The Red Wolves took on Union Omaha in Papillion, NE Saturday night for the first time since hosting the Owls in May, resulting in a 3-3 draw. Omaha took the lead in the series between the clubs with a final result of 2-1. The two clubs will meet again at CHI Memorial Stadium on September 16th for the final match of the series.
While Chattanooga had a solid chance early from Ropapa Mensah just four minutes in, the home side got on the board first with a goal from Alex Steinwascher in the tenth minute of the match to take an early lead. The Red Wolves collected additional shots from Mensah and Ualefi in the final fifteen minutes of the half, but Omaha would lead in shots nine to four and carry the 1-0 lead into halftime.
Into the second half, Omar Gomez quickly worked to ignite the Chattanooga offense, picking up two shots on target in the 46th and 51st minutes that were absorbed by the Omaha goalkeeper. The Owls would receive an additional tally in the 65th minute off an own goal from the Red Wolves as Aarón Lombardi ran down the attacking Eddie Gordon, and kicked his foot out to deflect the ball away, but pushed it past Carlos Avilez to bring the score to 2-0.
Marsh, having entered the match for Lomis in the 63rd minute, notched his first shot of the match in the 70th minute that went just over the crossbar. Marsh found the back of the net in stoppage time following a penalty won by Jonny Filipe and would collect his ninth goal of the season coming from a penalty kick opportunity to cut the lead to 2-1. Chattanooga pressed aggressively through the remaining seconds, but were left without an equalizer by the final whistle.
“We played well for large parts of the game, demonstrated once again a positive move towards building an identity as Red Wolves who are resilient and never give up, but a lack of quality in areas hurt us,” said head coach, Scott Mackenzie. “…[we] need to have better quality in and around the goal. We take the positives, learn, and grow from our mistakes and build towards Greenville on Wednesday. This is a team that can win football games.”
The Red Wolves take on Triumph SC on August 23rd and face South Georgia Tormenta FC at CHI Memorial Stadium on Saturday, August 26th.