Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union II Communications

Speed kills.

A week after their worst defeat of the season against rivals Red Bull New York II, Philadelphia Union II produced their finest performance of the season, also away, also a clean sheet, also against a bitter rival, and also as a result of an individual attacker’s speed advantage.

Last week they could not control Red Bull attacker Dennis Nelich’s pace. This week New England Revolution II could not control striker Eddy Davis’s .

First-team off-roster Homegrown Davis totaled a hat trick from counterattacks, assisted strikes in the 17th, 65th, and 84th minutes. His trio was complemented by probable future Homegrown Kellan LeBlanc, who scored in the 23rd. Le Blanc also was on a counterattack but cannot claim the same fleetness of foot as can Davis.

Philadelphia finished clinically.

The boys in yellow and blue were credited with five shots to New England’s 30. All five of Philadelphia’s shots were within the frame. Four of the five Union II attempts went in, one having ricocheted favorably off a post. The fifth was saved. That is a conversion rate of 80%.

Twenty-one of New England’s attempts were off target, and the nine that were on goal were all saved.

In advance

This year Revolution II play their home games at Bryant University’s Beirne Stadium in Smithfield, Rhode Island on the same artificial turf that Gillette Stadium normally uses.

Philadelphia’s first team had played a “closed-door” scrimmage against NYC FC away from Chester three days ago on Thursday, July 2^nd. No information beyond the positive 1-0 scoreline has been made public (gratitude for the score towards @JoserNunez91).

Union II had lost to Revolution II at the WSFS Sportsplex 53 days before on Wednesday, May 13^th 1-0. Sal Olivas was sent off for a second yellow card in the 31^st minute, meaning Union II played the last hour a man down. New England II scored in the 86^th minute.

Before today’s tap New England II lay fourth in the eastern conference table on 31 points from 15 games. Philadelphia II lay 11th on 21 from 16, having lost four of their last five. Since Stas Korzeniowski injured his knee May 3^rd against Red Bull NY II in Chester, scoring goals had been a problem. During the stretch Union II were 1-5-1, having scored only six goals in those seven games and having been shut out four times.

First half

New England began the match with the confidence they had gained by finally winning in Chester more than a month before. They faced a Union II defensive alignment that had been adjusted to compensate for the challenges they had set forth in that earlier match.

Coach Harmon realized he needed greater defensive resistance in his left channel against New England’s attack, and switched Gio Sequera to left attacking midfielder. Sequera had come to Philadelphia two seasons ago as an attacking mid, albeit a right-sided, right-footed one.

That change meant he needed a new right back, and he chose to move academy amateur Matheus De Paula from defensive mid, where he has excelled, to right back. Gaining De Paula experience at a position adjacent to his primary one applies a developmental tactic used often over the years by Union II coaches, especially by Marlon LeBlanc.

Whatever Harmon’s reasoning, Union II began to grow into the match after the early period of adjustment. And Davis’s counterattacking strike in the 17th turned matters.

All season the 2026 version of Union II has used a defensive block positioned lower than those of the previous two or three Union II sides. But they made it work very well today, aided in no small part by their opponent becoming frustrated through its failure to score.

Organization decision-making is often collective rather than individual, so we cannot pinpoint the origin of the Sequera-DePaula shift idea. But it worked. De Paula himself had the assist on Davis’s initial score. Davis then shot from a highly difficult angle on the right side with enough power and accuracy to defeat New England’s goalkeeper inside the far post.

LeBlanc did the roughly the same thing six minutes later on a perfect assist from Malik Jakupovic. And the psychology of the match shifted. Pierce Holbrook reliably backed the defensive low block to maintain the change.

Philadelphia had taken what it learned from defeat and adjusted to restore self-belief and enable victory.

Second half

Neither Coach Harmon nor Revolution II head coach Pablo Moreira substituted at halftime. Harmon had already expended one substitution window at the first half hydration break to replace right center back Finn Sundstrom with left center back Andrew Craig and shift captain Rafael Uzcategui from left to right.

Being a teacher Moreira probably wanted to give his starters an opportunity to learn from their first half mistakes. New England came out after the break smoking.

New England pressure threatened to score almost from the second half tap. They earned three consecutive corner kicks during the 48th and 49th minutes. But Philadelphia’s back seven held.

In the 58th minute coach Moreira replaced his center forward and one of his wingers since the initial halftime effort had fallen short. Probably he also instructed his double pivot midfielders to play stacked one behind the other rather than in a side-by-side tandem.

Normally this season Rafael Uzcategui has been Union II’s defensive fireman. But today after Sundstrom’s injury he had to neutralize the opponents’ center forward.

Were Philadelphia ever to award a fireman’s helmet to a defender as a reward for excellent emergency performance, today they would have given it to Andrew Craig. The match commentator, clearly a New England man through and through, stated at game’s end that if it were not for Davis’s hat trick mandating his man-of-the-match award, he would have chosen Craig for that honor.

Today Union II fought back from the Red Bull disaster. Today they fought back from the New England home loss. And in today’s match they fought back against both of New England’s fast starts.

Today, Philadelphia Union II earned the descriptor “Philly tough.”

Next Match

Union II next play of the seventh day, Sunday, July 12^th, hosting Huntsville City – and last year’s Union II captain Nick Pariano – at 3:00 PM at Subaru Park.

Three points, plus two

1. By the conventions of soccer, a striker who scores a winning hat trick is “man of the match.” Today that describes Eddy Davis.
2. After the turf monster twisted right center back Finn Sundstrom’s bad ankle, his substitute Andrew Craig (see photo) provided an Uzcategui-like performance cleaning up through balls and generally clearing out all dangers while the captain himself neutralized the physicality and threats of New England’s dangerous starting, and then replacement, center forward.
3. Goalkeeper Pierce Holbrook earned his first MLS NEXT Pro clean sheet since August 3rd of 2025. We are not counting 2026’s exhibitions and friendlies.
4. Interim head coach Chris Harmon has explained that Matheus De Paula was absent last week because of time off to be with his family. From the professional farm team’s initial season in 2016, the organization has prioritized respecting, accommodating, and preserving the adolescence of it academy amateurs even as it trains them towards becoming adults and  professionals. Such preservation has been a major priority since the earliest days of Harmon’s first head coaching forerunner, Brendan Burke back in 2016.
5. Three noteworthy “full 90s”:
   1. Timo Mendoza logged his first full 90 at the professional level.
   2. Matheus De Paula made his first professional appearance at right back. The performance is noteworthy, in spite of one glaring, ball-watching lapse on a New England II corner kick.
   3. Gio Sequera put in his first Union II appearance as a left channel attacking midfielder where he provided a necessary and stiff challenge to pacy and physical New England winger Damario McIntosh.

B O X S C O R E

Lineups

 Union II (4-2-2-2, L-R). Interim head coach Chris Harmon. 1^st – 3+1; U II – 6+2; AA – 2+6. Starters’ Ave Age = 19.5.

Starters: Pierce Holbrook; Kaiden Moore, Rafael Uzcategui, Finn Sundstrom (Andrew Craig 32′), Matheus De Paula; Timo Mendoza, Oscar Benitez (Abdoulaye Diop 84′); Gio Sequera, Kellan LeBlanc (Willyam Ferreira 74′); Eddy Davis (John Ruf 84′), Malik Jakupovic (Sal Olivas 74′).

Holbrook	Moore	Uzcategui	Sundstrom	DePaula	Mendoza
U II	U II	U II	1st	AA	AA
23.2	18.7	21.7	19.6	17.7
Benitez	Sequera	LeBlanc	Jakupovic	Davis
U II	U II	U II	1st	1st
22.1	20.4	18.3	17.0	20.0

Substitutes: Charlie Lorenz; Tyler Gladstone, Sam Gallego. Injured during warmups: Jordan Griffin.

Lorenz	Olivas	Craig	Ferreira	Diop	Gladstone
AA	1st	AA	U II	AA	AA
17.0	20.0	18.8	17.4	16.4	17.0
Gallego	Ruf				Griffin
AA	AA				U II
17.3	17.2				17.7

Revolution II. (4-4-2). Head coach Pablo Moreira. Per transfermarkt, full squad ave age = 20.8.

Starters: Max Weinstein; J Smith, Jake Shannon, Gabriel Dahlin, Damario McIntosh (Chris Mbai-Assem 85′); Shuma Sasaki (Matthew Baptiste 58′), Javaun Mussenden, Joe Buck (Jayden Da 58′), Cristiano Oliveira;  Myles Morgan, Carlos Zambrano (Grant Emerhi 85′).

Substitues: Zach LaPierre; Levi Katsell, Aarin Prajapati, Sharod George, , Logan Azar.

Goals

Union II      17th minute      Eddy Davis (Matheus De Paula)

Union II      23rd minute      Lellen LeBlanc (Malik Jakupovic)

Union II      65th minute      Eddy Davis (Andrew Craig)

Union II      84th minute      Eddy Davis (Willyam Ferreira)

 Yellow Cards

Union II     19th minute      Kaiden Moore(foul)

Rev II        44th minute     Damario McIntosh (foul)

Rev II        56th minute     Carlos Zambrano (foul)

 Whistle & Flags

REF: Kevin Broadley; AR1: Josh Pitt; AR2: Aaron Fong; 4TH: Will Jones.

Stats

R II	Statistic	U II	R II	Statistic	U II
30	Shots	5	3	Offsides	1
9	Shots on goal	5	1	GoalkeeperSaves	9
6	Blocked shots	0	0	Clearances	14
445	Total Passes	206
84.3	PassAccuracy%	64.1	12	Fouls	16
11	Corners	0	2	Yellow Cards	1
16	Total Crosses	0	0	Red Cards	0