CHESTER, Pa.—Perhaps the third time will be the charm? Union II will take on Red Bull New York II for the third time this season, and look to build off an encouraging road win last weekend at Orlando City B, where Eddy Davis and Theo Reed scored, and Pierce Holbrook had 10 saves. Currently in 11th place in the Eastern Conference at 6-7-2 and 21 points, they will look to keep the momentum going and rise up in the standings that are actually quite close. Red Bull II sit in third place at 8-4-3 and 28 points.
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
Back on March 22, Union II traveled to MSU Soccer Park and had a mostly lackluster offensive performance, save for a well-struck header by Lennon Harrington for his first pro goal. After conceding a late equalizer and ending regulation in a draw, Union II won the shootout in thrilling fashion, with an impressive performance by goalkeeper George Marks, who not only made three saves in the PKs, but made the decisive from the spot kick himself.
In their second tilt, this time at home at Subaru Park on May 3, Union II’s Stas Korzeniowski scored first, but Red Bull II responded with two goals of their own to win 2-1. It was a hard-fought battle that coach Ryan Richter, at the time, saw positives in—though he thought the Red Bull II goals were offside. “I thought for this league, that was a very high level game. I’m proud of our players for the way that they performed individually and when they played as a team,” he said after that match.
This third matchup, of course, will not have Richter at the helm as he is now the interim head coach of the Union’s first team, where he just coached his first unofficial match in their friendly against Houston Dynamo. With Chris Harmon as interim head Union II coach, the squad will look to get the win on Sunday after a draw and a loss in their previous meetings.
At training on Wednesday, Harmon shared his thoughts on their match against Orlando City B. He had said previously that the team was aiming to play more collectively. He said he was “really happy with the boys” in their performance, and when I asked him if he thought he thought they achieved that goal of playing together well that in the victory, he said:
“I would say we’re inching. I mean, I don’t think I’ll ever be happy with… you know, wins are great, but we want to continue to push these guys, continue to get better each week. But really happy with the progress after a week and a half of these guys. So really positive. I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
Eddy Davis, who had the first goal in the match against Orlando, agreed, saying “I knew going into it how connected we are and how together we are as a unit, so I knew that with the heat and through it all, we’re gonna run for each other and fight for each other the whole time. So it was a great performance from all the lads.”
It was a huge performance for Pierce Holbrook against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and he has been strong even in the recent losses. Harmon shared his thoughts:
“Yeah, big Pierce. Yeah, he had to do a lot, and I thought for me that was the best I’ve seen him confidence-wise, how he had presence in and around the box. He had to come for a lot of things. Yeah, really happy with how he played, and really happy with how the whole back line collectively were able to stifle a really good opponent.”
Davis also shared praise for Holbrook, saying, “Yeah, I mean, Pierce was excellent. I think he had, how many saves they said in the last 10 minutes of the game? But he was excellent. And yeah, that’s what we need from him going forward. So that was great.”
Davis finding his form and being the goal-scoring threat followers of Union II know he can be could be such a boost for the squad who have struggled to score many goals recently. Davis was one of the top scorers in MLS Next Pro in 2024, but has dealt with injuries at times. It was an encouraging match for Davis and also fellow homegrown striker Sal Olivas.
“Really happy for Eddy to get a goal,” Harmon said. “I would say we challenged our nines going into this game that we needed more with and without the ball, and I would say that they answered the call. I thought Sal put in a shift, you know, he hits the crossbar. Would have loved for him to get one, because I thought him and Eddy were monsters all game.”
It was not only huge for Davis to strike first on the road for the team, but for his own confidence. “I needed that,” Davis said. “I’ve put in a lot of work, it’s been an up and down start to the season, just injury wise, so just for my confidence, personally… like two years ago, I was a leading goal scorer, so I just needed to get that confidence back, so that felt great.”
He credited his teammates for helping him through the bouts of injury and helping him focus, adding, “I mean, yeah, it’s tough, but I have a good group of guys around me who are like pushing for me to get back and want to see me back on the field, and who are excited for me, so it’s easy when I have guys around me like every single day,”
What Davis offers is not only on the attack, but he does a quality job tracking back to help the defense, and also provides strong leadership. That was clearly evident against Orlando City B.
Harmon saw that leadership, adding “But yeah, Eddy’s not only what he can bring with his feet, but I would say I agree, his leadership. I can hear him talking to the younger guys, pushing the group. It was excellent, and then obviously for Theo [Reed] to come and kind of ride that out and continue to raise the level when he came in is excellent, and that’s what that’s what we want from these younger guys.”
It was the second game-winning goal for Reed, who has looked more and more impressive, as has Tyler Gladstone, who had his second assist of the season on Reed’s goal. Harmon, as the U-18 coach, knows many of the players well, including Gladstone. He shared his thoughts on the young midfielder:
“Yeah, so he just joined the group, you know, a couple days before the game, so really happy for him to get on and get an assist. He’s just a dangerous and dynamic player, and you know, we talk about all the time, how can we get him in certain spots, because he has real quality, and we’ll continue to push him and give him these opportunities. But it’s great to see him link up with Theo, somebody he’s played a lot with, and Theo had the understanding of probably where that ball was going to end up. But for Tyler to have the quality and a really difficult game to come on and make the difference, it was great.”
Now they turn their attention to Red Bull II, who, like Orlando City B, score a lot of goals, and are coming off a 5-0 win over Toronto FC II. However, Red Bull II, who had an undefeated run through mid-May, only have two wins since they last played Union II, going 2-4-1 in that span of time. Union II, for their part, have had tight margins in all their matches and hope to get more on the right side of those margins moving forward.
“I mean, if you see all the results that we’ve had, they’ve all been pretty close, and it’s just been like me not being able to pull one away or someone else not being able to put them away, but I think now it’s finally we’re turning the corner, because I feel like we’re actually like where we are on the table doesn’t fit the type of team that we are. I feel like we should be top of the table right now. So, I think we’re in a good stretch going forward,” Davis said.
As for the focus this week? Not too much of a change according to Harmon—playing together and collectively, and “really play with a hunger and a desire to play forward and get in behind teams,” he said. “And yeah, it’s been really great to see it. We’re going to continue to push them, and we know Red Bull is a great opponent, but we’re excited for the game.”
Davis, who has faced Red Bull II many times, including last season in the Eastern Conference Final, summed it up: “We’ve got to match their energy and go even further than that, so as long as we’re putting tackles in, being committed to running,we’ll be just fine.”
Union II and Red Bull II will kick off at 7:00 PM on Sunday, June 28 at MSU Soccer Park, Montclair State University. Kyle and I will both be attending, so be sure to follow us on social media for updates. The match can be viewed at mlsnextpro.com and OneFootball.
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
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