One Knox SC Relentless in 3-1 Win Over New York

USL LEAGUE ONE MATCHDAY 12	1ST HALF	2ND HALF	FINAL
NEW YORK COSMOS (2-8-1 | 7 PTS)	0	1	1
ONE KNOXVILLE SC (7-2-3 | 24 PTS)	2	1	3

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – For first time at Covenant Health Park this season, One Knoxville SC’s attack broke the two-goal seal. And while the goals may not have come in the most conventional way, they still counted all the same as the home side capped off a positive home stand with a 3-1 win over the New York Cosmos on Saturday night.

“We fancy ourselves for sure to get three points if we score three goals at home,” said Head Coach Ian Fuller. “The goals were a little crazy the way they came, but we’ll take them anyway we can.”

The win pushed Knoxville’s unbeaten streak to four matches across all competitions as the squad now sits at 24 points in USL League One play.

Debuting its brand new Delaney Kits on the pitch in front of the home crowd, One Knox showed off its grit to go along with its style. Whether it was Babacar Diene and Mikkel Gøling being the first to loose balls in the box, or Denis Krioutchenkov pressuring the opposing goalkeeper on a clearance, One Knox was rewarded for its suffocating intensity on the evening.

“That’s what we need to do to get three points and we have to keep doing that,” explained Gøling. “Sometimes you score the hard goals and sometimes you score the easy goals and tonight we had some great goals from (close range), which is always nice when those come. It doesn’t matter how you score.”

Gøling put an exclamation point on the evening in the 73rd minute by being the first to the loose ball after Teddy Baker blistered a shot from outside the box that New York goalkeeper Javier Garcia was not able to hold on to. The Danish midfielder converted the easy tap-in to notch his second goal of 2026, but his first in the 2026 USL1 campaign.

“It’s been a long wait,” Gøling laughed afterwards. “I’ve been wanting to score and have had a couple of chances this season. Finally being able to put it into the back of the net feels so good.”

The goal came just six minutes after Gøling entered the match, but his second half cameo was more than productive, completing all eight of his passes to go along with his goal.

And it was a needed response after the Cosmos crept back into things coming out of the halftime break, as Davide Galazzini cut the lead to 21 with a 51st goal for the visitors.

“We came out at halftime, saying the next goal could change the match,” Fuller recalled. “To our guys credit, they did respond very well after that. There was that calmness mixed with nastiness that we pried ourselves on after that goal. Before that, we made some mistakes.”

The first goal of the night came in the 19th minute when One Knox’s John Murphy Jr. was taken down in the box from behind by New York defender William Noecker, drawing a penalty. Babacar Diene’s low driving effort from the spot was initially denied by Garcia, but the Knoxville forward was quick to the ball to place it home for a 1-0 lead. It was his fifth goal in 2026, but his first since May 2 in a 3-0 win at FC Naples.

Diene’s partner up front, Krioutchenkov, doubled the Knoxville advantage in the 35th minute by grabbing a goal, seemingly, out of nowhere.

With New York recycling possession by playing it out the back, the ball went to Garcia in his own box, but as the goalkeeper was about to send it long, Krioutchenkov stepped in front of the ball and deflected it into the goal.

“You can say it was fortuitous,” Fuller said of the sequence. “But Denis got his reward for taking that chance. I’m really pleased that he got that because he put in the hard work tonight.

“What that means is that you are putting pressure in the right areas. We want to pressure teams in tough decision making positions all over the pitch.”

While odd in how they came, the three goals felt deserved for a One Knox side that outshot its opponents 22-13 (8-3 on goal) and had 60 final third entries to New York’s 43. The home side also showed its bite on defense, winning 13 of its 16 total tackles.

Murphy Jr. put his footprint on the match despite not finding the back of the net, leading the way with five total chances created. The One Knox center back pairing of Jordan Skelton and Finn McRobb was solid in the back once again with both completing over 89% of their passes.

NEXT UP
After three wins at home over the last couple of weeks, One Knox now gets set to embark on a three-match roadtrip, beginning on June 20 when it takes its longest road trip of the season to face a Spokane Velocity squad that is right behind in the USL1 standings.

“You just got to win your games,” Gøling said. “We just go into every game with that same mentality whether we’re playing on the road or at home.”

Kickoff in Washington is set for 9:00 p.m. ET. Knoxville returns to Covenant Health Park on Wednesday, July 15 when it welcomes Fort Wayne FC (tickets).