Saturday evening brings the biggest game in Union II's 2025 season as they head out on the road to bitter rivals New York Red Bulls II in the MLS Next Pro Eastern Conference Finals. Ryan Richter's men are looking to become just the second team in league history to win back-to-back conference finals titles, after Union II won the Eastern Conference Finals last year in a 4-0 home win against Columbus Crew 2.
Union II's incredible regular-season form, which saw them finish tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings, has carried over to the postseason, and one player has been carrying the team on his back throughout the past month, that player being striker Stas Korzeniowski. Stas managed to score both goals in the 2-1 win over FC Cincinnati 2 in the Conference Quarter Finals. Then he got the only goal of the game last week in the Conference Semi Finals win over Huntsville City, a late penalty was the goal that sent Union II to their 2nd conference finals in 2 years.
Standing in Union II's way of going to back-to-back MLS Next Pro Finals is the club's bitter rivals, New York Red Bulls II, the team that beat Ryan Richter's men to the number one seed through a tiebreaker. NYRB II had a phenomenal season under manager Michael Bradley, where they let their goal-scoring ability do the talking after scoring 68 goals in total during the regular season. That goal-scoring form has continued in the postseason.
NYRB II put five past the 8th seed Carolina Core FC in the Conference Quarter Finals in a 5-1 win and then followed it up by putting another five goals past Chicago Fire FC II last week, in a game that went to extra time, but NYRB II came out victors thanks to a 5-3 scoreline. This game is set up to be a brilliant clash of one of the best defenses in the league, thanks to Union II, and one of the best offenses in the league, thanks to the hosts, NYRB II.
The two sides previously met twice during the regular season, and the form doesn't fill you with confidence if you're a Union II fan. The first meeting happened during Union II's home opener back in the middle of March, and the sides tied 1-1. The second meeting happened on the road for Ryan Richter's men back in August, and they came home with 0 points after losing the game to NYRB II 2-0.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 7 pm ET at Sports Illustrated Stadium, and the game will be streamed live on Apple TV via an active MLS Season Pass subscription. The winner of the game will also be the ones who host the MLS Next Pro Finals game next week against the winners of the Western Conference Finals.
