CHESTER, Pa.— Coming off a 1-0 loss to Toronto FC II, Union II hit the road again—this time to a new venue as they travel to CT United for the first time. The expansion team in their inaugural year will host Union II in Storrs, Connecticut at UConn’s Marrone Stadium (which Union fans may note is the former turf of UConn grad Andre Blake).

It will be a chance for Union II, who currently sit in fifth place in the East, to right the ship after an own goal was the deciding factor in a tight match in Toronto. It was their youngest lineup of the season, but not without talent. Despite the loss, head coach Ryan Richter was positive about the match aside from “a couple key moments where we lost a little bit of focus.”

One of those moments, of course, was the own goal—the only goal of the match—which Richter noted is an example of some key moments where they need to improve. He sees the growth happening in his squad, however.

“I think the performances are getting better, and we were really happy with how we performed in the game,” Richter shared. “Probably didn’t create enough big chances, as at least as much as we would have liked from the game. But overall, it’s something we’re really positive from, and you can play well for 90 minutes, and then you have a moment you shut off, and it can be decisive in the game.”

Union II’s defense has been tremendous thus far this season, led by center back and team captain Rafael Uzcátegui, who is in his second year with the squad. Between his teammates and his coaches, Uzcátegui has garnered a lot of praise during his tenure.

“He’s a mature young man, and he takes ownership for mistakes, and that’s how you can get better… you learn from it,” Richter said of Uzcátegui. “When you accept a mistake, and it’s okay, because he played a good game outside of that. I think it showed a lot of his maturity and his leadership that he didn’t go down after that mistake that led to the goal. He kept pushing and kept playing well in the game, and kept trying to push the guys on, and I was proud of him for that.”

Even the best defenders have moments—it happens, as Richter, a former defender himself, knows. “We’ve all been there, and you just got to kind of get on with it and forget about it and move on to the next kind of actions that you’re involved in,” he related.

Philadelphia’s second team will now turn their attention to a rematch with the team that handed them their first loss of the season. A little over a month ago, CT United visited Subaru Park and took the 2-1 victory in a match that had a first half goal by Malik Jakupovic. That came after Union II adjusted to the level of physicality that seemed to catch them off guard a bit. Unfortunately, that lead evaporated when CT United scored in the 57th minute. Shortly after, Union II were down to ten men following Óscar Benítez’s second yellow, which led to his ejection. The Boys in Blue almost held off their foe, but ultimately conceded the winning goal in the 86th minute.

“You look back at the game, I think we got caught up in the physicality, and we struggled to deal with that piece,” Richter said of that match. “And you know, a lot of the good actions that came from the game were when we were able to solve situations quickly, play them one and two touch out of pressure, and you find yourself again going against their back line and numbers up situations.”

This time, Union II have a better idea of what to expect when it comes to their opponent. CT United also have not won a match since they defeated Union II, and have fallen to 12th place. Looking at the match up on Sunday, Richter wants to build off the strengths from the previous meeting, but step it up. He shared:

“So it’s going to be a story of, if we can handle that: deal with the pressure and the intensity that they bring, which they do a great job of, if we can play out of that and kind of use it to our advantage to create situations like the goal we scored in that game, where it was really sharp play that led to us having a 4v3 break in the attacking half. But we need more actions like that in the game to create the chances, so I think the guys are prepared for that. They know what to expect, and they know the level that’s going to be required to be successful in the game.”

The personnel for Union II can be tricky at times when there are many moving parts, as some players toggle between the first and second teams, and some players split time with the U-18s. The first team will be in Columbus Saturday night, and Malik Jakupovic is likely to feature there. The U-18s are in Frisco, Texas for MLS Next Flex, and several players who have had minutes with Union II are with the Academy squad. Richter expects to have a strong game day roster, however, and said everyone was fit and healthy, saying, “We have a good group going in the game this weekend.”

As Andrew Rick has traveled with the first team to back up Andre Blake, it seems likely George Marks or Pierce Holbrook will get the nod in net. It is also worth noting Alex Smith and Matthew White, who have been backups for Union II, are with the U-18s. Marks has been in goal the most for Union II this season, and Holbrook just got his first start, against TFC II, since his knee injury September.

Richter said he thought Holbrook’s game was “okay—not great, not bad.” On that performance in Toronto, he said, “If you look at the goal, I think he also has some involvement in this and how he reads the play. And for a goalkeeper, when you when you misread a play a little bit like this, again, it could be decisive in the game.”

He was, however, glad to see Holbrook make his return, sharing,”I’m happy that he got his first minutes of the season and was able to contribute to a good performance. And he needs to keep building on that.”

Richter wants to see his keeper, a Naval Academy grad, grow at this professional level. “The reality is that he needs to start performing at a really high level. He keeps wanting to take steps forward, and one thing we know with him is that he approaches every day the right way. He does everything he can off the field to prepare himself properly, so he’s taking care of all the things that are in his control to try to keep his performances going better, keep his work and training going better, and keep taking steps forward.”

Union II and CT United will kick off at 3:00 PM on Sunday April 26, and the match can be viewed at mlsnextpro.com or OneFootball.

Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.