Last year, we gave away our sixth Club of the Year Award to Tulsa Athletic. We’ve celebrated six different clubs from across the lower league American soccer scene. Teams from the UPSL, WPSL, NISA, USL W League, and USL League One have all hoisted our silver platter, engraved with Club of the Year. We’re a small organization, but we live in this space. We’ve invested time, energy, and so many dollars into trying to cover these leagues with respect and professionalism. And we always involve our readers and listeners in naming the winner of each year’s award.

This year we have five more clubs for you to consider, two are repeat nominations from earlier years. All have done important work in the lower leagues this year. Winning championships is, of course, an obvious sign of success, and there’s several trophies on this year’s list, but there’s also clubs who made the list because of their impact off the field. That sort of work deserves to be recognized as well. So without further conversation, here’s one of this year’s nominations. Be sure to return to vote beginning 12/23! -DV

Photo taken by Trev Hellman - please check out more of his work HERE

“Without my teammates and everybody else encouraging me and pushing me each day in practice and into games, it could have been a different season for me, but these guys have always had my back no matter what I was going through,” said Union Omaha midfielder Zeiko Lewis, following the 2024 USL League One Final. “It’s been a great experience, and I’m just happy it all worked out in the end.”

To many, it wasn’t supposed to work out.

Rewind to the days and weeks leading up to the start of the 2024 USL League One regular season and you’ll hear a lot of voices casting doubts on Union Omaha repeating their Players’ Shield-winning performance from 2023. A new season, a new team and a host of new rosters across the league were all drawing attention away from the Owls. It couldn’t be done. No one could repeat as Players’ Shield winners. It’s never been done before. Winning doubles is a thing of the past.

Union Omaha saw the script and nailed it to the locker room bulletin board with an energy that quietly and intensely said, “Watch us.”

After a 2023 season that saw the Owls break plenty of club and league records, yet fall short in the playoffs, it was time to rewrite history again. Union Omaha started the 2024 season undefeated through five matches, a feat unaccomplished since the 2020 inaugural season, when the team extended the same streak to eight matches. With Head Coach Dominic Casciato returning, the team continued to rise quickly in the early standings, enough so that aside from sitting in fourth place after their opening three matches of the new campaign, the Owls spread their wings and soared high, never seeing a place lower than third in the standings for the rest of the season.

Since the team’s first showing at the 2022 US Open Cup, Union Omaha has always relished the opportunity to swing above their weight class. That 2022 edition of the US Open Cup saw the Owls defeat not one, but two Major League Soccer clubs, ultimately falling in the Quarterfinals to Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park. The 2023 tournament was the first time the club had ever faced a USL Championship squad in the tournament, outlasting El Paso Locomotive in the Second Round. This season was all about keeping that momentum. Although a round later in the tournament, a rematch with the Locomotive yielded the same result, opening up the opportunity that fans have been yearning for: the chance to host Sporting Kansas City.

Some may have seen it as the Round of 32, but for all of the Union Omaha fans at Caniglia Field, it may as well have been the World Cup Final. Banners, flags and tifo were hoisted proudly. Voices, chants and songs rang across the campus of the University of Nebraska - Omaha. This was it. This was that moment.

It’s been a long time since seismic activity was detected in the Omaha area, but when Union Omaha midfielder Lagos Kunga scored in the 31st minute, the ground shook beneath the collective jubilation of a fanbase urging their team from the stands. A deafening roar, mixed with a backdrop painted with flailing limbs was all that could be seen. The opposition would equalize shortly after halftime, but the final whistle ushered in two periods of extra time. Tired legs and empty lungs, but full hearts saw Union Omaha push the visitors to the absolute last second of action. In those dying moments, Sporting Kansas City found the match winner, only to be quickly followed by the final whistle.

The match report will show a loss, but every Union Omaha fan will look at that day as a win. The stories from that day will live on as legends to be retold each and every year.

A new addition to the USL League One schedule provided some additional adversity for Union Omaha: the Jägermeister Cup. With only four clubs advancing from three groups, and the wild card entry being determined by the amount of goals scored, seeing the knockout stage was never a sure thing. When the group stage was all said and done, the Owls had scored the second-most goals across all three groups, enough to qualify for the semifinals as the wild card. Despite falling short to the eventual champion, Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC, the team was able to redirect their attention to the regular season and finish strong.

Only four teams in league history have ever finished the regular season averaging two points or more per match. Of those four teams, two of them were wearing the Union Omaha badge. To go even further, this year’s squad narrowly broke their own record from the 2023 season. Doing so happened in large part because of their ability to score an average of 2.14 goals per match, a new league record. For the first time in league history, a team was able to finish the regular season with an average of 2, or more, goals per match.

Union Omaha broke more records during the 2024 USL League One Final, including all 5,849 people inside the confines of Werner Park. When Union Omaha’s Max Schneider scored in the 3rd minute of play, the club broke its own record for the earliest goal in a Final, having scored in the 7th minute of play during the 2021 USL League One Final. The Owls are the only club in Final history to score twice in the first half. As opposed to when the club did it in 2021, the 2024 Owls doubled their lead within the first 20 minutes of the match. A third goal was added in the second half to put the match out of reach. The 3-0 scoreline matched the widest margin of victory, also set by Union Omaha in 2021. As the final whistle blew, the 2024 Union Omaha squad became the only team to win a Final without being awarded a card during the match.

The 2024 season was a special one for all of the records and awards, but mostly because of how the team came together. An early retirement and on-the-field injuries worried some, but it was the events surrounding Mechack Jérôme that truly created a lasting bond in the locker room. Through multiple visits from the technical staff, players and front office, Jérôme became the common cause that added a layer of emotional depth to the final matches of the season. Warmups were a time to display messages and goal celebrations were coupled with Jérôme’s kit being raised along the sideline and players embracing his fan-created tifo just beyond the goal line. Stats and records took a backseat to the new motivation: win for Jérôme.

In a moment of true class, while fans gathered at the downtown Omaha restaurant to welcome the newly-appointed champions for a joint celebration, Head Coach Dominic Casciato delayed his arrival by driving to Jérôme’s hospital bed, over an hour the opposite direction, to deliver the good news, along with his own medal.

A team lasts a season, but a brotherhood is for life.

- Rich Flemings

Rich contributes to Who Gives a Hoot, League ONe the Rocks podcast, and is a guest writer for TheCup.US. We’re thankful for his contribution of this piece. -DV