CHESTER — Pick the narrative arc of your preference at Subaru Park.
There is the striker that the Union were determined to upgrade away from playing the hero Saturday night.
There’s the goalie who was in Union colors the last time they lifted a trophy now tasked with denying them a win that could seal the second addition to that trophy cabinet. There was a team whose reputation was of beating up on bottom-dwellers who picked up the biggest win of its season against the team entering the weekend in third in the Eastern Conference.
And there was an organization that bottomed out last year, that hired a new coach, from which few people expected anything this year, doing what it took to lift a trophy, right down from one generation of goalie outjumping the other to make the final stop.
Mikael Uhre’s goal in the 40th minute and some daring defending late gave the Union a 1-0 win over New York City FC Saturday night, sealing the 2025 Supporters’ Shield with a week to spare, the second trophy in club history.
With the points, the Union (20-7-6, 66 points) reached a level of points and wins (the first tiebreaker) that no other team can this season. They seized the advantage with a win over D.C. United last week and results across the league.
It’s the second major trophy that the Union have won in club history, the only other one the Shield in 2020, a year of empty stadiums and unbalanced schedules.
That title was clinched at Subaru Park against New England with Matt Freese, then a 22-year-old Homegrown, deputizing in goal for an injured Andre Blake.
The result also comes against New York City FC, the team the Union lost to in the Eastern Conference final in 2021 with a team decimated by COVID-19 positives, then beat in 2022 to win the East and advance to MLS Cup.
NYCFC (17-11-5, 56 points) entered in good form, winners of four of five to rocket up the table. But the Union did enough to hold them off. They weathered a goal scored in the 89th but waived off. And it took Andre Blake claiming a cross ahead of Freese.
The Union narrowly missed a chance to go up two in the 88th when Danley Jean Jacques popped a shot over. Maximo Carrizo had the ball in the back of the net, but he was a half-step over the offside line on the through ball from Nicolas Fernandez, assistant referee Ben Rigel raising the flag to save them.
They had to withstand three minutes of stoppage time and one last free kick to see it out. They did so with their longest-tenured players on the field, among them Olivier Mbaizo and Alejandro Bedoya, plus Blake’s catch and Uhre’s goal.
Jovan Lukic, one of the few but impactful winter upgrades, made the goal happen, jumping a loose pass up the gut in the 40th minute. He slide-ruled a left-footed pass through traffic to in the right channel.
Uhre, starting for the fourth time since the beginning of June and off his best game of the season last week in D.C., took a couple of touches to create space and fired a shot that deflected off a defender and wrong-footed Freese.
Both teams had chances earlier, none quicker than Alonso Martinez firing wide of the target barely 70 seconds in, the Union hoping for an offside flag. NYCFC had stretches of possession in the first half, the Union were more purposeful, with seven corner kicks and a dozen dangerous set pieces.
Milan Iloski had a go from 22 yards in the fourth minute that was saved by Matt Freese. The former Union Homegrown also denied a Bruno Damiani back heel chance in the 17th.
NYCFC generated a pair of dangerous chances in the first 45.
Martinez screwed his shot wide in the second minute, then Hannes Wolf volleyed a shot from the top of the box on target in the 20th, Andre Blake diving to pad away a shot he saw very late.
The Union could have been awarded a penalty kick when Uhre went down under a light touch in the box, but it was waved away.
Source: Berkshire mont
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