Union earn 1-1 draw with Orlando City in preseason matchup

The Union played to a 1-1 draw with Orlando City in a preseason matchup at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex on Wednesday night.

After the tie, the Union's preseason record is now 0-1-2.

First-half play was controlled by the Union, but the scoreboard didn't show it as Orlando City scored the only goal of the half in the 31st minute. Striker Corey Hertzog slipped behind the Union back line and lofted the ball over goalkeeper Zac MacMath to give Orlando City the lead.

"I think we did some very good things in the first half to set the tempo and rhythm for how we wanted to play. I thought our ball movement was really good and I thought our pressuring was good and we forced them to turn over the ball a lot in our attacking half," Union manager John Hackworth said. "What we didn't do so well was capitalize on those opportunities, and you can't leave a team sitting around long and they caught us on a counter when we were pushing forward."

Still trailing 1-0 in the 61st minute, Hackworth ordered a line change and the Union swapped all 11 players.

The new lineup did what the starting 11 couldn't and capitalized on a scoring opportunity in the 72nd minute. Leo Fernandes received a pass from Pedro Ribeiro and notched the game-tying goal with a strike from the top of the box.

The Union had more chances, but couldn't record the go-ahead goal and settled for a draw.

"The idea is to improve every match and get our guys more and more time," Hackworth said. "It's a short preseason and you've got to maximize these opportunities against opponents and use these games as evaluation tools, but also implement the things you're working on in training."

The Union take the pitch next against the Columbus Crew for another preseason tilt on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.