Photo: Marjorie Elzey

The Union II came into Subaru Park on Wednesday evening looking for their first win in this interrupted season  – and they pulled it off with a 3-2 victory over the New York Red Bulls Reserves. To make matters more interesting, they did it with a new head coach.   The Union II reported that they had parted ways with coach Sven Gartung that afternoon, leaving only a couple of days for interim coach Marlon LeBlanc, who learned of the change on Monday,  to prepare the team.  LeBlanc was the coach of the Union’s U-17 team.

The last time these two teams met, the Red Bulls II handed Union II a 5-1 thumping –  but things would be different this time.  Before anyone had a chance to open their first beverage, the Union II took a 1-0 lead.  Off the opening kickoff, Red Bull II passed back to their goalkeeper Wallis Lapsley who held the ball for one beat too long and forced an ill-fated pass that was immediately picked off by Union II forward Patrick Bohui.  Bohui took one touch down the right side of the box followed by a tight angled shot into the net as Lapsley jumped up and down in frustration.  The goal came at the 18 second mark, the 8th fastest goal in USL history.

Things quieted down a bit after that with the teams feeling each other out with the ball mostly pinging around the midfield.  Paxten Aaronsen, yup – same family, made his first ever start and contributed a couple of skillful plays including a nice loft to Bohui leading to a good chance followed by decent shot of his own.

The visitors struck back in the 36th minute.  The Bulls keeper sent the ball all the way down the field. Poor defending by Benjamin Ofeimu allowed the ball into the box forcing Union II’s keeper Mitchell Budler off his line to bat away the loose ball – which he did, but in doing so, also took out Bulls forward Sebastian Elney causing a penalty kick.  Elney blasted the PK straight down the middle to tie the game at one.

New York began to physically assert themselves as most of the play was now in the Union II’s defensive third.  In the 43rd minute Cherif Dieye took a pass and ran down the left side of the field alone.  Defender Anton Sorenson ran him down and seemed to blow up the play but Dieye deftly cut back onto his left foot and put the ball just inside the near post under the arm of Budler to take a 2-1 lead.  

The Bulls’ dominance continued  – until the 4th minute of extra time in the 1st half that is.  Against the run of play,  Bohui flicked the ball to Axel Picazo as he ran into the box  who unselfishly passed the ball to Jack McGlynn who shot the ball into the open net.  The game went into halftime tied at 2.

The scoring ended in the 71st minute as McGlynn hit a long through ball to Jack Jasinski who put the ball under the outstretched arm of Lapsley. The game would end that way with the Union II walking away with a 3-2 win — their first of the 2020 season.

Three points

• Yuts:  The three Union II goal scorers, Anges Bouhi, Jack McGlynn and Jack Jasinski are 16, 17 and 16 years old respectively.
• Coaching: LeBlanc did a nice job of changing up the lineup and game planning on short notice.  Let’s see if the team can keep up the momentum on Sunday vs Hartford..
• Time Change:  Appreciate the kickoff time change to 5:00 so it didn’t interfere with the Union semi-final game. So how did that game go?

Lineups

Philadelphia: Mitchell Budler, Steve Kingue, Benjamin Ofeimu, Dante Huckaby, Anton Sorenson, (Selmer Miscic, 75’); Brendan Craig, Jack McGlynn, Danny Flores (David Rabadan, 75’); Paxten Aaronson (Caden Stafford, 82’), Patrick Bohui (Jack Jasinski, 58’), Axel Picazo (Quinn Sullivan, 58’). Unused subs  Lucas Burns.

New York:  Wallis Lapsley; Edgardo Rito, John Tolkin (Barry Sharifi, 45’), Roy Boateng, Preston Kilwien; Omar Sowe (Deri Corfe, 70’), Chris Lema (Samad Bounthong, 45’), Kenan Hot (Tapiwa Shumba, 89’), Caden Clark; Cherif Dieye (Jake LaClava, 62’), Sebastian Elney

Substitutes not used: Alex Bobocea, Joseph Fala

PHI – Patrick Bohui 1’
NYR – Sebastian Elney (Penalty) 37’
NYR – Cherif Dieye (Caden Clark) 43’
PHI – Jack McGlynn (Axel Picazo) 45’+5’
PHI – Jack Jasinski (Jack McGlynn) 71’

Misconduct summary

NYR – Preston Kilwien (caution) 54’

PHI – Jack Jasinski (caution) 61’