Recap: One Knox falls to rival Chattanooga Red Wolves in a 3-2 defeat
One Knoxville SC lost its fourth consecutive game in a 3-2 loss to the Chattanooga Red Wolves on Saturday night in Regal Stadium. It is One Knox’s seventh straight game without a win.
“We’ve been going through a stretch of losses, but we’ve tried to stay strong mentally,” midfielder Jimmie Villalobos said. “Obviously, we wanted to come into the game and get three points, but unluckily it didn’t happen.”
Despite the tough loss, the squad looked good to begin the match. With 70.4% possession and six shots in the first 15 minutes, One Knox did well to control the pace of play.
The opening goal came in the 12th minute when Jimmie Villalobos scored a beautiful goal from outside the box to give One Knox an early 1-0 lead. It was Villalobos’ second goal of the season.
“In the first half, we were controlling most of the game and the tempo,” Villalobos said. “We were moving the ball side to side. Keegan laid me off. I just saw it coming and was like, ‘I have to get a good shot.’”
The score would hold through the end of the first half. One Knoxville outshot the Red Wolves nine to one and had 65% possession. Chattanooga had one shot and only 165 passes compared to Knoxville’s 305 passes.
At the beginning of the second half, One Knox continued to dominate the ball with 72.8% possession in the first 15 minutes. However, Chattanooga outshot Knoxville three to two, and one of the Red Wolves’ shots found the back of the net in the 61st minute. Defender Ryley Kraft curled a free kick into the right side of the net from 25 yards out to level the game at 1-1.
Five minutes later, One Knox winger Jan-Erik Leinhos played a low-driven cross across the box to assist substitute forward Callum Johnson on his second goal of the season. One Knox led 2-1 after Johnson’s goal in the 66th minute.
Chattanooga answered in the 73rd minute. One Knox defender Jordan Skelton conceded a penalty for a hard tackle in the box, giving Red Wolves striker Chevone Marsh the chance to step up on a penalty kick and slot it home to tie the game at 2-2.
Soon after in the 81st minute, Marsh scored again on a ball played inside the box to give Chattanooga a 3-2 lead. The game would end at 3-2, extending One Knoxville’s winless streak to seven games.
One Knox remains eighth in the standings with 22 points and a league-high 20 games played. With its first win in seven games, Chattanooga rises to 16 points in the table but remains 12th. One Knox will need to regroup for an upcoming stretch of away games, as they don’t have another home match until August 18th.
“It’s always hard going to road games, but we have to stay physically and mentally strong as a group,” Villalobos said. “We gotta go out there, have a game plan again, and get some results. We have to because there’re 11 games left. So we have to turn the ball around, pick each other up, and keep going.”
One Knox will begin their three-game road trip next Saturday, July 29, against Central Vally Fuego FC in Fresno, California. The match starts at 10:00 p.m. and will be live-streamed on ESPN+.