Matthews, NC – On Saturday, Union II traveled to North Carolina to face Crown Legacy for the second time this season. In their previous meeting, Union II came away victorious 3-0 at Subaru Park. The lineup was fairly similar to recent matches, except Óscar Benítez got the start at midfield, and Cavan Sullivan was on the bench for the first team in Houston.
Union II got off to a quick start with a goal by Eddy Davis in the 2nd minute of the match, assisted by Isaiah LeFlore. It was Davis’s fourth goal of the season, and LeFlore’s third assist.
The offensive pressure continued, and in the 16th minute, Sal Olivas was tripped up near top of the box, setting up free kick. A yellow card was shown to Erik Peña Boardman for the foul and Kellan LeBlanc took free kick that went wide left. This was followed shortly by a shot by Markus Anderson that was saved by Isaac Walker.
CLFC did see some chances, as Nimfasha Berchimas had a near miss that went wide right across the goal. He then picked up a yellow card moments later from a foul on Neil Pierre. Union II would see several more shots as the half wore on, and were riding high with confidence. Ryan Richter had mentioned earlier in the week at training that there had been a lack of focus with the team in the match against Chattanooga, and it appeared the team had righted the ship in that regard.
A big chance for Nick Pariano in the last moments of first half stoppage time, but he waited perhaps a moment too long to shoot, and his shot was deflected out for a corner. Union II did a short pass on the corner, sent it in, and CLFC’s Assane Ouedraogo headed it into the net for an own goal to put Union II up 2-0 right before the halftime whistle. It was a brutal play for him as he had an own goal in the teams’ last matchup. The first half ended with zero shots on goal for CLFC in first half, while Union II had all the momentum. It was a far cry from when they conceded in stoppage time in the previous game.
The second half was barely underway when Berchimas was shown a second yellow for a foul, leading to a red card ejection for him in the 46th minute. Union II would get to have nearly the entire second half up a man, so the question was if they would maintain their focus and add on to their lead given the advantage, because their one loss this season came at the hands of a team that had had a player ejected.
Ryan Richter’s squad, however, seemed totally in the driver’s seat at that point. He made a triple substitution in the 58th minute bringing Malik Jakupovic, Stas Korzeniowski, and Jordan Griffin on for Sal Olivas, Markus Anderson, and Isaiah LeFlore.
Team captain Nick Pariano, whom some viewers may have barely recognized with his fresh new haircut, got in on the action as he blasted the ball from the top of the box to the left corner to make it 3-0 in the 65th minute with his third goal of the season, while Jordan Griffin picked up his second assist.
More substitutions would follow for Union II, and they seemed to be fully in control of the match. Rafael Uzcátegui, who is one of the team leaders in minutes, came out for Leandro Soria in the 67th minute, and Willyam Ferreira replaced Kellan LeBlanc in the 82nd minute.
Union II were not finished adding on to the scoresheet, and would tack one more on in the 89th minute. At this point, he is almost becoming inevitable: Malik Jakupovic scored his fifth goal of the season to make it 4-0 on a ball that was scorched to the right post and ricocheted in, assisted by Giovanny Sequera. Malik is now is tied with Cavan Sullivan for the team lead in goals. Impressively, he has only made four appearances for a total of 101 minutes, all off the bench, and has scored in all four of those appearances. The 16 year old continues to impress, and will be heading to the MLS Next All Star Game with teammate Jamir Johnson. That match will be Monday, July 21st at 8:30 PM on MLS’s YouTube channel.
It was an easy night for Pierce Holbrook as CLFC did not register a single shot on target, even before they were down a man, and only mustered four shots in all. Union II had 21 shots with seven on target.
After a bit of a disappointing performance in their last match, Union II regrouped and continued their winning ways on the road, where their record is 4-0-3. Overall, they have 36 points (tied for the moment with first place New York Red Bulls II, who they will have two games in hand over after Red Bulls play their match Sunday). With the four goals and a clean sheet, Union II increased their absurd league-leading goal differential to 26, which is 14 ahead of the next in line, St. Louis CITY 2. They have also conceded the fewest goals in the league.
Their next match will once again be a part of a DOOP double feature as they travel to NYCFC II on Saturday, July 26th and kick off at 4:00 PM. The first team plays at home that same day at 7:30 PM.
Main article photo credit: Philadelphia Union II
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