Chester – For the third time this season, Union II faced off against New England Revolution II, but unlike their first two meetings, this match did not end in a draw. Despite outshooting their opponent 21-5, Union II suffered only their second loss at home, falling 3-1. In a frustrating stretch of matches for the squad, early mistakes were simply too much to overcome.
The starting lineup featured Mike Sheridan, who was celebrating his 24th birthday, making his second start in goal this season. The back line had Giovanny Sequera returning to the lineup after being out with a yellow card accumulation suspension, as well as Neil Pierre, Rafael Uzcátegui, and Jordan Griffin. Notably absent was Isaiah LeFlore, rumored to be gone on loan to Detroit City FC per a report by José Nuñez, but nothing official had been confirmed at the time of the match. Cavan Sullivan, Kellan LeBlanc, Nick Pariano, and Óscar Benítez were in midfield. Sullivan played the previous night for the first team, subbing on for his brother Quinn in the 74th minute. Eddy Davis and Markus Anderson were up top as the strikers.
The game began with some back and forth between the squads, but Union II brought some early pressure. The first shot for Union II came in the 4th minute when Kellan LeBlanc blasted the ball from the center of the box, but was saved by JD Gunn.
New England saw a good chance in the 22nd minute on a corner when Liam Butts headed the ball just wide, but for the most part up until that time, it was the home squad seeing the bulk of the chances. Union II continued to threaten but not break through. In the 34th minute, some chaos ensued in front of Union II’s goal, with some key blocking by the defense. New England, however, finally broke through the stalemate a minute later when Butts blasted the ball into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
It would not get better as a long ball by New England went off Neil Pierre’s head and deflected into the goal as Mike Sheridan watched helplessly for an own goal, making it 2-0. Two minutes later, Butts got a brace after there appeared to be a push down on Neil Pierre that dispossessed him, but no foul was called and Butts scored to make it 3-0. In a span of five minutes, the game had unraveled in a very uncharacteristic fashion.
Union II made their first substitution at the half, bringing Noah Probst on for Neil Pierre, moving Óscar Benítez to center back. After the match, Coach Ryan Richter said Pierre was subbed off due to not having his best game, saying “For all the talent he has, that [making the team better] wasn’t happening in the first half, so we felt like we had to make a change, just help the team a bit.”
Union II would look more alive in the second half, which according to Mike Sheridan after the match, had been their goal—to win the half. “We had to move on from the first half,” he shared. “You know, that was disappointing. That was really disappointing. It’s not good enough for us as a team. Myself included—me and Neil. It’s kind of an error on us, so gotta be better there for sure, I think. We wanted to win the second half. That was our goal. It was to win the second half. That’s all we could do.”
Kellan LeBlanc would get a shot on target in the first minute of the second half, but right into the hands of Gunn for an easy catch. They got another opportunity moments later as Probst fed a nice ball to Sequera, who crossed it in front of goal, but it went out as no one was able to knock it in.
Union II looked like they were going to finally break through when Davis got a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar and straight down onto the goal line and out. Ryan Richter made a quadruple substitution in the 64th minute, bringing on Sal Olivas, Malik Jakupovic, Willyam Ferreira, and making his Union II debut, Kaiden Moore. They replaced Davis, Sequera, Sullivan, and Griffin.
Things got a bit chippy when some shoving happened around the 73rd minute as Union II were heading toward the goal. New England’s Javaun Mussenden and Damario McIntosh, and Union II’s LeBlanc were shown yellow cards when all was settled.
A break for Union II came as Revolution II’s Damario McIntosh was sent off in the 79th minute for a second yellow, but time was running out. Ferreira would manage a shot shortly after that missed, and not long after it appeared that a New England player committed a handball in the box, but play went on despite calls for it.
Malik Jakupovic finally got Union II on the board in the 90th minute as he roofed the rebound of Olivas’s blocked shot with some fervor that seemed to represent the pent-up frustration of the team. It was his team-leading seventh goal of the season. A small consolation getting back the one goal, but that would be all Union II would get when the final whistle blew, despite some renewed energy during the five minutes of stoppage time.
In a tight race in the Eastern Conference of MLS Next Pro, dropping a home match was not ideal for Union II as they currently sit in third place and the regular season is nearing the finish line. Richter was not pleased with the performance and the recent stretch in their season. He shared postgame:
“I was very disappointed and the energy that we played with, in the decision making, with the body language, and the way that we behaved as a team. Really disappointed, something that I didn’t think I would see from this group, but it’s kind of been building over the last few weeks, so that was the end of it, I guess, and what you get is 3-0 at half time at home. That’s what you get when that’s what it looks like.”
Sheridan shared his thoughts as well. “Yeah, I think, you know, we have a young group, and you know, we’re all learning. There’s a lot of young guys and they’re learning, and I think as they go, it’s an adjustment coming from the academy to a more professional environment, you kind of gotta feel your way out and they’re doing things that you know, maybe worked in the academy, but won’t work now.
“So it’s an adjustment, especially with the team, like, we’re losing guys, you know, things are changing all the time. So it’s something you just got to be prepared, and it’s just a little bit different of an environment for those guys, but it’s good that this is happening now before the playoff push, and I think when that comes around, hopefully we’ve learned some lessons and matured a little bit as a team.”
Not only has the squad lost players to loans, but they lost one of their goalkeepers the previous evening as Pierce Holbrook, who was to be on the bench for the first team as the backup to Andrew Rick with Andre Blake injured, was carried off with a knee injury during warm up. Mike Sheridan had not been expecting to be in the lineup Sunday, but had no problem getting in the right mindset. He talked about Holbrook’s injury and also told what his evening was like Saturday with all the went down:
“I feel terrible for Pierce, you know. I mean, that’s such a freak accident. He’s a good kid, and he’s worked really hard and he deserved that opportunity. And he’s one of my close friends on the team, so, you know, I was talking to him right after. He was just trying to stay positive. He’s a good guy. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, I think he’ll be okay, and he’ll be back just fine. But yeah, sorry for the kid, for sure.
“For me, yeah. I mean, yeah, I was I expecting to be off today and tomorrow. So I was actually out in the city with my family for my birthday, and I get a call around 6:45. My phone starts blowing up, I get a call from one of the trainers, I get texts from my teammates. I got to see what happened. ‘Where are you? Can you come down?’ It’s like, ‘Oh boy.’ So I was in the middle of Center City.
“So from then, I was just excited. It’s my turn. So I’ve I’ve been keeping my head down all year, working really hard, and the opportunity came. So I was just excited. There was no problem getting the game mode for me. I was just excited to play.”
As the goalkeeper situation is affecting both the first and second teams, Richter was unsure if they would be bringing any other keepers in for depth. For now, it appears to be Mike Sheridan and Alex Smith.
“But you have five games left,” Richter remarked. “You know, we’ll always work our best with the guys that are here and try to prepare Mike and Alex the best so that when they’re called on, they can perform well for us.”
Jakupovic netting his seventh goal of the season was a little consolation, but for Richter, the team’s performance just was not enough.
“It was a better response in the second half, definitely, you know, and Malik, he has a knack for- he’s in the right spot,” Richter said. “The right spot in the right time, and he’s quick to react to things, and that’s a great skill set for a forward. But yeah, I was so mad at the first half and the way the warm-up, the way we approached the game, everything, that I couldn’t be so happy with the second half, you know?”
Young players on the team like Jakupovic bring a lot of skills, but they are still young and learning how to play like professionals. Bumps in the road and learning experiences happen. Sheridan commented on how good the Academy is, but put it in perspective with how there is still so much learning going on:
“We have such a good academy. They have so much confidence, so it’s great to see them get their opportunities. We know that they can do it, but it’s the little details of being a professional versus being an academy player that they’re still kind of adjusting, and I think over time they’ll figure it out and a lot of them will be really, really good players.
“I mean, we have a really young team. I think you can see it in some of the results, some of the reactions from the players. They don’t really know what to do when we get in an awkward situation. They haven’t really been in that position before, where they have a level head on their shoulders. They’re older, they’ve been here, they know what to do… it’s okay, no problem. So you see a lot of overreactions at times that really affects the team, I think. I think if we stay consistent, do what we got to do the whole time, we can get back in the games, but you see an overreaction emotionally.”
If the second team goes as the first team does, which eerily seems to be the case at times, one could hope Union II follows up with a statement performance as the Union did against Chicago, winning 4-0 after dropping a frustrating game to the New York Red Bulls before that. Both squads play in Cincinnati next weekend, with Union II on Sunday, August 31 against FC Cincinnati 2 for the third time this season—a team they have had success against this year.
“This team is 100 percent good enough,” Sheridan remarked. “We’re young… they’re young… I’m a little older now. They’re young, they’re learning. So hopefully these learning moments they take, and we can move forward because I still believe in this team for sure. ”
Full Post-match Interview Audio:
Main article photo credit: Philadelphia Union II
The One Team We Agree On 
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