CHESTER, Pa.— After a road trip to Rhode Island that saw a 4-0 defeat of New England Revolution II and a friendly with MLES Academy at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex, Union II returned home to Subaru Park to face Huntsville City FC, which included the return of former Union II captain and homegrown Nick Pariano, who now captains Huntsville. In a match that saw few shots (Union II had nine with three on target to Huntsville’s seven and two on target), the stalemate held for the 90 minutes, resulting in a 0-0 draw and Union II victorious 5-3 in the penalty shootout.
Coach Chris Harmon went with a similar starting lineup as he had against Revs II, with two exceptions: Jordan Griffin returned to left back after initially being announced last match, but did not play due to injury concerns, and George Marks was in goal in place of Pierce Holbrook. It was Marks’s first time in goal for Union II since May 23, when Union II defeated Atlanta United 2 2-1, and his sixth start overall.
Eddy Davis, the hat trick hero from the last match, and Malik Jakupovic were up top at striker. Kellan LeBlanc and Giovanny Sequera were the attacking midfielders, while Óscar Benítez and Timo Mendoza were the defensive mids. Griffin and Matheus De Paula were left and right back, respectively, and Rafael Uzcátegui and Finn Sundstrom held it down at center back.
On dropping De Paula back to fullback and Sequera to attacking midfield, Harmon shared after the match, “I think I think Matheus is a really good two-way player. I think he can help the back line defensively, and then obviously give some quality going forward, and he adds some leadership as well. Even though he’s a young guy. Gio—it kind of gives him a little bit more freedom to be Gio, you know, which which we love… It’s given Gio a little bit more freedom. A couple weeks ago we were talking about how do we get more offensive power? So, I think for me that was a switch. I know Matheus can play as a fullback, and I know Gio can can give us a little bit more going forward without having all of the defensive responsibilities.”
The match was largely controlled by Union II, and their first opportunity came in the 2nd minute as LeBlanc took a free kick from outside the box that went on target but easily into the hands of Huntsville keeper, Xavier Valdez. After another foul on Sequera, a free kick just outside the box was awarded to Union II. De Paula tapped the ball to LeBlanc, who sent it in, but Jakupovic’s header attempt went wide. It would be the first of several attempts by Jakupovic that just missed.
After a hydration break in the 33rd minute, Union II came out hot with a nice buildup that led to a shot off target by Jakupovic. Huntsville answered with some pressure, but Marks and the defense got it under control. The referee largely let the squads play, and only three yellow cards were given out on the day, with the first to Mendoza in the 41st minute for a foul.
Right as regulation was expiring, Huntsville got their first real chance, but the header from Gabriel Alonso crossed in front of the goal with no one to finish it in. After three minutes of stoppage time, the teams headed to halftime still scoreless and only one shot on goal in the match.
Union II made one substitution at halftime, bringing on Andrew Craig for Sundstrom. It would be the last appearance for the longtime member of the Union Academy before he heads off to play for Michigan. Harmon shared after the match that they were “still building Finn up” as he had played parts of three matches in a week.
Union II got a little more attack going in the second half, but still not enough to find the back of the net. Sequera, who had a lot of quality moments with the attack in the match but was still as aggressive as he usually is, was the next booking for a foul in the 47th minute.
In the 58th minute, Huntsville’s Aiden Jarvis managed a shot that went just over, which was followed shortly after by another shot by Jakupovic that went over as the deadlock continued.
Harmon made more changes in the 61st minute as Tyler Gladstone and Willyam Ferreira replaced Sequera and LeBlanc. In the minutes following, Uzcátegui and Craig had some fine defensive work, including some big blocks to negate threats from Huntsville.
Another change for Union II came in the 70th minute as Abdoulaye Diop was brought on for Benítez. Right after, Union II finally earned their first corner of the match after a shot by Jakupovic was saved and deflected out. Gladstone took a shot during the sequence, but it went wide left.
Union II continued to stymie Huntsville with their defense, including a big block in the 73rd minute by Craig, where the rebound led to shot by Malachi Molina that Marks saved by getting a hand on it and sending it over in one of the two saves Marks had to make on the day.
The match halted for a second half hydration break, and following that, Sal Olivas subbed on for Jakupovic in the 80th minute. Olivas almost made an immediate contribution when he received a great through ball from De Paula, then sent crossed to Davis, but the latter’s header was saved by the keeper.
Regulation wrapped up with a yellow card to Molina in the 90th minute for Huntsville’s only booking, and three minutes of stoppage time passed without any goals, but a late chance for Huntsville that went wide. With each team receiving a point for the 0-0 draw, it was time for a penalty shootout to see who would get the extra point.
First up in the shootout was Davis, who made a high shot to the right that Valdez guessed right on, but was too low to block. Nicklaus Sullivan went first for Huntsville, and Marks guessed right but just missed making the save on the low, left-side shot.
Uzcátegui went next, shooting high and left, with Valdez going the other way. Zidane Yáñez kept it even when his Panenka got by Marks.
For the third round, Gladstone, no stranger to taking PKs and big moments, ran up fast and blasted the ball into the net with confidence. Huntsville’s Moisés Véliz then shot low and to the right, and just out of the reach of Marks, who guess right.
With it even 3-3, Marks then stepped up himself to take the fourth kick, shooting it low and down the middle while Valdez dove to his left. Red Bull New York loanee Aiden Jarvis was next for Huntsville, but in a pivotal moment, Marks dove to his left and made the save, setting up Union II to have a chance it end it if they made their upcoming fifth kick.
In that moment, it seemed like no one else should take the kick other than Andrew Craig, with it being his swan song for Union II. Having also taken PKs in big moments, he stepped up to the spot, took a few deep breaths, and smashed the ball low and down the middle for the shootout victory.
“He understands the moment, he understands the game,” Harmon said of Craig after the match. “To be able to have him take the pen to to win it is really special for him. It’s a really nice send off as he goes to college. Yeah, we’re really gonna miss him. He’s given a lot to the program, and for sure we’re going to follow him and be his biggest supporter because he’s been everybody’s biggest supporter since since he’s been here. So yeah, really happy for him to play well and then get the pen.”
Uzcátegui added, “Yeah, Andrew is amazing, is a great, great player. It’s really good to have to have him with us. The guys love him, so I think it’s really important for the group. We are so happy when Andrew plays, like the things are easy sometimes. So we are so happy, and we will miss him a lot.”
Craig is the last of the college-bound players to depart, with Nehan Hasan (Penn State) and Lennon Harrington (Cornell) already having played their last matches. Harrington made his last appearance in the friendly on Wednesday against MLES Academy, but was at Subaru Park in the stands, along with Hasan, for one last Union II match before departing.
With the draw and shootout victory, Union II gained a valuable two points, but dropped to tenth as Chicago Fire II won their match. The standings are tight, with them only two points out of a playoff position. The clean sheet for Marks helped keep Union II as one of the stingiest teams when it comes to goals allowed, thanks to their strong defense and solid goalkeeping.
Unfortunately for Union II, Huntsville gave them fits on the scoring side, allowing Union II to possess the ball a lot, but using a low block. Harmon was glad to get the points, but talked of the challenge of trying to break down Huntsville’s defense.
“A different match for us, I think, just in terms of the way they approached it,” Harmon said. “Obviously, we had a lot of the ball, which again it’s just a different look for us. So we had to find ways to to get in behind, and there wasn’t that much space for Eddy and for Malik to get in behind them, so we had to use the ball a little bit more.
“Fun game. They they made it challenging. We were knocking on the doorstep there. I thought we were going to get one, but that’s that’s part of it. But really happy with the boys to stay in it. It’s not an easy game when you know you’re committing so many numbers forward that at any point they can come back the other way. So yeah, really happy with how the guys handled that moment.”
Uzcátegui shared his thoughts as well. “I think we are we are happy because we don’t win but we don’t lose, so we take the two points. I think we have to have to be happy for that, but I think we could be better in the game. I think we could create more chances and maybe score more, but that’s football. Sometimes, if we don’t have to win, we don’t want to lose. So we take the two points, and now we have to train and prepare the next game.”
One player that has a lot of skill and can be a great playmaker is Willyam Ferreira, but was having a challenging time connecting in this match and sometimes seemed to be trying to do too much. When asked how, as a coach, he can help Ferreira keep that natural ability without getting in his head, Harmon shared:
“Yeah, Willy’s a type of player that as a coach you just can’t ruin. He’s got so much raw ability. He’s got so much. I would say the way that he thinks about the game, the way that he sees it, one, two, three steps ahead. You have to let him be in in moments, and and sometimes it’s going to work, and sometimes it’s not. But yeah, giving him a little bit of structure to understand when and where. But I’ll never tell Willy not to be Willy because he’s special, and he’s the type of player that can break open a game at any point. So, stifling him is not anything that I’m thinking about. It for me is how can we help him, when and where, and find different moments to express himself.”
It was another match with tight margins, as has been the case for the majority of Union II’s matches. They have been on a good stretch and hope to keep building on that. Uzcátegui is optimistic. “I think we were playing good even when we were losing, I think was just about like control more some moments, or maybe like finishing our chances. But I think we need we knew that. [We need] to try to score more, or to just control our moments. So I think the team is strong, and I think the team could be in a higher position than where we are. So I think everyone feels the same thing. So that’s our motivation, to be in the first eight places and to go to playoffs and to try to go as far as we can.”
They will need to bring their best in their next match as they will head to Columbus to face first-place Crew 2 next Saturday, but have shown in the past that they can compete with the top teams, including on the road. They are certainly not a team to count out.
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
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