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USL1 Union Omaha

Dos Santos Delivers Stunning Dagger in Skirmish with Knoxville

April 13, 2024 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
Union Omaha News Release


KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - In a match that needed something special to break the deadlock, who else but Steevan Dos Santos pulled a wonderstrike out of his hat to hand Knoxville their first loss of the season.

Beyond the goal, it was a combative affair that saw elbows and yellow cards fly as both teams dug their heels in. When Union Omaha's first subs were made in the 62nd minute, they took two players off who were on yellows, and still had three left out there! Crucially, though, they held their discipline enough to keep all eleven men on the pitch.

"Really good win tonight," said Head Coach Dominic Casciato afterwards. "We had to work hard for it. I think we had a lot of the ball, I think our pressure was good, and obviously that led to the goal. Great finish from Big Steevan!"

We'll get to that finish soon, don't you worry.

While they were without Player of the Month Angelo Kelly-Rosales, One Knox still came into the game on great form, led by the Coach of the Month in Mark McKeever. They rode that confidence into a high press that kept Omaha from playing out of the back for the first few minutes, and kept them from creating many true chances. Still, the Owls had the lion's share of possession in the early goings.

Omaha's own aggressiveness, meanwhile, went both ways for them. While they controlled much of the tempo and had the field tilted towards the home team's goal, the biggest chances of the first half were when Rashid Nuhu was called into action. Knoxville attacked gaps in Union's setup off turnovers several times early on. While they were restricted to long-range efforts, Nuhu still had to display some moderate acrobatics to stave them off.

The story of the first half ended up being the chippiness. A cavalcade of yellow cards dominated Union Omaha's livetweeting on X as the clock ticked into the 30s, fouls accumulating on both sides. The pot boiled over just before the first half ended, when a frustrated Aarón Gómez plowed into Sean O'Hearn from behind after the ball went into touch. He'd earn a booking for that, as would Joe Gallardo after both teams came together to talk things out in a fashion that we'll say was... not quite placid, nor amply social-distanced.

The halftime break allowed the sides to cool their jets, though, so despite a couple yellow cards early on for Los Búhos, there wasn't much else in the way of trouble... for them, at least.

Really, there wasn't much else at all for a while, both teams grinding away but struggling to get shots away. And by the 70th minute, Steevan Dos Santos had had enough of that.

Off an innocuous enough Knoxville goal kick, Blake Malone stepped out of the back line to head it forward. Dos Santos chested it to his left, prepped it with his knee, and then lashed a half-volley on the turn. This was across his body, from at least 25 yards out, but the power and placement were perfect, sailing into the far corner for an absolute gamebreaker.

From there, One Knox fought to claw their way back into it, but their hopes of a result dwindled further in the 84th when Jalen Crisler, already on the ref's naughty list, shoved Gómez off the ball and earned himself an early shower. A ten-man Knoxville briefly threatened Omaha's box, but overall could only muster sporadic pressure as the Owls professional saw out the remaining time. Gómez and substitute Ryen Jiba provided more than ample strength and fight to pin the ball in Knoxville's corner for much of stoppage time. The result was three more points pinned to their total in this fledgling season.

Coach Dom acknowledged just how hard it was tonight. "This is a tough place to come, and Knoxville have obviously been in a good moment. It's been 27 days since our last league game, so a bit of a challenging schedule [too], but I'm really pleased with the guys, and proud of their efforts to come here and get a win tonight."

"It was a very close and difficult match," said Aarón Gómez, "but the team's unity is very good, and we continued fighting to achieve a great victory."

The Owls finally come home for real, with not one but two matches next week. An Open Cup rematch against USL Championship club El Paso Locomotive kicks down the doors to Werner Park on Wednesday, April 17th. Just after that, the Owls' first regular season match at Werner Park falls on Saturday, April 20th with their grudge match against Charlotte Independence.

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