Photo Marjorie Elzey

Friday afternoon May 16^th in the IBX fieldhouse of the WSFS Sportsplex in Chester, PA,  Philadelphia Union II played a “friendly” against Ocean City Nor’easters of USL League Two. For those who must have a score , it was 3-2 Philly, although neither coach played the event with much concern about “winning” it. The purpose on both sides was experience and evaluation, not points in a table.

Usual conventions governing friendlies applied. The referee did not go to his pocket. Substitutions were unlimited. Timekeeping was adaptable to the needs of both teams. Playing in the fieldhouse meant a ground rule about balls hitting the roof – a drop ball to the defense to return to the goalkeeper of the side that caused the contact.

Philadelphia Union II is a professional team a third of the way into their season, promoting player development as younger players work their way towards division one pro soccer in North America and beyond. They compete in MLSNEXTPro in the Eastern Conference.

Ocean City are amateurs in the second game of their preseason. They are typically college players gathering game experience over the summer before returning to their collegiate preseasons in August. The Nor’easters compete home-and-away against Real Central NJ, Lehigh Valley United, Delaware Ospreys, Reading United AC, and West Chester United Predators, with third games against Central NJ and Delaware.

For Union II the match opportunity added game minutes during a 14-day gap in their schedule. For Ocean City it was their second preseason event in preparation for the kickoff of their regular season hosting Real Central New Jersey, Friday, May 23^rd at 7:00 PM at Carey Stadium in Ocean City.

Postgame coach Richetr indicated willingness to play the Storm again in 2026.

The match

 For the first 10-15 minutes Union II were all over the visitors. Their restraining line was midfield. But then Ocean City counterattacked into their offensive half where they had a pace advantage from their striker and their right back. That pattern continued for the half albeit not as disproportional as the opening few minutes had been.

While timekeeping in the fieldhouse is rudimentary and unofficial, the Union scored goals two and three in the half’s last ten minutes, as Ocean City became a little tired and a little less organized. Their goalkeeper deserves credit for keeping the score as close as it was.

 Ocean City played their starters for the first 60-65 minutes. Then ten subs came on, with only the original goalkeeper remaining. That pattern reflects that it was only the Storm’s second conditioning opportunity against foreigners.

Union II made their changes at halftime, the front six and the right back.

Postgame coach Richter characterized the first half as a team cooperating according to assigned roles and the second half as individuals trying to do too much. An observed difference between the two halves is that everyone who played in the first half was playing a role PSP had seen them play before in games. In the second half that could not be said for everyone, and when that cannot be said for players in the central channel, the detriment to teamwork can be substantial., and it was.

Rafael Uzcategui at left center back, Oscar Benitez at right center back, Jordan Griffin at left back, and Mike Sheridan in goal all played the full match.

The score at halftime was 3-1 Philadelphia. The goals were from Kellen LeBlanc, Eddy Davis, and Isaiah LeFlore and Ocean City’s shirt number 11. The second half score was 1-0 Ocean City, the scorer being far enough away that his shirt number was not detected. It came in the last five minutes of the half.

Boxscore

We have lineups only for Union II  (4-2-2-2, L-R)

Starters: Mike Sheridan; Jordan Griffin, Rafael Uzcategui, Oscar Benitez, Isaiah LeFlore (Gavin Wetzel HT); Henry Bernstein (Gio Sequera HT), Nick Pariano (David Vazquez HT); Leo Soria (CJ Olney HT), Kellen LeBlanc (Jamir Johnson HT); Eddy Davis (Malik Jakupovic HT), Markus Anderson (Sal Olivas HT).

Unused substitute: Jojo Elliot. Physically present but not dressed: Zach Mastrodimos, Stas Korzeniowski, Neil Pierre.

Three points:

1. Malik Jakupovic cannot be said to have officially debuted, because the match was a friendly, but it was the first time he wore his Union II game jersey – number 51 — and got minutes wearing it on the pitch.
2. Kellen LeBlanc had the first goal and assisted Eddy Davis on the second.
3. Oscar Benitez’s 90 minutes at center back highlighted both his strengths and weaknesses at the position. His recovery pace is elite, and his athleticism contesting and winning balls is impressive. His distribution remains an obvious opportunity for future growth, sufficiently so that Ocean City quickly left him open to provide it while preventing Uzcategui from doing so. Only his short passes feeding his right back seemed automatic and without concern. He only occasionally looked for short balls to his defensive mids let alone a striker. And only once that we noticed did he try a long ball into green space behind the Ocean City back line. Coach Richter indicated that tape of the match will provide him and Benitez plenty of teaching opportunities together.

Postscript

Former Union II head coach Marlon LeBlanc attended the match in his role as Kellen LeBlanc’s father.  He seems to be doing well and enjoying that role.