U-Turn: Union Omaha wins league-record 8 straight in turnaround

Now? Eight wins in a row (a League One record). All three points in 12 out of their last 14. One point out of first.

The turnaround by first-year manager Dominic Casciato has been palpable. Sure, he took over a club that had won the league title two seasons before and that had reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

But after the 2-3-7 start through the first 12 matches, even in a highly-competitive league, Los Buhos (the Owls) sat near the bottom of the table and the perceived outlook was bleak.

Not so inside the locker room. A closed-door meeting changed the focus. Team captain J.P. Scearce said they knew the team sheet was full of talent in spite of a rough stretch.

“We went through a rough stretch of games early in the season,” he said. “And it came to a point where, like you said, we had to come in together, talk it out and figure out how to how to bounce back from this and I don’t know what happened or what was sadd that got us going, but we all knew we were capable of doing what we’ve been doing lately. So yeah, it’s special to to have this run of form and hopefully we can keep on going.”

“When we weren’t getting results earlier in the season, it wasn’t like we were being beaten every week,” Casciato added. “We played some really good stuff and things weren’t quite going our way and we weren’t quite seeing games out in a way that we should have done. It’s not like we were losing games all the time.

“So I think now we’ve kind of understood the league a little bit better, me and my staff. And I think the team have come together to become a team, because I think before we had this identity, we had this style, and we had these good players, but we wasn’t really a team. And now you know, we’ve come together and really become a team, so I put it down to that more than anything else.”

One win bumped the Owls into eighth. Even with a loss, two more Ws and up into sixth and the playoff spots. One more loss, but then a real winning streak.

“We’re all professionals at the end of the day,” midfielder Pedro Dolabella said. “Everybody knows what they have to do. We needed a wake-up call, and we knew the water was up here, on our nose, and we were almost without breathing [sic]. And we needed to take a deep breath and turn it around.

“But as soon as the first win came, because we know how much quality we have on our team, it was just a little bit switching the mentality and fighting to the end. And I think we figured it out. And we know the season is still long, we have seven games left, and we want to reach the top.”

Wins over South Georgia Tormenta, Lexington, One Knoxville, Northern Colorado Hailstorm, Chattanooga Red Wolves and Greenville Triumph pushed Union Omaha to the brink of first place, sitting just one point back after matchweek 24.

On Wednesday, Sept. 6, Union Omaha took on first-place North Carolina FC, trailing just four points behind.

In the first half, the visitors to Werner Park maintained more possession (56 to 44 percent), but it was the hosts who opened the scoring and took a lead into the break.

First, Marco Milanese sent in a pinpoint cross from the sideline into the penalty box that found the head of Dolabella and bulged the net in the tenth minute.

“We work a lot on our set pieces with coach Kevin (Nuss), and we take it very seriously in training,” Dolabella said. “And I was glad I was able to (score) with the brilliant pass from Marco, in the right place, right time. And it comes with practice, but I was happy to help the team with the goal.”

But North Carolina was quick to respond, leveling the match less than 90 seconds later on a “controversial goal.”

“I think the the goal they scored was obviously a little bit controversial, got fouled, and for some reason they (referees) played advantage, but we all came together and during the water break and said, I mean, can’t change anything, so it might as well just go for it,” Scearce said.

The teams appeared to be heading into halftime even, but in the second minute of added time on the end of the 45, Dion Acoff came speeding down the left flank and at the last minute laid off a chipped pass that tipped by Dolabella (credited with the assist) and hit into an empty net by Joe Brito.

“We realized (the left side) is a certain area that we could attack and that wasn’t the only thing we thought we could get after,” Casciato said. “We identify a few areas in every game and thankfully it worked tonight.”

The Owls doubled their lead in the 59th minute as Steevan Dos Santos got into a through ball from Joe Gallardo that left the striker one-on-one with North Carolina goalkeeper Brooks Thompson. Dos Santos slotted the shot home to make it 3-1 Union Omaha.

The advantage stretched to 4-1 when substitute Noe Meza, leading scorer out with a hamstring injury for the previous month, was put in on goal by Luis Gil, also a second-half sub. Meza finished off the move with his tenth goal of the season, while Gil’s assist (No. 6 of the season) put him into a tie for fourth in the League One leaderboard.

Four goals, four different scorers.

“On our team, we’re very united, so we don’t have vanity,” Dolabella said. “You know, like, it doesn’t really matter who scores in the end of the day, like because we’ve been to the lowest point of the season, and we don’t want to be there again. So if somebody’s in a better spot, they’re gladly able to pass the ball to them and get the glory. Even without Noe the last few games, being the top scorer on the team in history, we’ve been able to get results and very happy for him, first game back he got the goal. But, happy for the whole team to get this win.”

But Union Omaha once again saw the defense bend (but not break) late, as North Carolina FC scored twice in the final 20 minutes of play.

“I think later in the game we maybe struggled to get pressure on the ball in the wide areas, and that caused us to take in a little bit more pressure than we wanted to,” Casciato said. “It’s something me and the staff will look at and we’ll address going into Saturday’s game for sure.”

Scearce, a dual-threat as a ball-winner and facilitator, wasn’t satisfied even in earning the three points.

“Obviously, we’re happy we won, but for me I’m a little frustrated in the way the game ended,” he said. “I think we had the game killed off, the second goal was a very good goal, we could’ve gotten pressure on it, but credit to their player for scoring a great goal, but obviously that third goal (was) kinda disappointing.”

Scearce added he thought Omaha may have been “too defensive” in switching from their back-four to a back-five.

“We just have to get better at closing games off and just killing teams once we have early one,” he said.

In spite of the late goals, Los Buhos held firm to officially pull with one point of first at the top of the USL League One table. The 7-goal thriller was the highest-scoring in any Union Omaha match this season, equaling their best goals for (4-1 win over Richmond on July 8) and the third time they allowed three (both 3-3 draws against Chattanooga and Greenville in back-to-back matches in May).

North Carolina FC (47 points, 14-6-5) 1 2 – 3

Union Omaha (46 points, 13-5-7) 2 2 – 4

On Saturday, Dolabella opened the scoring in the 58th minute, while Gil added a second in the 82nd. Scearce was victim of an own goal in the second minute of added time after the 90, but the Owls held on for a 2-1 win over Richmond Kickers.

Richmond Kickers (28 points, 6-11-10) .. 0 1 — 1

Union Omaha (49 points, 14-5-7) .......... 0 2 — 2