PAPILLION, Neb. (October 28, 2023) – Omaha’s 2023 record-breaking season came to a close in the League One Semifinals Saturday night.
Omaha was back in the USL League One Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, hosting its second semifinal in three seasons.
The Owls shut down any questions about any potential sluggishness coming off the bye week, rattling off three dangerous scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the match. Pedro Dolabella nearly put a header in just the first minute, but his effort just skimmed the top of the net.
A favorable bounce off a pass from Dolabella gave Noe Meza space to work, the striker finding room around a Charlotte defender and setting up a one-on-one battle with Charlotte goalkeeper Austin Pack, who was just able to get a foot on Meza’s effort for the save in the 16th minute.
Omaha put up a dominant first half, controlling possession with 16 total shots on goal.
A scrappy second half followed as both teams pushed to find an offensive breakthrough.
A hectic scramble in the box in the 56th minute gave four different Owls dangerous looks, but the Charlotte defense was able to fend off the threats.
Fans were then treated to some free soccer at Werner Park as regular time concluded still scoreless, sending the match into extra time.
Substitute Chavany Willis nearly provided the opener with a crafty free kick that bent around a wall of Independence defenders and required another close save out of Pack to keep the Owls off the board.
Ending extra time still deadlocked, the teams entered the first-ever shootout in USL League One play and Omaha’s second in club history. Fans all over the stadium packed behind the goal to cheer on the team. In the end, a single Omaha miss proved to be the difference-maker, as Charlotte was able to advance to the final on penalties, 5-4.
The Owls tallied 33 shots on the night, and the defense held a shutout for 120 minutes.
“It’s tough one to take,” Union Omaha Head Coach Dominic Casciato said. “The guys have been so good all year and to end it like that, I feel for the guys because we didn’t deserve to go out that way. Just really proud of the guys’ efforts over the course of the year. Tonight in a one-off game, anything can happen, and we obviously didn’t take our chances.”
“Tough one to swallow,” JP Scearce said. “I think we dominated the game from start to finish, and it was just one of those where we couldn’t find the back of the net and couldn’t finish our chances and that’s what it is. At the end of the day, a penalty shootout is 50/50, so you can’t really rely on that to win the game, so yeah, it’s a bitter one.”
The 2023 Union Omaha squad set a USL League One record for most points in a single season (65), most consecutive wins (10), most goals scored in a single season (61) and tied for most wins in a single season. The club remains one the league’s most successful as the only with most points per march in league history (1.77), best goal differential in league history (48) and second-most points in league history (188).
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.
