Union II Stay Winless And Undefeated In 2025 After 2-2 Draw And Shootout Loss To Huntsville

A rare Friday night game was in store for Ryan Richter and his Union II side as they went searching for their first win of the 2025 season, playing Huntsville City FC on the road. Ryan Richter will be hoping his side won’t need to go to yet another extra-point penalty shootout after doing so in both of their games this season.

Union II at Huntsville City Recap

Coach Richter made a few changes to his squad for the road game against Huntsville City, with Oliver Semmle coming into the goalkeeper spot, replacing Andrew Rick Jr, who is likely to be involved with the senior team’s road game at the weekend. Rafael Uzcategui also started in the backline alongside Neil Pierre. Sal Olivas and big Stas Korzeniowski lead the line upfront.

Union II went out searching for a quality start to the game, but it turned out to be a nightmare start as the hosts took the lead in the opening 6 minutes. Huntsville played some lovely football in the buildup before the ball was played across the box to Koffi, who slotted home.

Union II absolutely dominated the next 40 minutes or so of the first half, and it was a complete mystery how they weren’t at least level with the hosts. Multiple of their shots were blocked, corners turned into chaos, but somehow, the hosts came out of it without conceding.

That was until stoppage time in the first half, as the relentless pressure that Union II was putting on the hosts finally paid off as Isaac LeFLore went on an incredible run from the halfway line, going around 3 Huntsville players and slipping Sal Olivas through, who finished with ease to tie the scores right before halftime.

The second half started, and Neil Pierre was an early hero for Union II. After a defensive mistake put a Huntsville striker through on goal, he rounded Semmle, and Pierre somehow got in front of the shot and stopped the hosts from retaking the lead. Around 10 minutes later, Union II took the lead thanks to a Cavan Sullivan finish from a CJ Olney pass across the box, which was the resulting pass from an incredible bit of build-up play.

Almost a minute later, Cavan Sullivan almost had his 2^nd goal of the game, but his chip over the keeper was just cleared off the line. A few minutes later, David Vazquez was the next Union II player to see his effort cleared off the line to keep the scores tied.

Union II’s relentless pressure and opportunities ended up being completely wasted. 66 minutes into the game, Huntsville went down the other end and equalized through a fantastic cross and header. There was chaos in stoppage time of the second half when a few defensive mistakes almost let Huntsville get a late win, but their resulting shot was blocked in the end.

For the 3rd consecutive Union II game, the scoreline was tied after 90 minutes, this time at 2-2, and so we headed to another extra-point shootout. After 2 perfect rounds for both teams, both teams ended up seeing their 3^rd penalties saved; Oliver Semmle must have been picking stuff up from Andrew Rick in training. We headed into the final penalties of the game tied at 3-3, and Markus Anderson stepped up to take Union II’s 5th penalty; he saw his first attempt saved by the keeper, but the spot-kick was ordered to be retaken as the Huntsville keeper was off his line.

Unfortunately, Anderson’s second attempt was even worse than his first, and it was saved again. Huntsville converted their fifth penalty and won the shootout 4-3, leaving Ryan Richter and his Union II side heading back to Philly with just one point from the game and winless in three games to start their season.