The Chattanooga Red Wolves hosted Union Omaha for the first of two home matches in one week at CHI Memorial Stadium. Against a tough opponent and without six integral players, the Red Wolves managed to close a two-goal deficit before the end of regulation for a 3-2 score. In stoppage time, Chattanooga’s all-out offensive push in the closing minutes went south as the visitors secured the victory 5-2 with two stoppage time goals to block the comeback.
Chattanooga will travel to Omaha later in the month on June 27th to face the Owls at Werner Park in the fifth round of the Jägermeister Cup and the final regular season matchup on July 27th in Omaha.
Entering the match on the heels of a massive road win over Greenville Triumph, Chattanooga looked to find similar success in front of the home crowd. Omaha struck first in the 15th minute from the foot of Dolabella; however, Declan Watters blasted a ball past the Omaha keeper just two minutes later to even the match, 1-1, for his first goal in USL League One. The sides traded shots and fouls through the midfield in search of the lead, which Omaha would find in the 28th minute off of a corner kick.
The Red Wolves were forced into the defensive as the Owls peppered the goal with shots and found the back of the net a third time to lengthen their lead to two goals. TJ Bush made a key save right on the line in the 35th minute to prevent Omaha from extending their lead and at the end of the first 45 minutes, the home side headed to the locker room down a pair of goals.
Chattanooga came into the second match with a sense of urgency to close the scoring gap and had early chances on a pair of free kicks and a corner kick within the first 15 minutes of the second half that remained unrealized. The match continued to be a physical affair that saw 13 yellow cards in total doled out and, following a hard collision by the benches that felled Chevone Marsh, red cards were issued to Luke Winter and Ricardo Jérez.
The last 15 minutes of the match saw Chattanooga try to quash the continuous Omaha attack while working to find the back of the net additional times. As the match headed to the end of regulation, Chevone Marsh cut the Omaha lead to one goal with his third goal of the season. The match then headed into ten minutes of stoppage as the re-energized Red Wolves looked to capitalize on the momentum. The Owls were not done themselves, however, and grabbed their fourth goal of the match in the 93rd minute and a fifth in the 97th for the 5-2 final.
Chattanooga will play the second of their matches this week on Saturday, June 8th against Forward Madison in the fourth round of the Jägermeister Cup for Marvel Super Hero Night. The match will feature a poster giveaway for the first 1,000 fans, a new Marvel t-shirt design, face painting, and more. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online.