Owls rebound from cup loss to win grudge match, extend lead atop table
Windsor, Colo. (September 14, 2024) – In maybe their toughest fixture of the season to date, Union Omaha displayed immense character to defeat Northern Colorado Hailstorm.
Take into account all the factors leading up to this: a stretch of four matches in eleven days, a week spent at altitude in Colorado, three suspensions, and a testy and deflating loss on Wednesday to a side threatening to be this year’s bogey team for the Owls. A side that was unbeaten for a couple months going into this fixture, no less.
Add in a first-half injury substitution for the star striker, and the Owls’ backs looked to be getting well-acquainted with the metaphorical wall.
The series that followed Big Steev’s injury provided the opening goal, though, and from there it was the Lagos Kunga show, with the tricky attacker snatching souls en route to a game-winning brace.
Head Coach Dominic Casciato summed it up as thus: “The guys showed tremendous character tonight. We had three players suspended, and obviously Steevan [Dos Santos] went off early in the game. We were up against it. But I think the character and the quality that we showed was fantastic, so I’m really proud of the guys. We [dealt with their long balls], we picked up second balls, and we played our football to come away with the three points.”
Omaha had the run of play well before the opening goal, to be fair. Pedro Dolabella put the fear of the soccer gods into Lalo Delgado in the 18th minute with a whipped free kick that was saved onto the post. A minute later, Delgado had to get low to parry wide a turn and shoot opportunity for Dos Santos.
While they were nipped on the possession edge by a 47-53% margin in the first half, the Owls outshot NoCo 11-4 in that time, with a 4-1 differential in shots on frame.
Steevan Dos Santos’ injury came in the 36th, when he and Delgado scrambled to corral the ball after a wonderful through ball from Aarón Gómez. After minutes’ delay, it was one of the corner kicks that followed that yielded an opener. Charlie Ostrem’s deep delivery was headed back across the box, where Gómez chased it down and pulled out of his bag a turnaround shot with his left foot that nestled into the far corner. It was his first goal since their season opener against Fuego.
That goal carried the visitors into the locker room with a goal advantage at halftime, but it wouldn’t last too long after the break. In the 54th minute, Jackson Dietrich seemed to warp through Omaha’s defense, and once he found himself in the penalty area, Marco Milanese was there to send him sprawling to the turf with a shoulder check. Trinidadian international Noah Powder send Rashid Nuhu the wrong way on the spot kick to level the score at one each.
For about a hundred seconds, anyway.
Lagos Kunga grabbed the game by the scruff at this point, with his first goal deserving a prime slot in his highlight reel. The Angolan dusted Dietrich from the left wing, split two more defenders, zipped past a stationary Lucky Opara, and dinked a trivela finish as he ran the opposite direction from his left foot. Words do not do the brilliance of this goal nearly the justice it deserves.
In response, NoCo really buckled down. The home side hadn’t lost since mid-July, and Kunga’s goal seemed to remind them that they were that juggernaut. The Hailstorm locomotive picked up steam with each passing minute, forcing the Owls into desperate defending, with bodies flying and shots blocked all over the place. Gómez would become another injury casualty as well after taking a stinger of a cross at close range. Hailstorm are, by many analytics, the best team in the league, and the sheer dominance they showed in the middle of the second half was a prime example of that.
“Northern Colorado are a good team,” said Coach Dom. “You know what you’re going to face with them. They’re physical, and they’re going to be smashing long balls into the channels all game.”
Eventually, the pressure became too much. A deep cross was laid off to a charging Powder at the top of the box, and wile his shot was errant, Ethan Hoard was right there to flick it on goal in the 83rd to knot it up at two goals apiece.
For about ninety seconds, anyway.
Kunga this time received the ball at midfield, where he shrugged off a shove from Opara to turn and dart forward. Dietrich’s diving tackle found air while Kunga found Missael Rodríguez to set up a shot right about where he scored his first. Rodríguez beat Delgado, but not the far post.
The home side were slow to react to the rebound though, which allowed Rodríguez to range back and center the ball to Kunga again. He did the rest from there by settling it, jinking around two defenders, and getting off a shot that glanced off Opara and in.
This time, the wind came right out of Northern Colorado’s sails, and Omaha saw the result out without much threat. Heck, the best chance from that point on was Kunga nearly netting a hat trick.
“It was definitely a tough game, so it was a really good feeling to get the win after losing the cup match midweek,” said midfielder Nortei Nortey, a Hailstorm player the two years prior to 2024. “I think we did a good job to put that past us and remain positive to get the result we wanted and keep us going in the right direction.”
The win puts Union Omaha three points atop the table with six matches to play, and a game in hand on their closest competitor in Charlotte Independence.
Just below them, though, are One Knoxville SC, who are Omaha’s opponents for their next home match on Saturday, September 21st at 7pm. That will be Oktoberfest night, featuring a stein giveaway presented by Wall to Wall Wine. From there, they get a week and a half’s break before a noon kickoff on Wednesday, October 2nd against Spokane Velocity FC for Students & Educators Day, presented by Family Fare & Supermercado.
ABOUT UNION OMAHA
Union Omaha, the 2021 USL League One Champion and 2023 USL League One Players’ Shield Winner, 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 American soccer, 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 of Business Operations Alexis Boulos in the front office and Head Coach Dominic Casciato on the field.
