avenge their most recent, while Lexington would be aiming to make a statement in its first road win of the season. The 3-0 loss in the sides’ first-ever meeting would be fresh in the Owls’ minds, having matched up less than two weeks prior.
After contributing to all three of the Owls’ goals in the previous match, Steevan Dos Santos stayed hot, blasting a header home in the 24th minute for his fourth goal in six matches. The assist came from none other than the club’s all-time assist leader Conor Doyle, recording his fifth of the season.
JP Scearce put his first attempt of the night on frame, requiring a Lexington defender to throw a foot out for a wild goal line clearance in the 38th minute.
The Owls would take their 1-0 lead into the break with them after a dominant first half, 45 minutes away from extending their home unbeaten match streak to 5.
The offense wasn’t content with just one goal, adding some extra insurance early out of the break. The set piece specialist Scearce struck again in the 52nd minute, putting a foot at the back post to an inswinger from Marco Milanese for the captain’s 5th goal of the year.
Rashid Nuhu showed out with a pair of tough saves to keep the visitors off the scoresheet in the second half.
Fresh substitute Chavany Willis nearly brought the total to a trio in the 88th minute, trying to tap a cross in from Dion Acoff, but his shot was smothered before causing any further damage.
The Owls finished with 15 total shots and 8 shots on target, while Nuhu and the defense turned in their sixth clean sheet of the season.
“It’s always good when you score to help the team, and as a striker, you have to score more often than not,” Dos Santos said. “I’m happy that I scored the last two games, and I’m more happy that we won the last two games.”
“I know this just felt like a comeback against them,” Nuhu said. “This game was kind of a revenge game, so to go out there and get a clean sheet, that was what we wanted since that 3-0 appearance. That’s what we wanted to do today, and we did that. It was great.”
“It’s a big one for us,” Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato said. “I think if you look at last week’s game when we went there, we started again just with the wrong mentality and just let ourselves down. We didn’t really show good we are, how good our individual players are and how good we are collectively. … There’s still more to come from this group but good to get three points on the board. Great to have such fantastic support in a midweek game like that.”
Omaha will look to make it a complete nine-point week and close out a successful homestand against One Knoxville SC Saturday, August 5 for Educational Outreach Night presented by Bellevue University to close the season series.
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.
