{"id":4109,"date":"2026-09-05T16:32:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T16:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/?p=4109"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:33:00","slug":"late-griffin-goal-lifts-philadelphia-union-ii-past-columbus-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/?p=4109","title":{"rendered":"Late Griffin Goal Lifts Philadelphia Union II Past Columbus Crew"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Story and Photos by Shawn Payne<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match Date: September 4, 2026 | Kinetic Field, Chester, PA | MLS Next Pro<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philadelphia Union II entered Friday night with something to answer for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time Union II faced Columbus Crew 2, Philadelphia left Historic Crew Stadium with a 2\u20130 loss despite generating 17 shots and spending long stretches of the match on the front foot. This meeting came at a more important stage of the season, with Philadelphia pushing for position in the MLS NEXT Pro playoff race and every remaining point carrying added weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Phila Union 2 on the attack against Columbus Crew 2 at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Columbus Crew in attack mode against Phila Union 2 in their game at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Columbus Crew 2 in possession pressing forward against Phila Union 2 in their recent game at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That made Friday\u2019s rematch at Kinetic Field about more than simply getting another result at home. It was an opportunity for Union II to reverse the outcome from July and strengthen its position as the regular season moved toward its closing stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most of the night, however, the match looked like it might end without either side finding a breakthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philadelphia and Columbus played through a scoreless opening half, with both teams creating moments but neither able to produce the final ball or finish needed to separate themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union II continued to press after halftime, while Columbus stayed organized defensively and kept the match level deep into the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The breakthrough finally arrived in the 83rd minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kellan LeBlanc created the decisive chance and found Jordan Griffin<\/strong>, who finished to put Philadelphia in front, 1\u20130.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Phila Union 2 striker #68 Jordan Griffin with the scoring shot against Columbus Crew 2 at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Columbus Crew goalkeeper #60 Luke Pruter with the attempted save against the goal scoring strike at their game against Phila Union 2 at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Phila Union 2 #68 Jordan Griffin with the celebration of his goal against Columbus Crew at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After spending much of the night searching for one clean opportunity, Union II had finally found it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Columbus pushed for an equalizer in the closing minutes, but Philadelphia protected the advantage and closed out the match to secure all three points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Columbus Crew midfielder showing air dominance against a Phila Union 2 player at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Phila Union 2 defends against a Columbus Crew 2 player at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Strong defensive tackle from a Phila Union 2 defender against a Columbus Crew 2 midfielder at their game at Subaru Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The result gave Union II a measure of revenge for the July defeat and, more importantly, another valuable result in its late-season playoff push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, Philadelphia made its opportunity count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final: Philadelphia Union II 1, Columbus Crew 2 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game Highlights<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story and Photos by Shawn Payne Match Date: September 4, 2026 | Kinetic Field, Chester, PA | MLS Next Pro Philadelphia Union II entered Friday night with something to answer for. The last time Union II faced Columbus Crew 2, Philadelphia left Historic Crew Stadium with a 2\u20130 loss despite generating 17 shots and spending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[78,76,79,50,77],"class_list":["post-4109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mls-next-pro","tag-columbus-crew-2","tag-mls-next-pro","tag-philadelphia-union-2","tag-soccer","tag-subaru-park"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"[data-prefix=\"single_blog_post\"] .entry-header .page-title {--theme-font-size:30px;} [data-prefix=\"single_blog_post\"] .entry-header .entry-meta {--theme-font-weight:600;--theme-text-transform:uppercase;--theme-font-size:12px;--theme-line-height:1.3;} [data-prefix=\"single_blog_post\"] .hero-section[data-type=\"type-2\"] {background-color:var(--theme-palette-color-6);background-image:none;--container-padding:50px 0px;}","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7},"has_hero_section":"enabled","hero_section":"type-2","hero_height":"250px","page_title_image_size":"full","page_title_bg_type":"featured_image","parallax":{"desktop":false,"tablet":false,"mobile":false},"hero_elements":[{"id":"custom_title","enabled":true,"heading_tag":"h1","title":"Home","__id":"OkQ_dw3u0EN4tfvsjLkz-"},{"id":"custom_description","enabled":true,"description_visibility":{"desktop":true,"tablet":true,"mobile":false},"__id":"8E7o9qnC77vEZfdYI5fbB"},{"id":"custom_meta","enabled":false,"meta_elements":[{"id":"author","enabled":true,"label":"By","has_author_avatar":"yes","avatar_size":25},{"id":"post_date","enabled":true,"label":"On","date_format_source":"default","date_format":"M j, Y"},{"id":"updated_date","enabled":false,"label":"On","date_format_source":"default","date_format":"M j, Y"},{"id":"categories","enabled":true,"label":"In","style":"simple"},{"id":"comments","enabled":true}],"page_meta_elements":{"joined":true,"articles_count":true,"comments":true},"__id":"by8Gcts_Rl8kS4IrfhMT6"},{"id":"breadcrumbs","enabled":false,"__id":"jl4o-946sm5WcxTJtIH0a"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4109"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4134,"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4109\/revisions\/4134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takethespacemedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}