Photo courtesy New England Revolution II

Although Philadelphia Union II dominated possession and the game statistics, the New England Revolution II drew them 0-0 in regulation and won the penalty kick shootout when Philadelphia had its fourth penalty saved and missed its fifth high.

Philadelphia goalkeeper Andrew Rick was man of the match for saving a Revs II penalty in the 89th minute of regulation, and saving Alex Monis’s third penalty kick in the shootout.

Three topics in advance

Head coach Ryan Richter’s first official press conference suggested that even though the two Keystone Sports head coaches have changed, the fundamentals of the relationship between their first team and their second team have not.

For his players, Richter understands and can easily explain that relationship because he was Bethlehem Steel FC’s captain in its first season in 2016. He has experienced its challenges directly, for both himself and his other teammates. He said the organization has greatly improved its communication about the relationship over the last decade.

He characterized a Union II player’s primary on-pitch challenge as learning to play against men, against both their intensity and their physicality. He said Union II is training its players to compete in “men’s soccer.”

He characterized three of Union II’s closed-door preseason encounters as such events. The most recent occurred Sunday, March 2 with members of the first team, as Union head coach Bradley Carnell also mentioned in his own Thursday pre-game presser. The other two were the announced Florida ones against Tampa Bay and Rhode Island of the USL Championship.

As our second topic in recent Union II roster news, official posts on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) suggested and team sources have since confirmed that last year’s team captain Kyle Tucker will not return to Union II in 2025. Furthermore, Thursday at 10:30 a.m., Union II announced they had signed forward Stas Korzeniowski to a Union II contract. And Friday at 2:45 p.m., they then announced signing center back Ramzi Qawasmy.

With Jose Riasco away on loan for the season, the two newest signings give Union II eight available signed professionals. The number implies that at least some first-team contracted professionals are expected to play in most games for the farm team. League rules require that a minimum of six professionals always be on the field.

Our final advance topic concerns the match itself, which occurred 19 ½ hours after New England’s and Philadelphia’s two first teams had played on the same pitch. The sequence and timing maximized the opportunity for Union deep reserves to get game minutes with Union II. Ten first team players dressed for the match, with several also practicing with Union II on Thursday. Defensive mid Nick Pariano, who captained the side, is on season-long loan to Union II as he was last year, presumably to add games to his slender 12-match repertoire of DM experience.

Left back Isaiah LeFlore got his first regular season game minutes since 2023 as a starter, playing the full 90 minutes. And in his first game appearance of 2025 including preseason, normal Union starting right back Nathan Harriel started and played the full 90 as well.

New England was equally well-positioned to make similar game-day roster moves. But per Jonathan Tannenwald the relationship between their first team and their farm team differs from that between the two Keystone Sports professional sides.

A detail concerning Off-Roster Homegrowns is that “[o]nce a club moves an Off-Roster Homegrown player to the Senior or Supplemental roster, the player may not revert to an Off-Roster Homegrown position.” Of future interest will be how the first team handles its right back trio of Harriel, Olivier Mbaizo, and Frank Westfield. Westfield has already used three of his six short-term agreements to play his 270 minutes plus stoppage time this season in his three starts.

First half

New England showed an ability to attack Union II on the counter from the first moments. In the third minute Rick had to take the ball off a New England foot in his penalty box when LeFlore gave up ball side position to the ball receiver.

But for the first 40 or so minutes the Philadelphians dominated the match. Unfortunately they had not found their shooting boots. But the 4-2-2-2 “empty bucket” and Carnell-style high pressure controlled the game.

The halftime score was 0-0, but the field had been tilted in Union II’s favor.

Second half

Neither team substituted at halftime.

The pace of the second stanza reflected the match being the season opener. The same Carnell principles and philosophy remained on display, but the first half endurance and stamina were not as universal.

And New England II head coach Richie Williams had adjusted some attitudes at halftime. His side put its first shot on target in the 51st minute.

Philadelphia continued to press and attack, but they had not found their boots yet.

Coach Williams made substitutions in the 66th minute that improved New England’s attack bringing on last year’s second leading scorer, as he had done last season.

The match began to become more of and end-to-end exchange of possessions. And in the 72nd minute came the only time the ball found the back of the net from the run of play. But New England was rightly ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.

In the dying minutes of regulation time, Union II were called for a penalty after an inadvertent handball in the box. Andrew Rick saved the 89th-minute penalty and the point for Union II.

The second half illustrated well that coach Carnell’s approach demands 90-minute game fitness to be successful, and that such fitness must be greater than the opponent’s. It also illustrated once again that the only way to get to game fitness is to play in games. We cite the occasional mistakes and missing offensive precision of LeFlore, Pierre, and Harriel as our evidence.

Revs II goalkeeper JD Gunn saved CJ Olney’s fourth PK in the shootout, and Leandro Soria then skied the fifth to send Union II home with only one point.

Cavan Sullivan

The younger Sullivan started but seemed to concentrate his play in one or other of the two outside channels more than in the center. David Vazquez began as the other defensive mid next to Pariano ostensibly, but stepped into the center frequently, while his 15.4-year-old teammate stayed to either flank rotating with Olney.

The arrangement differs from what Marlon LeBlanc deployed last year. Probably it is preparing Sullivan for a role in which he will not be competing directly with Daniel Gazdag, and in which he will be slightly less likely to suffer a physical pounding against other first teams. Playing primarily in the outside channels, Sullivan will be less likely to face triple teams, only doubles. The change will probably earn him more first team minutes, and those sooner than if he had stayed in the middle as a traditional number 10 as he did last year.

Next match

Union II’s next match is their home opener. It is on St. Patrick’s Day evening, Monday, March 17^th against New York Red Bull II at 7:00 p.m. on Subaru Park’s pitch. In addition to all other aspects of the Red Bull – Union rivalry, the match pits two of the more Irish-American cities on the East Coast against each other.

Three points

1. Isaiah LeFlore was rusty. He failed to anticipate play quickly enough three times on defense. But he lasted his 90 minutes.  We expect his Union II appearance may be repeated as he returns towards full stamina.

2. Nick Pariano played well as a defensive midfielder. Coach Richter made him captain. Especially in the first half it was the same midfield as finished the season for Union II as they made their run to second place and the post-season’s final.

3. A strength of this side will be its striker corps. Korzeniowski will need to remember that today’s match was the equivalent of his first start for Penn as a freshman. Davis may well have to adjust to not having Westfield on the outside feeding him. Olivas will have to step up his hold-up play to compete with Korzeniowski. Soria’s athleticism, mentality and technical skill will create competition for all comers.

BOXSCORE

Lineups

Union II (4-2-2-2, L-R) Gameday Roster Ave Age = 19.8. 1st – 10; U II – 7; A – 3.

Starters: Andrew Rick; Isaiah LeFlore, Gavin Wetzel; Neil Pierre, Nathan Harriel; Nick Pariano; CJ Olney, David Vazquez (Giovanny Sequera 90′); Cavan Sullivan (Zach Mastrodimos 78′); Eddy Davis (Leandro Soria 68′), Stas Korzeniowski (Sal Olivas 68′).   1st – 9; U II – 1; A – 1      Starters’ Ave Age = 19.7    Pro-Am ratio = 10:1

 Unused substitutes: Mike Sheridan; Jordan Griffin, Ramzi Qawasmy, Oscar Benitez, Kellan LeBlanc. Pro-Am ratio = 7:2. Subs Ave Age = 19.9. 1st – 1; U II – 6; A – 2

Revs II ( 4-3-3, L-R)

Starters: JD Gunn; Hesron Barry, Keegan Hughes, Victor Souza (Joe Buck 66′), Damario McIntosh; Eric Klein, Christiano Oliveira (Javaun Mussenden ’75), Marcos Dias; Gevork Diarbian, Liam Butts (Alex Monis 66′), Jack Panayotou (Olger Escobar 75′).

Unused substitutes: Max Weinstein; Grant Emerhi, Sage Kinner, Eli Ackerman, Judah Siqueira.

Goals

none

Yellow Cards

PHI – Neil Pierre (caution) 38’

NE – Herson Barry (caution) 42’

PHI – Nathan Harriel  (caution) 53’

NE – Damario McIntosh (caution) 67’

NE – Keegan Hughes (caution) 88’

PHI – Nick Pariano (caution) 88’

NE – Alex Monis (caution) during shootout

Stats

Shootout

Whistle & Flags

REF: Jeremy Scheer, AR¹: Sharon Gingrich, AR²: Adam Cook, 4^TH: Stearne Briem.

(Referee Jeremy Scheer served as the fourth official Saturday night when the first teams played each other.)