Joe Gallardo’s hat trick powers Owls in first round
LUDLOW, Ma. (March 21, 2024) – It was the Joe Gallardo show for Union Omaha, who made life hard for Western Mass Pioneers all night long. Los Búhos emerged from the swirling Northeastern winds with a professional win. Even if it took a while to properly put it away, the end result was a hat trick for Gallardo and a third straight Open Cup campaign with at least one victory.
All throughout the match, Omaha pressed their opposition, asking them to shake off their preseason rust to keep up. Western Mass’ regular season doesn’t begin until May. The Owls forced plenty of mistakes out of the USL League Two outfit, especially as they tried to play out from the back, and never truly let the smaller club get anything going.
For their own part, Union Omaha couldn’t have started the match any better. They’d hardly allowed the Pioneers’ a proper touch of the ball before it was centered to Aarón Gómez in the attacking third. He found Joe Gallardo scurrying into the box from the left flank, slid a ball in towards him, and Gallardo opened his body for what felt like an eternity before taking a first-time shot. The ball got a lift from the leg of defender Abdel Talabi, and sailed past the keeper into the back right corner of the net.
While Western Mass settled in after about 10 minutes, they still had trouble putting together complete attacks, and keeper Gianluca Cersosimo was pretty heavily worked throughout for the Pioneers. Omaha, meanwhile, consistently found space on the wings, especially when Blake Malone and Will Perkins bombed forwards. That front-foot approach also put them in a better position to press the Pioneers when out of possession, and plenty of misplaced passes would yield giveaways and corner kicks. Union came in as the more-prepared team, and it showed in their nose for the ball.
“The conditions were obviously not the best because of the weather,” said Gallardo, “but we knew both teams had to deal with the same conditions, so there were no excuses at the end of the day.”
While it was a bit of a sloppy affair at times given the weather and rust, it only ever boiled over into something more near the end of the first half, when Khalid Rose left his mark on a couple Owls out of frustration and earned himself a yellow card.
It showed also in Union’s attacks, though, as despite frequently gaining possession in dangerous positions, they were too indecisive or untidy in their own right to double their lead… until the last quarter of the match.
“Credit to the opposition,” said Head Coach Dominic Casciato post-match. “They made it difficult, especially in the first half. But in the second half, I think we kicked into another gear.”
If the scoreline didn’t already confirm it, he’s definitely not wrong about that.
Off a long ball from the backline, Pedro Dolabella tried to bring it down, then instead nodded it across to Steevan Dos Santos breaking alongside him. The striker would let it run across his body, shielding it from a defender draped all over him before he would put it through the wickets for 2-0.
Just a few minutes later, another route one goal saw Joe Gallardo on the end of a looping pass from Luca Mastrantonio. As with many attacks this match, there was acres of space and plenty of time to let the ball settle on the switch of play. For Gallardo, that was like coiling a spring. He finally lashed a near-post bullet past Cersosimo when the time was right.
We saw another pro debut in Union Omaha’s second match of the season, with the former Barça Residency Academy player Mark Bronnik being subbed on for his first professional minutes. It hardly took any time for him to make an impact, too. His directness in carrying the ball forward, yet the patience to wait until the last second to slide the ball to Gallardo, was integral to the hat trick-sealing goal. Once again, Gallardo blew away the Pioneers’ keeper with a near post strike. Bronnik, meanwhile, became the youngest player to play for the Owls.
Said the hat trick hero Gallardo, “I think we came to the game with a good mentality, and we knew we had to take the three points no matter what, and that mentality secured us the win.”
It was quite the secure win in the end too; Omaha outshot Western Mass 20 to 1, with a 13-0 margin for shots on target. Don’t underestimate how tough the circumstances were going in, though. Traveling across the country, on a short week, into those chilly conditions? It’s not a short order.
Or, as Head Coach Dominic Casciato put it, “It’s not easy to go from the west coast to the east coast and win both games. Delighted to get the win and looking forward to playing in the next round now.
The Owls fly back towards the heart of the country after trips to both coasts. While they await their fate at the hands of the Open Cup draw, next up in the league is Chattanooga on Saturday, March 30th, followed by One Knox on Friday, April 12th. The Owls’ first match at Werner Park will take place on Saturday, April 20th against Charlotte Independence.
ABOUT UNION OMAHA
Union Omaha, the 2021 USL League One Champion and 2023 USL League One Players’ Shield Winner, is the only professional soccer team in the state of Nebraska. USL League One is a United States Soccer Federation-sanctioned professional men’s soccer league that occupies the third tier of American soccer, below USL Championship (tier two) and Major League Soccer (tier one). Union Omaha plays its home matches at Werner Park in Sarpy County, also home to the Omaha Storm Chasers of Minor League Baseball. The team is led by General Manager of Business Operations Alexis Boulos in the front office and Head Coach Dominic Casciato on the field.
