CHESTER, Pa.— Returning home to Subaru Park after three road matches, Union II were seeking some much-needed points after struggling to score and only picking up a total of three points in their last four matches. That mission was accomplished on Saturday afternoon behind a Stas Korzeniowski brace as they defeated FC Cincinnati 2 by a score of 2-2.
Coach Chris Harmon had to make some changes to his Union II squad in light of two suspensions (Giovanny Sequera and Óscar Benítez), Malik Jakupovic being needed for the first team in Leagues Cup, and Eddy Davis going on loan to Loudoun United FC. Pierce Holbrook was back in net, defender Rafael Uzcátegui moved over to right back, with Kaiden Moore getting the nod at center back along with Finn Sundstrom. Jordan Griffin rounded out the back line on the left.
On starting Moore at center back and shifting Uzcátegui over, Harmon shared he thought Moore deserved it. “He’s trained really, really well, so really happy for him. I thought he had a good game,” Harmon said.
“Yeah, I think it just shows the commitment of the boys to play maybe in positions that aren’t necessarily theirs, but really happy with how we looked in the first half with Rafa,” he added. “He can add a little bit going forward, but yeah, really happy with Kaiden and Finn [Sundstrom] as well.”
Making his first professional start alongside Matheus De Paula at defensive mid was Abdoulaye Diop. Willyam Ferreira and Kellan LeBlanc were at attacking mid, and Stas Korzeniowski and Theo Reed were the striker duo.
Cincinnati began the match a good amount of possession, and brought early pressure on Union II around the box. A dangerous moment came in the 7th minute when Charlie Holmes crossed the ball in front of the goal mouth, but luckily for Union II it rolled past and over the end line with no one to finish it.
Union II saw their first chance when Ferreira rocketed a shot from outside the box in the 12th minute, but it went just over the crossbar as the 17-year-old searches for his first professional goal. Cincinnati followed up with a near miss a few minutes later, with it going out for a corner that went for naught.
Just moments later, LeBlanc made a nice interception at midfield and quickly passed it on to De Paula, who found Uzcátegui running up the right side. LeBlanc received the ball and took into the box, where Korzeniowski got in the way of defenders trying to clear the ball. He then slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal to give Union II the 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.
For Union II, getting the early lead for the first time in a while was a clear boost in confidence, and kept the pressure up from there. After a collision in the box, Diop recovered the ball and put a shot on target, but fellow 16-year-old Cincinnati keeper Connor Dale made the save. Minutes later, LeBlanc took a low shot from the right that Dale just got a hand on to knock it out for a corner.
The referee largely let the lads play, but the first booking came in the 29th minute as Uzcátegui received a yellow card for a foul, leading to a free kick deep in Union II territory for Cincinnati that was ultimately corralled by Holbrook.
Cincinnati found their breakthrough in the 40th minute when Moore, trying to send the ball up the field, had his pass intercepted and countered by the visitors with Cheikhou Niang beating the last ditch efforts of Diop and Sundstrom. Ademar Chávez was shown a yellow before play restarted for Cincinnati’s first booking, presumably from time-wasting. He would put a shot on target in the 45th minute but it was easily scooped up by Holbrook for his only save of the match on a day where he was not kept very busy in that department.
As four minutes of stoppage time was being announced, Korzeniowski nearly bagged a brace with a near miss that went wide left. The first half ended knotted up at one, though Union II appeared to be the more dangerous side, outshooting Cincinnati 8-3 with five on target to Cincinnati’s two.
The second half began with no changes for Union II. The home side got an early chance on a free kick after a foul, but the resulting free kick was defended out. A dangerous moment came in the 49th minute when Union II’s defense was caught up the field as Cincinnati’s Deiver Mosquera went on a breakaway, and seemed poised to give his team the lead as Griffin rushed in to interrupt the attempt as Cincinnati had a 3v1 opportunity. Luckily for Union II, however, Mosquera, who had options in the box, took the shot himself and missed wide.
Looking to break the deadlock, Korzeniowski used his brute strength to beat defenders and rip a shot from the top of the box in the 55th minute, but Dale made the save to keep the score level.
Harmon went to his bench for the first time in the 57th minute, bringing on Mamoutou Berthé for Diop, who had put in a quality shift. Harmon was “really pleased” with how the young man performed, saying after the match, “I thought he had really good minutes. He was dealing with a little bit of a sickness during the week, so you could see probably towards the end he was starting to run out of gas. But really, really bright from him. He almost scored a goal. His pressing actions, for us, to give an opportunity when it’s earned, it’s really rewarding.”
Berthé then picked up a yellow for a foul in the 59th minute, though it did not seem like there was much contact, if any, on the play.
After threatening many times throughout the match, Korzeniowski finally got his brace in the 64th minute to give Union II the 2-1 lead. After some quality buildup between Griffin, LeBlanc, and Ferreira, Griffin sent the ball toward the left corner, where Ferreira nutmegged a defender to find Korzeniowski. The latter made a spin and finished it past Dale for his seventh goal on the season in six matches. The previous match was the only one this season he had not scored in, and going back to last season, he has scored in 12 of 13 Next Pro matches, playoffs included.
“We’re so happy for him to be back on the field where he belongs, and you can see last game he was just kind of getting himself going,” Harmon said of Korzeniowski, who made his first appearance since May last weekend after an injury.
“He had a great week of training, so as we continue to push Stas in this way, his mentality is great. What he brings to the group, his presence, his voice, his leadership—you know,just really happy for him to get off the mark and get going again,” Harmon said.
Photo credit: Emily Wallace-Sutton.
The heat and humidity were oppressive during the match, and Moore and Ferreira both went to ground after appearing to cramp up. Those two players were then replaced by Oliver Pratt and Tyler Gladstone, and Uzcátegui moved over to center back with Pratt taking over at right back.
The last changes for Union II came in the 79th minute as Reed and LeBlanc were replaced by John Ruf and Timo Mendoza. Disaster almost struck a minute later as Uzcátegui had a rare poor touch on the ball, allowing Nathan Gray to steal the ball and take a shot that went wide right.
Looking to add to the lead, Union II kept pushing, with Ruf ripping a shot that was deflected out for a corner, and Korzeniowski getting in some dangerous positions as he looked for a hat trick. De Paula, who had yet another productive day, got a shot of his own in the 88th minute that hit the crossbar and bounced back into play, and then Berthé attempted a header that went out.
Photo credit: Emily Wallace-Sutton.
In the last moments of regulation, Stefan Chirila was shown a yellow for pulling down Pratt, setting up Gladstone to take a dangerous free kick, but it was defended out. During the five minutes of stoppage time, Cincinnati made some final pushes for an equalizer, but Union II held strong. Korzeniowski nearly got his hat trick in the 90+3′ but his shot was saved by Dale. All told, the young keeper was impressive on the day with seven saves in the end, but unable to keep Union II out of the net entirely, and FC Cincinnati 2 were denied getting their first road win.
Union II, meanwhile, picked up a much-needed three points and moved up to 11th place, and only four points out of a playoff position at the time of this article.
Photo credit: Emily Wallace-Sutton.
Harmon, who said it was good to be home after the three away matches in a row, was very positive about his team’s performance on the day, especially with finally scoring more. “To score a goal—that was one of our our targets— was to score first, and then yeah, we conceded a goal late in the first half, which I think was a little bit of our own doing. But for me, it’s the mentality of the group to continue to go and push and to get the result in the end. I’m really proud of them,” Harmon said.
The two starting attacking midfielders, LeBlanc and Ferreira, were key contributors, with the latter recording his fourth assist of the season.
“I thought Kellan gave us some some really good moments with and without the ball. Kellan probably unlucky to come away [without a goal]. Keeper makes a good save on his [shot]. I believe without look looking at it, Willy had the assist on the second one. So we’ve talked a lot about with these guys in terms of the impact that they can make, and yeah, really happy for Willy to get an assist. I think both of them played really good minutes for us,” Harmon said.
The gaffer was also happy with Pratt’s performance, with the defender not seeing any minutes since June 14. “I think he gives us a lot in terms of his energy and his leadership. He’s obviously an older guy in the locker room, so really happy and really pleased for him to to get some minutes as we look towards the last stretch of the regular season here, where it’s going to take everybody.”
With six regular season matches remaining, Union II will need to keep the momentum going. They return to the road again next weekend, playing New England Revolution II for the third time this season on Sunday, August 16 at 7:00 PM. They had quite the favorable result when they played at Beirne Stadium on July 5, where Eddy Davis, now on loan to Loudoun United, had a hat trick in their 4-0 victory. Stay tuned to see if they can replicate that top performance.
Main article photo credit: Emily Wallace-Sutton.
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