Omaha, Nebr. (June 6, 2026) – Fireworks abound against Fort Wayne, and in a must-win match where the Owls needed goals, they found four of them.
Allen Gavilanes had three goal contributions, while Kempes Tekiela notched a brace off the bench to seal the victory.
“I think our depth is unreal this year,” said Tekiela afterwards. “In different games, different guys always make the effort and change the game whether they’re starting or coming in. Today it happened to be me, but it’s always about the team.”
A hectic tempo was set from the start, with both teams pressing high up the pitch. That made for a change of pace from prior matches at Morrison, with teams often sitting in a mid block at most and picking their spots to press the Owls. It took all of 15 minutes for that energy to form into something concrete.
Allen Gavilanes nicked an errant pass at midfield and immediately sprang the other way, finding Pato Botello Faz down the middle. Botello Faz easily put it past the charging Aurie Echevarría for the opener, and that wasn’t all the action for the moment.
Just a couple minutes later, play from the back was worked to Aarón Gómez with enough space to land an Airbus in the center of the pitch. The veteran took his space before striking a beautiful reverse pass to Gavilanes to beat the offside trap. Gavilanes took his chance beautifully, stroking it into the left side to double the Owls’ advantage.
Said right back Camron Lawrence, “Fort Wayne came out pressing really hard, knowing it’s a cup game and that both of us had to get a lot of goals and points on the board. Our coaches the whole week just had a really good gameplan, isolating guys one-on-one and finding guys through the channels, and it seemed to work out really well.”
It seemed academic at that point… but late on in the half, the League One newcomers hit their stride with a devastating double of their own. First, Anthony Hernandez played Daniel Oyetunde in down the left flank. Oyetunde staved off Samuel Owusu all the way into the box before opening his body and curling it around Cole Jensen to cut the lead in half. Then, Fort Wayne caught the Omaha defense out of shape, and after Kabiru Gafar drove into a dangerous spot, it was who else but former Búho Ryan Becher on the other end of the square pass to nail the leveler going into the halftime break.
While the second half didn’t start out with the same high energy pressing, it still took highly assertive goalkeeping by Echevarría to keep a goal of the week contender off the board in the 58th minute. Gavilanes, as he did all match long, darted right through the defense. He fed Gómez, then got it back on a cheeky backheel right in front of goal only to see his dink parried by the goalkeeper charging off his line with authority.
The dam finally burst once more a few minutes later. In the 64th minute, Kempes Tekiela subbed in. He found himself in the ref’s book in the 66th… and then just 46 seconds later, he broke the deadlock. Gavilanes again showed how dynamic he could be, accelerating into the penalty area with purpose before a cutback from the right to Tekiela. The German took the perfect amount of time to set himself and let a defender slide past before he sidefooted it through the keeper and in.
The Owls poured on the pressure from there, knowing they had to keep up the momentum in a competition that rewards all-out attack. They got that reward late on when Aaron Gómez was played in by Jiba, and from the left side now he found Tekiela all alone to secure a brace for the German, and his fifth goal since May began.
While it was the first match at home this season where Union Omaha were outpossessed (though it was 49%-51%), they stormed through when it mattered. In the second half, Union Omaha had 2.04 expected goals on 13 shots, while Fort Wayne were held to 0.16 xG on two shots.
The result leaves them with six points and seven goals scored with a match left to go in the group stage of the Prinx Tires USL Cup. A big win on July 11th at Forward Madison could see them in with a shout at advancing to the knockout stage, either by winning their group (depending on other results) or winning the tiebreaker amongst second-place teams. As Head Coach Vincenzo Candela noted, they’re still in it, and that’s what matters.
“I thought we started the game well. It was a tale of two halves in the first half, but we came out in the second half and took the game to Fort Wayne to get four goals at home. I love the fans for bringing a lot of energy and electricity tonight from the stands, we got another three points, and we stayed alive in the cup.”
Union Omaha now hits the road until July. Their next match is right around the corner, with a June 10th visit to red-hot Charlotte Independence on the docket, followed by their first ever trek to Sarasota on the weekend to face newcomers Sarasota Paradise. Union Omaha’s next home match is their Wednesday, July 1st fixture against AV Alta FC at 7pm. That will be their Stars, Stripes & Soccer Night. Tickets and ticket packages for upcoming matches are on sale now.
ABOUT UNION OMAHA
Union Omaha, the 2021 and 2024 USL League One Champions, is the premier 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 the newly announced top-tier USL Premier, launching in 2028. Union Omaha will play its 2026 USL League One home matches at Morrison Stadium in downtown Omaha. The team is led by Chief Operating Officer Alexis Boulos in the front office and by Head Coach Vincenzo Candela on the pitch.
