Chester – Philadelphia Union II wrapped up a victorious weekend for the organization as they dispatched Crown Legacy 3-0 at Subaru Park on Sunday evening. After the first team defeated Charlotte 2-1 in a stoppage time thriller on Saturday, courtesy of Markus Anderson, and the Academy squads prevailed in the Round of 32 at the MLS Next Cup, it was Union II’s turn for some magic of their own. The victory sent Union II up to fourth in the East, but with still the least number of matches played (10) in the conference, they have at least two games in hand over the teams ahead of them in the standings.
With some players away with the Academy teams at MLS Next Cup, and some that play with the first team taking their MLSPA mandated five days of rest, Ryan Richter’s squad saw a much thinner bench than usual, with only four players on it. Gavin Wetzel wore the captain’s armband for the first time, and new signing Pierce Holbrook made his first appearance in goal.
The first half was a relative stalemate that saw Union II get some chances that were not able to be finished. In the 4th minute, the first good chance came for Union II as Eddy Davis crossed the ball and it went in front of the goal to Sal Olivas, but was saved. In the 14th minute, Union II were awarded their first corner, where Nick Pariano made a short pass to CJ Olney, who passed it to David Vazquez, who then made a nice cross to Eddy Davis near the top of the box. Davis shot just wide right.
Crown Legacy would see some opportunities, but had a few wide misses. Another chance came for for Davis in the 20th minute, who sent it toward goal, just out of the reach of Leandro Soria. A few minutes later, Soria was shown the first yellow of the evening for “poor sportsmanship” for kicking the ball away on a Crown Legacy free kick. It was to be an eventual night for Vazquez, including being knocked around quite a bit and drawing yellow cards. In the 34th minute, he went down after a CLFC player fell on him, but was able to get up and continue after about a minute. Post-game, Ryan Richter called it probably Vazquez’s best performance of the season all around, from his challenges, tactical maneuvers, dribbling, to scoring the third goal.
CLFC would see some chances, including in the 37th minute when CLFC’s Emmanuel Uchegbu had a good chance but took a high shot over the crossbar. This would become a recurring theme as (spoiler alert) the visitors would record zero shots on target for the evening, while having 10 shots total. It was a relatively easy evening for Union II’s new keeper as CLFC’s chances kept going over the crossbar or wide.
In the 40th minute, Vazquez saw another chance, but shot high on a free kick. A minute later, he was fouled by Uchegbu, who was shown a yellow. In the 45th minute, Olney took a corner that found the head of Rafael Uzcátegui, whose strong attempt hit the left post. CLFC would get one more attempt that went over the crossbar before the halftime whistle was blown, keeping the match scoreless at the half. Both teams had five shots, with Union II having one on target, which was a pretty accurate telling of the first half.
The second half began similarly to how the first half wrapped up as Soria blasted a shot at the left post that was deflected back in the 51st minute. The chances were coming as Olivas and Davis put shots in that were saved and blocked, respectively. Defender Rafael Uzcátegui, who has so far put in an impressive performance with the squad since joining, managed another shot, and seems closer and closer to netting his first with the team. A tall, physical player, the Venezuelan picked up a yellow for a foul in the 65th minute.
Richter made his first substitutions as Stas Korzeniowski and Giovanny Sequera subbed on for Sal Olivas and Leandro Soria in the 69th minute. Shortly after, CLFC had a big chance, but Dylan Sing shot over the crossbar- par for the course on the evening. The match was getting fairly physical, with CLFC’s Jack Neeley and Daniel Moore being shown yellows, as was Union II’s Isaiah LeFlore in the span of a couple minutes. Sometimes a team just needs a little break, and that came in an unexpected way as the foul by Moore on Sequera set up a dangerous free kick. Vazquez took the kick, sending it right on goal at CLFC’s keeper, Nicholas Holliday, who looked like he was going to catch it until CLFC’s Assane Ouedraogo knocked it away from the keeper and directly into the goal, resulting in an own goal in Union II’s favor in the 75th minute. The wild sequence was just the crack in the armor Union II needed to break the game open.
One last change came for Union II as Óscar Benítez subbed on for Olney, and clearly smelling blood in the water, Union II added another goal when Stas Korzeniowski scored in the 77th minute after a nice pass by Davis. The game continued to be physical, with Korzeniowski picking up a yellow, and CLFC getting more chances that would be blocked. Having Neil Pierre returning to the lineup after injury and pairing up once again with Uzcátegui appeared to be a big difference, allowing Wetzel and Pariano to be in their more natural positions, and they stymied CLFC all evening.
Union II were not finished with their offensive surge as Vazquez, returning to the lineup after international duty where he had scored for the United States U-19s, added his own tally in the 86th minute when he received a well-placed cross from Davis and slotted it home to make it 3-0. Davis, the team leader in assists, earned his second assist of the evening, and Vazquez had his first goal of the season. After two minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle blew, securing the 3-0 victory for Union II.
Post-game thoughts from Ryan Richter and Stas Korzeniowski
Speaking post-game, Richter was very pleased with the squad’s performance:
“Yeah, I thought we played a good game. It just took a while for us to get the break. Of course, we got a lucky goal- not a lucky goal, but, you know, a mistake from them that leads to a goal and that kind of opens things up. But I think to that point we deserved it. We hit the post twice and a number of other pretty good chances. So overall, really positive. And then I thought, when the subs came in the game, they made a big difference. And like, we had momentum, it started to die a little bit- Gio and Stas, Oscar came in and pushed the game in our favor. So they did a great job. Yeah, positive all around.”
Stas Korzeniowski also noted about the change in energy when he and Giovanny Sequera subbed on and the own goal happened. “We’re a very aggressive team, and we’re constantly constantly pushing. And I think we just have this like level grit that just allows us to eventually break down teams, and I think when Gio and I came on, we noticeably changed the game and I think that’s just an element of this team that’s very, very important.” And while the own goal was a break that worked into Union II’s advantage, Korzeniowski also chalked it up to the pressure the team was bringing, saying “I don’t attribute that wholly to luck. There’s like level of, you know, our pressure that contributes to that, and yeah, it breaks them down.”
Gavin Wetzel as captain, and departing
Some may have noticed that Gavin Wetzel was the captain for the evening instead of Nick Pariano, and this was for a special reason. Wetzel, the defender who recently graduated from YSC Academy, will be leaving for the University of Pittsburgh, where has has committed to play soccer. He came up through the Academy, and this was his last match for Union II as Richter, who also coached him when he was younger, noted:
“So he’s been- you know, I was his coach, when he was 11 years old in the Academy, and then I was a coach again at U-15 and, you know, to see him over the last like 10 years, the way that he’s kind of gone to every level and upped his game, you always wondered, would he make it all the way through? And he’s such a good competitor, and leader, and awesome kid that we’re gonna miss him big time. So it was actually Nick [Pariano]’s idea to give him the arm band. That was pretty cool.”
Markus Anderson and the Union II pathway
Another thing that was pretty cool for Richter, his staff, and Union II to see was Markus Anderson making an impact the night before, along with several other players who have featured regularly with Union II. With the Union missing several key players, Anderson got subbed on in the second half for his first appearance of the season, and scored the game winner in the last few seconds, and was the latest game-winning goal in team history. It was set up by Union II’s captain in 2024, defender Frankie Westfield, dummied by Cavan Sullivan, and blasted home by Anderson. Richter was thrilled for Anderson:
“We were here, had goosebumps, you know. I was so happy for him. I just said to the guys before the game, it’s all that us, the coaches want is to have a culture where guys come in, they put the team first, they work, they put their ego aside, they work hard and work to get better, and that’s how they improve. And that’s the culture that the players have created, and you never know when that opportunity is going to come. And Markus came yesterday, he was ready, he was confident because of the way that he approached the last month when he’s been with us.
“So that’s my message to them is, you know, it’s tough to be patient sometimes, but we have to have a culture and an environment where we’re pushing each other. Everyone is working to improve every day and when the opportunity comes, you’re ready for it. So it was a special moment for all this staff. You can imagine we were going crazy, so it was cool.”
Richter also noted that due to MLS Players Association mandates, coupled with the amount of minutes played and travel recently, Anderson and Sullivan did not feature in the Union II match as a result.
Pierce Holbrook makes debut
He was not too busy during the match as Crown Legacy had no shots on target, and Pierce Holbrook got a clean sheet as he made his debut with Union II. The Naval Academy graduate was not really tested, but Richter liked what he saw so far. “I’m excited to see how he progresses, fits in the group. And honestly, even in training, we’ve only had him in small sided things, so it’s good to see him in games, how he manages the game, how he controls his space behind his back back line, how he comes for direct balls, for crosses. But he did his job tonight.”
Stas Korzeniowski reflects on the match and his season
The 6’4″ forward and Penn graduate signed with Union II this season after being selected by the Union in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft. He now has three goals on the season and subbed on during the Union’s friendly versus Atlas. He scored the second goal of the evening for Union II. Speaking post-match, he talked about the adjustments he has had to make as he adapts:
“I think it’s just been a big learning curve. I’m adjusting from the college game, which had a different feel. As a striker, there were different priorities, and I had different freedoms that I was afforded at that level, that at this level, I’m learning to play the game the Union way, and I think it’s just been one big learning curve where over the past six months, I’ve been able to appreciate different factors of the game, different demands for striker and the needs. And I’m glad that a goal came out out of it tonight because I felt like I was in a bit of a drought, and goals are always a good feeling.”
On the adjustments he needed to make from college to pro:
“Definitely speed of play, Defensive mindset, very, very tactical. We’re very press heavy here. And I’ll say this was something we did up Penn, but it wasn’t as practiced and it wasn’t a theme that was involved in every training session. Well, pressure, repressure. At Penn, I was able to come down on the ball a bit more, but here I would need to stretch the line, be more dangerous of a threat vertically. So just in that way, you know, from four years of that to now this, I got to acclimate.”
He is indeed acclimating, and he is glad to have the opportunities to further his soccer career:
“I just never thought I’d be in this position to begin with, so I’m very grateful that I’m in this environment and that there is a path for me here, and that’s a big part of the motivation to begin with, but I’m also just super hungry and I want to prove to myself that I belong. And, you know, it’s a very competitive pool. There’s a lot of great young players here that push me to be better, and there’s also professionals in front of me that I aspire to take after. So there’s a big learning environment and I just want to be the best version of myself and you know, down the line, I want to be able to look at my career and feel proud of what I did, and you know, I’m very ambitious, so ambition drives me.”
Union II certainly have a lot of drive and ambition in their ranks, and will need that to continue as they look to climb up the table with a busier schedule ahead. They will next travel to Historic Crew Stadium to take on Columbus Crew 2 on Saturday, June 21 at 3:00 PM (AppleTV/MLS Season Pass) and then have a series of home games in a row.
Additional notes:
Several of Union II’s Academy players are in Nashville for the MLS Next Cup with the U-18 squad. On Sunday, they defeated Chicago Fire 2-0 with goals from Jamir Johnson and Kellan LeBlanc. They will next take on the Colorado Rapids tonight in the Round of 16 at 7:30 PM. The free livestream can be viewed here.
Hear full audio from interviews of Stas Korzeniowski and Ryan Richter:
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II
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