Atlanta United 2 traveled back out to UGA’s Turner Soccer Complex on Sunday to battle a Huntsville City side that was mollywhopped by Crown City 7-2 last weekend. Jose Silva’s side were fresh off their win against Carolina Core, and the young coach started a mixture of first team players and 2’s players once again – including one Jay Fortune. It’ll be the last time they see their home pitch for well over a month, but they gave the fans a spectacle to hold them over until May.
The 2’s started off on the front foot, with the front grouping of Cameron Dunbar, Liam Butts, Luke Brennan, and Santi Pita driving forward heavily in the opening minutes. Dominik Chong Qui would have the first good opportunity for Atlanta as he crashed down the left flank and deep into the box, before his shot was blocked by Will Mackay. Liam Butts would have a go a few moments later with slightly wayward shot, and the first 10 minutes looked entirely in Atlanta’s collective hand. However, it’d be a transition moment and the inability to provide a good clearance that saw Huntsville City take the early lead off a Leo Christiano curling strike.
The 2’s didn’t let the goal rain on their parade, though. Cameron Dunbar stepped up multiple times in the minutes after the goal with a couple of strong chances, and ultimately provided the assist for Atlanta’s equalizer. Liam Butts was waiting inside the 6 yard box as Dunbar delivered a quick strike, and all Liam had to do was flick it on goal.
Halftime came and went with Jay Fortune, who had a very encouraging 45 minutes, subbing out for Adyn Torres, and Atlanta United 2 stepped back onto the pitch with the momentum in their favor. They kept Huntsville under constant pressure, earning multiple corners before a bit of creative interplay on the left side saw Chong Qui send a ball directly across goal that Luke Brennan poked in. Unfortunately, Chong Qui was perhaps a hair offside and the goal was disallowed. Moments later, Liam Butts found himself past his defender 1v1 vs Will Mackay but was taken down in the box by former Atlanta United 2 Nigel Prince.
Interestingly, he was only given a yellow despite a pretty clear denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity, but it was an obvious penalty. Santiago Pita stepped to the spot and sent a slow-roller to the left side of goal, which Mackay was able to parry away for a corner. Atlanta continued to push, though, and Luke Brennan was rewarded for his prior disallowed goal with a banger of a strike from the top of the box that beat Mackay on the same side as Pita’s prior corner to make it 2-1 in the 57th minute.
Five minutes later the 2 Spikes would strike again, as Chong Qui drove down the center of the pitch before laying the ball off to Cameron Dunbar on the left side of the box. Dunbar then played it back across the face of goal, past Mackay and Chong Qui to a waiting Liam Butts who slotted it home for his brace.
The game opened up a bit after Atlanta’s third goal as Huntsville pushed, which led to multiple opportunities by each side. It’d be the 86th minute, however, when the 2’s would pounce once more. Arif Kovac, a certified colossus, found himself flying down the left side after Huntsville overcommitted numbers. He dribbled to the top of the box against his defender before playing a delicate pass ahead of Enzo Dovlo, who smoothly slid it just into the right side of goal to ice the match at 4-1.
The performance was an overall dominant one by Jose Silva’s side, as they took 19 shots with 8 on goal and stayed unbeaten three matches into the 2026 MLS Next Pro season. The next match will be away, out in Matthews, NC against Crown Legacy on March 22 at 7.