Morristown Boys Soccer: Colonials Lose Back and Forth Affair Against Union City

UNION CITY, NJ – It was a tense, seesaw battle Saturday afternoon between Morristown and Union City as the two teams combined for seven goals with the Soaring Eagles coming out on top, 4-3.

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The Colonials opened the scoring early in the first half as they looked to improve their winning streak to four games. Up 1-0, Morristown struck again near the halfway point of the opening minute courtesy of Henrique Esteves. The senior forward took advantage of a misplay by the Union City defense and found the back of the net on the second shot after his first attempt was thwarted by the Eagles’ goalkeeper.

With a comfortable 2-0 advantage Morristown looked well on their way to picking up a quality win on the road against a talented opponent. However, Union City had other ideas as shortly after Esteves’ goal put Morristown up by two goals Amara Kenema halved the deficit for the home side and brought the game closer 12 minutes before halftime.

After the intermission, Union City continued to look like the more dangerous side as they threatened to draw even in the match. It took less than five minutes for the Soaring Eagles to find the equalizer as a penalty was drawn and converted by Jose Licon in the 50 ^th minute to bring the game even at 2-2.

Five minutes later a glancing header from Jeronimo Mejia off a long thrown-in from Amir Belarbi gave Union City their first lead of the match at 3-2. The back-and-forth nature was on full display as Morristown had squandered a two-goal lead and now found themselves trailing with under 20 minutes left in regulation.

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Trailing for the first time in the match, Morristown left themselves exposed at the back and got caught conceding another penalty shortly after Union City had grabbed the lead. Colonials’ goalkeeper Charles Beyer made a terrific save on the ensuing penalty kick to keep the score at 3-2. Minutes later a handball was called in the penalty area against Union City giving Morristown a golden opportunity to level the score at 3. Jermaine Campbell slotted his penalty kick perfectly into the bottom corner as the game was even again with less than 15 minutes to go.

In the wild affair Saturday afternoon, there was bound to be another twist in the tale between Morristown and Union City. Shortly after Campbell had tied the game at 3 aside the Soaring Eagles scored what would be the game-winning goal from the head Roman Galvan who headed home a terrific corner kick from Licon to put Union City back in front, 4-3 in the 68 ^th minute.

Morristown would have chances to level the score again and force overtime, including a game-tying goal being disallowed due to an offside call, but could not conjure up the comeback magic a second time.

“It was a pretty back and forth [game],” Morristown head coach Diego Salas said postgame. “We had chances that we did not put away. We gave up two goals on set pieces which is not really like us. I think [Union County] caught us sleeping a little bit today.”

The four goals conceded by Morristown were the team’s highest total in 2024. During the Colonials recent three-game winning streak that was ended with Saturday’s defeat the team let up just one goal combined and the team all year has been a stalwart defensive side. Salas is confident that Saturday’s performance was a one-off and that the team will improve from the showing.

“It was really those two set pieces. [Union City] just caught us sleeping,” Salas noted. “We should never give up a goal on a thrown-in, the corner kick was bad marking... we had guys on the post we just did not react to it. It was not our best defensive game at all.”

At roughly the halfway point of the season, things are trending in a positive direction for Morristown ahead of the Morris County Tournament set to start next week. The Colonials are the No. 4 seed and are looking to go on a deep run in a competition they have not had a lot of success in over the last few years.

“Getting a top four seed, getting a bye in the county tournament is always a goal of ours,” Salas acknowledged. “Soccer is a funny game where even if you are the top seed, it does not guarantee you anything. I made sure to tell the guys to be locked in come Wednesday night. We should be able to make a run but nothing is guaranteed. We have to work for every game, every win.”

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