One Knox SC’s Comeback Comes up Short at Richmond

USL LEAGUE ONE MATCHDAY 29	1ST HALF	2ND HALF	FINAL
ONE KNOXVILLE SC (13-7-9 | 48 PTS)	2	0	2
RICHMOND KICKERS (6-17-6 | 24 PTS)	2	1	3

RICHMOND, Va. – One Knoxville SC took a haymaker from its opponents almost immediately after the opening whistle blew, and then threw one of its own right before halftime. Unfortunately for the visitors, it was the Richmond Kickers who landed the final blow as Knoxville will have to wait at least a couple more days to secure its postseason berth following a 3-2 loss on Saturday at City Stadium.

“We didn’t start well at all,” said Assistant Coach James Thomas who manned the sidelines with Head Coach Ian Fuller serving the second of a two-match suspension. “We came out really sloppy and sluggish. It shouldn’t be like that, because we have much higher standards than that.”

After things settled in following a wild four-goal first 45 minutes, Knoxville seemed the side to most likely find a winner in the second half, until a freak goal from Richmond substitute Tyler Freeman against the run of play completely flipped the script.

The defeat sees One Knox drop to fifth place in the USL League One table with its point total remaining at 48 – one back of fourth place AC Boise.

“Games are won and lost in both boxes and we lost that battle tonight,” Thomas explained. “We can talk about controlling the game between the boxes and being as good as we can be there, but the result relies on focusing in the boxes and we just didn’t do that tonight.”

Richmond outshot One Knox 19-14 in total attempts and 7-5 in attempts on goal.

Things were off from the start for the squad as Richmond found the back of the net two minutes in with Dakota Barnathan ricochetting a shot off the inside of the post to go up 1-0. The home side doubled its advantage just three minutes later when forward Lucca Dourado ripped a shot into the top right corner from distance that a diving Knoxville goalkeeper Johan Garibay could only get fingertips on.

One Knox answered back in the 28th minute on a hustle play from Stavros Zarokostas, winning a 50-50 ball deep in attacking territory before slipping a pass to Denis Krioutchenkov at the top of the box. The first-year forward wasted little time putting it away with a first-time strike, beating Richmond goalkeeper Yann Fillion to cut the deficit in half.

It was Krioutchenkov’s team-leading 12th goal across all competitions this season.

Keeping the pressure on, Knoxville earned a penalty nine minutes later with Barnathan called for a hand ball in the box on a cross from Zarokostas. Mikkel Gøling consolidated the effort with a low-driven shot from the spot, slotting it into the side netting to even things up at 2-2 and giving his side the momentum heading into halftime.

“Credit to the guys for clawing their way back into the game,” Thomas said. “We came into the second half with good energy and quality, but it’s about staying focused while we’re attacking.”

One Knox finished the match with a 55.7% advantage in possession, but had 66% of it in the second half alone to go along with 59 final third entries and 15 penalty area entries, while Richmond only had 27 and 8, respectively.

However, it was the home side who found the final conversion in the 72nd minute, Off a recycled ball, Richmond captain Nils Seufert fired off a shot from well outside the box that skipped off the ground before Garibay parried it wide for the save. But the ball found Kickers’ Zahir Vazquez who got a touch on it that then inadvertently grazed Freeman and bounced into goal.

“We just let a shot slip by and then didn’t back our goalkeeper up when he made the save,” Thomas recalled. “It’s just a lack of focus defensively. It’s a pretty disappointing night for us from top to bottom, so we’ve got to dust ourselves off and get back to work.”

Defender Chris Tiao was among the three substitutions Knoxville made following Freeman’s goal in hopes of finding an equalizer. It marked the left back’s first appearance after an 11-match absence, since suffering a leg injury on July 25.

NEXT UP
It will be a quick turnaround for One Knoxville SC as it looks to rebound with a two-match homestand, beginning on Wednesday against rivals Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (tickets). Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. ET from Covenant Health Park. Knoxville needs just one win over its final three matches to clinch a postseason berth for a third straight season. The squad will play its final home match of the regular season on Sunday, October 11 when it welcomes Spokane Velocity FC for a special Family Day match (tickets).