Omaha becomes only club to finish atop the League One regular-season table twice
PAPILLION, Neb. (October 14, 2023) – The road to the USL League One Championship runs through Werner Park for the second time in three seasons.
Union Omaha won the USL League One Players’ Shield for the second time Saturday night after defeating Forward Madison 1-0. The Players’ Shield is given to the team that finishes with the best regular-season record. Omaha previously won the award in 2021 and went on to win its first League One Championship in the same year.
Saturday brought arguably the biggest installment in the Midwestern rivalry, with Omaha in first place, controlling its own destiny for the Players’ Shield, while Madison needed a win to ensure its first trip to the playoffs since 2019.
The Owls began pushing for the opening goal early, with Noe Meza putting a quality shot on target from distance that was handled by Bernd Schipmann in goal for Madison.
Attempting to continue his hot streak, Steevan Dos Santos found his first chance of the contest in the 7th minute, dribbling past a mass of Madison defenders, but his shot couldn’t find the tough angle around Schipmann.
Although tallying 9 shots in the first half, the Owls would need to more clinical with their crosses in the final third in the second half in order to pull ahead.
Some classy build-up play between the Omaha forwards led to the opener. Meza began the flowing run up, finding Lagos Kunga who tapped it over to Dos Santos to score his 5th goal in three matches. With the score, Dos Santos also becomes the team’s leading scorer with 13 goals this season.
The Flamingos began to turn up the pressure late in the match, looking to bring the score even and salvage a point, but the Omaha defense held firm. A clutch point-blank save in the dying minutes of the match from Rashid Nuhu ultimately sealed the Owls’ fate and the 2023 Players’ Shield.
“All around the world, everyone knows the best team wins the league,” Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato said. “Playoffs are great. We want to go out and win the playoffs now but to do it over 32 games, no one can argue that.”
The Owls continue to stay hot heading into the playoffs with their 14th consecutive unbeaten match, amassing 13 wins in that stretch since July 22. The defense recorded its second-straight clean sheet and 8th overall on the year.
“I’ll do anything for these guys,” Casciato said. “They mean the world to me and just the effort they put forward every day means everything, and I’m super happy and super proud of them.”
The Owls have clinched a first-round bye and will return to Werner Park to host a League One semifinal Saturday, October 28. Tickets for the match can be purchased here. If the Owls advance, the League One Final will also be at Werner Park Sunday, November 5.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
“I think what clicked for the guys and maybe for us as a staff was that we started to figure out the league a little bit, and I think the guys came together as a group. We were tactically really good and doing some really good things with and without the ball, but we weren’t winning. All of a sudden, the spirit and the togetherness started to come, and we see the results.” – Casciato on turning around the team’s winless streak at the beginning of the season
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.