Gritty Greenville Game Decided by Dolabella's Gifted Goal
July 15, 2024 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
Union Omaha News Release
Greenville, S.C. - In a match with more bookings than clear chances at goal, Union Omaha pounced when the chaos presented a golden opportunity, and held on for a huge win.
Going in, both teams knew that the winner would go top of USL League One. Perhaps it was those stakes that saw the match mired in a cavalcade of fouls and missed passes. Still, while Greenville held a 58%-42% edge in possession, it was the visiting Owls who not only created more on attack, but earned their first clean sheet since May 29th against Central Valley Fuego.
Said defender Blake Malone afterwards, "The game wasn't necessarily the prettiest from either side. It honestly turned into a match of who could be the biggest dog and who was going to fight the hardest, and after that final whistle the result speaks for itself."
Head Coach Dom Casciato had similar sentiments about the intensity of the match, "Those games in Greenville, and against Greenville, are always tough. They're always fighting for their lives against us, we're doing the same against them, and there's obviously a lot of history between the two clubs, so to come away with the three points is really pleasing."
That's not to say everything is rosy. Only a quarter of an hour in, Dion Acoff had to be subbed off due to injury. Isaac Bawa, who had only played 16 minutes with the club since his return, was tasked with seeing out the remaining 72 plus stoppage time. He'd soon even switch wings with Joe Gallardo, putting in time on the left flank rather than his normal haunts on the right.
The biggest sparks for Omaha in the first half, predictably, came from Lagos Kunga. On multiple occasions he'd drive to the byline with Triumph defenders in his wake, but opposing goalkeeper Gunther Rankenburg positioned himself well to parry away Kunga's tight angle shots.
With a succession of stoppages and fouls, we saw an astounding seven minutes of stoppage time in the first half. That would end up troublesome for Omaha, as Marco Milanese ended up needing Malone's help to hobble off the pitch during the additional time. Milanese had leaped to nudge a switch of play forward, and the Italian defender landed awkwardly afterwards. Before the halftime whistle even rang out, Dominic Casciato had two of his substitutes used up.
Coming out of the break, though, it took mere minutes for the Owls to give the traveling fans something to cheer for, as well as the confidence that they'd be returning to Omaha with the belt in tow.
Off Bawa's throw-in, Steevan Dos Santos settled it before booting a prospective cross over his head. Greenville defender Oliver Hald tried to chest it down to control it, but instead he simply teed it up for Pedro Dolabella to do owls everywhere proud by swooping in for the kill.
From there, the match slowly began teetering towards Greenville as they pushed for an equalizer. Recently-returned captain Brandon Fricke had a concussion scare for the Triumph, but remained on the pitch as Coach Dom made a three-sub line change in attack. In the 70th minute, Rick Wright responded with his own trio entering play.
As the clock ticked towards stoppage time, Greenville's direct balls and switches of play forced Omaha to constantly move quickly to stay in position. They stayed compact most of the time, though, and Rashid Nuhu was always alert to threats, claiming or punching away everything that drifted into his orbit.
"If you look at the flow of the game, I think they only had one big chance for the whole game so, to limit teams to no real chances away from home, it's super pleasing for us and something we aim for," said Coach Dom.
To illustrate the type of skirmish this was, the match finished with nine yellow cards (including one for Greenville's coach), and 31 fouls total. Omaha's 70% passing accuracy was their lowest of the season, but their opponents weren't that much better at 77%, a number boosted late as Omaha soaked up pressure to protect the three points.
"The conditions weren't the best, and the heat was tough," said Blake Malone. "Greenville are a good team, but I think we showed strong resilience, especially to keep a clean sheet which has been long overdue. Very proud of the boys tonight and we are incredibly thankful for all the fans that made it out to the game! Viva Búhos!"
Casciato also shouted out the Owl fans. "Great to get the win on the road in front of some traveling support! That means the world to us, and it's great that we've now got control of the belt for the rest of the season. We appreciate the support of the fans and those who made the effort to get down there."
Omaha's road trip will finish on a short week. The Owls fly back west to face off against Northern Colorado Hailstorm for the third time in 2024. After that, Union Omaha's next home match will be another match against Chattanooga on the 27th, this time July 27th. That will be our Women in Sports Night, featuring Nebraska Fierce and your 2024 PVF Champion Omaha Supernovas.
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United Soccer League One Stories from July 15, 2024
- Lexington SC Weekend Wrap-Up: Men's Team Falls at Home against 2022 League Champions - Lexington Sporting Club
- Gritty Greenville Game Decided by Dolabella's Gifted Goal - Union Omaha
- 2024 Fuego FC Academy Tryouts Open for Registration - Central Valley Fuego FC
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