CHESTER, Pa. – The Philadelphia Union missed out on winning their first trophy last week when they lost to the Seattle Sounders in the US Open Cup final.
Now their affiliate club will play for a title of their own.
On Saturday, a Harrisburg City Islanders team loaded with current and former Union players takes on host Sacramento Republic in the USL PRO championship game (10:30 pm ET, streamed live on USL PRO's YouTube page).
“It’s excellent,” Union interim manager Jim Curtin said. “We’ve had a lot of guys that have logged a lot of minutes there and helped out periodically along the way. It’s so valuable for those guys to be getting minutes – not only minutes, but playoff minutes in games of consequence, where there’s a winner and a loser, and the loser goes home. It’s so valuable.”
The City Islanders’ run to the title game has been a surprising one, considering they stumbled to a 2-6-2 start and scraped into the playoffs as the eighth and final seed.
But Harrisburg upset top-seeded Orlando City 1-0 in the first round, with Union loanee Antoine Hoppenot scoring the game’s only goal. In the semifinals, ex-Union midfielder Morgan Langley had a goal and an assist in the Islanders’ 3-2 win over the Richmond Kickers.
The Union have been paying close attention to the run, with Curtin commenting that the City Islanders were “an underdog going into the playoffs, much like we might be.” Union fullback Sheanon Williams, who began his pro career in Harrisburg before signing with Philly in 2010, is thrilled for the chance some of his teammates are getting.
“It’s not always easy going down to Harrisburg when you want to play here,” Williams said. “But they’ve taken the most of that opportunity and turned it into something that could possibly be special.”
Throughout Harrisburg’s run, rookie defender Richie Marquez and 21-year-old winger Jimmy McLaughlin, have gotten valuable minutes while on loan from the Union – minutes they would not have gotten with Philadelphia. Cristhian Hernandez, who saw plenty of action during the regular season, has mostly been an unused substitute.
Rookie Pedro Ribeiro began the year with Harrisburg but has spent more time with the Union since Curtin took over, and four other Union players have seen time with the City Islanders this year. But the other current loanee – Hoppenot – was a regular in MLS before getting loaned out, scoring four goals as a rookie in 2012 and three in 2013.
- Find more Union news at PhiladelphiaUnion.com
Despite the demotion, Hoppenot – who, like most of the on-loan players, has been shuttling between Harrisburg and Philly – is enjoying his time with the City Islanders as he looks to do enough in the lower divisions to regain a secure place in MLS.
“Regardless of where he stands on this team, he’s taken a situation that he might not have been too keen on and made it into something positive for himself,” Williams said. “We see him around the locker room, and he’s happy they’re in the finals. To see that kind of attitude, it’s great.”
All on-loan players are expected to rejoin the Union for the end of the MLS season. Curtin believes Hoppenot can still contribute to the Union this year, possibly in the third-year pro's former role as a sparkplug off the bench.
“The message for Antoine has been to keep up the work that you’ve been doing,” Curtin said. “I tell our guys in the locker room that someone in this room that hasn’t contributed a ton this year will score a big goal or make a big play defensively that gets us into the playoffs. It always happens.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
