CHESTER, Pa.— Looking to help their ambitions for playoff spot, Union II were unable to get a much-needed three points at home as they were overpowered by independent MLS Next Pro side CT United 4-2 in a physical match marked by numerous stoppages and bookings.
Chris Harmon’s starting lineup saw several changes, with the biggest one being the addition of first team defender Geiner Martínez, making his first appearance with Union II. He took the place of Rafael Uzcátegui, who had picked up an injury in the previous match. Harmon noted postgame, “Rafa’s still coming back from an injury, which is… I would say he progressed towards the end of the week, but probably needs a couple of days.”
Photo: Emily Wallace-Sutton.
Photo: Emily Wallace-Sutton.
Missing their captain—their player with the most minutes and leader of a very stingy defense who had not yet missed a game up until that point—was noticeable. Still, Harmon was pleased with how Martínez played. He confirmed that the Colombian was in the lineup to get some minutes after returning from concussion protocol.
“I thought he had a really good game. He was really lively, aggressive, brought some leadership,” Harmon said. “So for him to step in and, you know, at least under me, you know, haven’t had the chance to coach him. His attitude and his mentality was awesome.”
Finn Sundstrom paired with Martínez at center back, with Giovanny Sequera returning to the lineup after missing two matches due to suspension at right back, and Jordan Griffin at left back.
Abdoulaye Diop, Óscar Benítez, Kellan LeBlanc, and Willyam Ferreira were the midfielders, and the strikers were Stas Korzeniowski, wearing the captain’s armband, and Sal Olivas.
The match got off to a dreadful start for Union II, with the visitors capitalizing on a defensive blunder, which led to Dylan Lacy, who spent several years in the Union Academy, scoring about 26 seconds into the match to put CT United up 1-0.
The match proved to be very physical, as expected, and head referee Danielle Chesky issued the first of the 11 bookings on the day to CT United’s Robbie Mora for an elbow to the neck of Sequera. Interestingly, Mora has the second-most yellow cards in Next Pro at eight, only second to Sequera, who leads with nine. It did not take long for Union II to get their first caution of the match as Griffin was shown a yellow in the 6th minute for a foul.
CT United doubled their lead in the 13th minute when Bryan Destin received a through-ball from Alex Monis, beating the Union II defense, and slotted it home on what looked close to being off-side initially, but the flag stayed down on the well-timed run.
Pushing for an answer, Union II nearly got on the board in the 16th minute when Olivas ripped a great shot, but CT United’s keeper, Gunther Rankenburg, made a fantastic save. Olivas was then the next recipient of a yellow four minutes later for a foul.
CT United continued to bring the pressure, and nearly got a third goal on a near miss by Barnabás Tanyi that Holbrook got a piece of before going wide.
In a moment that would have major consequences later, LeBlanc was shown what appeared to be a very questionable yellow for a foul in the 24th minute as Danielle Chesky was once again quick to go to her pocket.
The top goal scorer on the team, Korzeniowski, was a force on the field, and had some good looks, including shots that missed in the 28th and 38th minutes, but Union II continued to be shut out. CT United’s Bryan Destin was the next yellow card recipient as first half regulation was coming to a close.
Five minutes of stoppage time were announced, and that was all CT United needed to double their advantage as Tanyi and Destin each tacked on goals in quick succession to make it 4-0 as Union II desperately needed to get to halftime.
Harmon made two halftime substitutions, replacing Sundstrom and Ferreira with Kaiden Moore and Matheus De Paula. The latter, who boasts the second-highest minutes played on the squad, had been on the bench after picking up an injury in the previous match, but brought a noticeable energy to the pitch. In fact, Union II as a whole looked a little more alive the second half, but it was a large hill to climb.
On what the message at the half was, Harmon shared:
“The message was especially being at home to face, you know, go out and don’t hide. Continue to be brave. And for me, I said, listen, I don’t care what the game ends, but let’s get the next goal. For our own pride… we knew we had to get one, and then at least show that we were still willing to fight. So that was the message. Ticked a few things, obviously made a few changes, and the tide started to turn, but conceding two late goals in the first half, you almost put it out of reach before you give yourself a chance.”
Moore had only been on the pitch for three minutes and managed to be the next booking after a foul.
Union II got an excellent opportunity to chip away at the deficit when Diop was pulled down in the box by Tanyi, who was shown a yellow, leading to Korzeniowski stepping up to the spot and burying the penalty kick in the 55th minute to make it 4-1 and give the Boys in Blue some new life. It was his ninth goal of the season. Korzeniowski went to get the ball, but the keeper refused to give it up, and the referee stepped in and shooed him away. He picked up a yellow for dissent a few minutes later when there was a confusing sequence when it appeared Union II should have the restart, but CT United was awarded the ball.
After Griffin was fouled to the left of the box, Union II were awarded a dangerous free kick, taken by De Paula, who has been fantastic in such situations this season. He continued that form with an assist as Korzeniowski headed the ball into the back of the net to nab a brace in the 61st minute, cutting the deficit in half with his 10th goal of the season.
Now down 4-2, Union II continued to push for the comeback. Harmon brought Theo Reed on the 65th minute to replace Olivas, and brought a nice boost to the attack.
As Benítez attempted to take the ball down the field, he was pulled to ground from behind by CT United’s Steven Sserwadda, who picked up a yellow.
Harmon made his next substitution in the 73rd minute, bringing Timo Mendoza on for Abdoulaye Diop after he went down in some pain. The play continued to be very back and forth, with lots of stoppages and fouls, but the match came to a head in the 84th minute as Union II were working hard to come back, but ended up in an even worse spot. After making a sliding tackle, LeBlanc was shown a second yellow and was sent off, leaving Union II playing down a man for the remainder of the match. CT United’s Daniel D’Ippolito was shown a yellow a minute later.
12 minutes of stoppage time were announced, and Union II were not done pushing to make the comeback, despite playing with ten men. Harmon made his final substitutions in Mamoutou Berthé and Tyler Gladstone, who replaced Benítez and Griffin.
Gladstone brought noticeable energy when he came on, and Reed had a great opportunity on goal, but his blast hit the side netting. With about 30 seconds to go in stoppage, Sequera was fouled just outside the box and CT United’s Alex Monis was shown the yellow in a match dragged down by a plethora of stoppages. Union II made two final pushes after that but the final result was 4-2 in favor of CT United, allowing them to leap to third, while Union II remained in 11th and five points out of a playoff position.
“Yeah, game of two halves, in my opinion. Definitely not the way that that we wanted to start,” Harmon reflected after the match. “But I would say the way that we we started the second half and the mentality of the guys to continue to stay in it, I’m really proud of.”
While there were a few positives to take, Harmon knew they needed to be better. “But you’re not going to win a lot of games if you concede four goals in the first half,” he added. “Some really naive moments, ones that we were, you know, we stressed to the guys. We knew it was going to be a very similar field to like a Chattanooga, against an older team, where we couldn’t make silly mistakes. And I feel like fair credit to [CT United]. They they punish us when we turn the ball over in bad areas.”
A bright spot was Korzeniowski’s brace as he continues to dominate at the Next Pro level—which begs the question, is he too good for Next Pro? Would he benefit from going on loan, perhaps to USL like Eddy Davis, or perhaps get more time with the first team? For now, though, he’s getting his opportunities with Union II.
Harmon said of Korzeniowski, “I think he’s showing himself really well in all these games, and that’s all I can ask for him. Really proud of him. Yeah, he wore the armband today, and I thought he took that on really, really well. He knows that if he continues to put in and do performances, he’ll be rewarded.”
The match was clearly frustrating for both sides at times with all the stoppages, but more so for Union II given the double yellow for LeBlanc. Several times, Union II tried to do a quick restart, but the referee did not allow it, and she was very quick to show yellow cards, though there were also fouls that seemed like they should have in fact resulted in yellows. The flow of the game seemed to be impeded quite a bit.
Harmon did not want to blame the referee, but pointed more to CT United knowing how to manipulate the situations. “There was a lot of stop-start after we kind of found the momentum. I don’t put anything on the referee. For me, it’s they were more mature in that in those moments. They know how to slow the game down, but they had the advantage at that point, so they they could do that. So I would say that 15-minute spell where we really didn’t play any soccer, it made it really difficult to regain the momentum that we earned.”
It was certainly a tough match, but Union II can look to get back on track when they travel to the now-eliminated FC Cincinnati 2 at NKU Soccer Stadium on Sunday, August 30 at 12:00 PM. It is a foe they have beaten twice this season, and just played on August 8.
Union III defeat YorkPA FC 9-0
Over on the adjacent turf field on Sunday at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex, Union III was also in action at the same time as Union II. The squad made up of U-18s hosted YorkPA FC in their second UPSL match of the season, and had a dominant 9-0 victory.
Chuka Ebo had a hat trick, Liam Holtzman scored a brace, and Mateo Gallegos, Miles Smith, Jett Harrison, and Jayden Kouadio each scored a goal. You can watch that match’s livestream here. Their next match is on September 5 at Cedar Crest College versus Pennsylvania Prime FC at 6:00 PM.
Main article photo credit: Emily Wallace-Sutton.
The One Team We Agree On 
Leave a comment