PAPILLON, Neb. – Across their first three meetings of the season, it appeared Union Omaha had FC Tucson’s number. Victories in all three encounters – including a pair of road victories at Kino North Stadium – provided a platform for los Buhos to claim top spot in the League One standings at the end of the season.

As the sides meet at Werner Park for the fifth and final time this year on Saturday night in the Semifinals of the 2021 USL League One Playoffs, presented by TwinSpires, Tucson arrives hoping its late-season victory in its last trip to Nebraska is a portent of what’s to come. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET (ESPN+).

Tucson’s 1-0 win thanks to an early penalty kick by Charlie Dennis at Morrison Stadium was part of the club’s successful drive to reach the playoffs in the final third of the season as the visitors held firm defensively to allow only one shot on target for the contest after Omaha’s Damia Viader hit the right post with a late penalty kick. Tucson went 7-2-3 over its final 12 games of the regular season, and then earned another hard-fought 1-0 victory last Saturday night against the Richmond Kickers to advance from the Quarterfinals at Kino North Stadium as goalkeeper Wallis Lapsley recorded a five-save shutout to keep the Kickers at bay before Deri Corfe scored on Tucson’s lone shot on target with three minutes to go to grab a place in the Semifinals.

Corfe now has eight goals on the season as part of an attack that tied for the league-lead in goals in the regular season with 44 tallies, with Shak Adams also sitting on eight goals and Dennis having notched nine goals and eight assists. Those numbers earned Dennis a place on the League One All-League Second Team on Wednesday alongside teammate Noah Franke, and the visitors will be hoping to carry their four-game undefeated run for at least one more game this weekend.

Omaha earned a bye to the Semifinals thanks to its first-place finish in the league, a position it clinched with a game to spare after a 2-0 victory against the Kickers in the club’s penultimate game of the regular season. Los Buhos had a league-high five players named to the League One All-League Teams on Wednesday with Viader and forward Greg Hurst selected to the First Team and goalkeeper Rashid Nuhu, midfielder Devin Boyce and forward Evan Conway earning Second Team honors. Hurst (13 goals) and Conway (10 goals) provided the leading punch for an attack that tied with Tucson on 44 goals in the regular season while sitting as the lone teammates in League One to both end the regular season with double-digit goals.

Union’s biggest strength, however, has been its defense, which conceded a league-fewest 22 goals this season as Nuhu claimed the League One Golden Glove with a 0.75 goals-against average in 24 appearances. Los Buhos will be aiming to keep things tight once again on Saturday as they take aim at reaching the League One Final for a second consecutive season.

Most Recent Lineups

Union Omaha (4-4-2) – Kevin Piedrahita; Ferrety Sousa, Abdul Illal Osumanu, Daltyn Knutson, Jake Crull; Tobias Otieno, JP Scearce, Emir Alihodzic, Christian Molina; Greg Hurst, Conor Doyle

FC Tucson (4-3-3) – Wallis Lapsley; Noah Franke, Luca Mastrantonio, Kaelon Fox, Maxi Schenfeld; Charlie Dennis, Mohamed Kone, Joao Delgado; Shak Adams, Deri Corfe, Kevin Rodriguez

Discipline

Union Omaha – None

FC Tucson – None