Greenville dominates defending champions 3-0 following stadium groundbreaking ceremony
Greenville, SC (March 12, 2025)- Hours after breaking ground on a new stadium in Mauldin alongside soccer icon Ronaldinho, the Greenville Triumph Soccer Club punctuated the historic day with a dominating 3-0 win over 2024 League Champions, Union Omaha on Wednesday. Veteran striker Leo Castro scored a pair of goals and Ben Zakowski chipped in another to lead Triumph SC to the victory.
The day began at BridgeWay Station in Mauldin, where the club officially broke ground on its new stadium in front of hundreds of fans. The ceremony was highlighted by the appearance of Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho, who recently joined the Triumph and Liberty ownership team with a group of investors.
After the excitement of the morning’s event, Triumph SC quickly had to turn attention to rivals and defending league champions, Union Omaha. Early defensive heroics set the tone, as Brandon Fricke made a crucial goal-line save in the 12th minute, preserving the clean sheet. Despite losing Pascal Corvino to injury in the 23rd minute, the Triumph quickly regrouped. In the 36th minute, Leo Castro lofted a precise chip over Omaha’s goalkeeper, Russell Shealy, and took a triumphant bow as Greenville took the lead.
Just before the halftime whistle, Ben Zakowski unleashed a brilliant volley into the top corner, doubling the advantage. Emerging from the break with momentum on their side, Castro and Zakowski linked up again in the 47th minute to make it 3-0. Greenville’s goalkeeper, Gunther Rankenburg, made several key saves throughout the match, and the Triumph’s stellar defense snuffed out Omaha attacks to preserve the shutout and seal the momentous day for the club.
“The day was definitely one of the highlights of this club’s history,” said head coach Rick Wright. “You could feel the excitement in the air today, and it translated to a great performance on the field. The players rose to the occasion and we had a great team performance on both ends of the field. We grew up a lot tonight, and now we just need to get healthy and keep momentum going.”
The Triumph travel for their next match, facing Asheville City SC for the first time. The clubs meet in the opening round of the 2025 U.S. Open Cup next Tuesday, March 19th. Get your tickets here.
Rick Wright, head coach, on the day: “The day was definitely one of the highlights of this club’s history. You could feel the excitement in the air today, and it translated to a great performance on the field. The players rose to the occasion and we had a great team performance on both ends of the field. We grew up a lot tonight, and now we just need to get healthy and keep momentum going.”
Evan Lee, midfielder and seventh-year Triumph player: It was an exciting day. It shows the club is heading in the right direction, and it’s something that we’re all very proud of – especially the guys that we’ve been here from the beginning. The game was phenomenal. Any time you can win 3-0 at home in front of the fans it’s incredible, and against a very good team in Omaha that we know will be there at the end of the year. It was a great performance.”
