One Knox SC Draws at Home with AC Boise

USL LEAGUE ONE MATCHDAY 22	1ST HALF	2ND HALF	FINAL
AC BOISE (10-7-5 | 35 PTS)	1	1	2
ONE KNOXVILLE SC (11-5-6 | 39 PTS)	2	0	2

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A physical back-and-forth affair between One Knoxville SC and AC Boise ended with the points split, as the two teams played to a 2-2 draw on Saturday night at Covenant Health Park.

“We came out with as much energy as we had and the guys gave everything for the club this week,” Head Coach Ian Fuller said. “The buy-in was incredible and everything looked like it was heading in our direction, but we just made some really bad decisions.”

The result sees Knoxville keep four points clear of Boise as it stays in fourth place in the USL League One standings.

It also capped off a three-match-in-seven-days stretch for the home side, with the tying goal coming after the 80th minute in all three outings. However, unlike the previous two, this time it was One Knox that succumbed to the late equalizer as the visitors capitalized in the 83rd minute to bring the scoreline all square.

A Real Gill converted penalty and a Boise own goal forced by Kyle Linhares gave One Knox a 2-0 lead through the match’s first 28 minutes, energizing a crowd of over 4,700 packed into the stadium for Vols Night.

Unfortunately, the cushion was not enough in the end as, for the first time this season, Knoxville was unable to secure a victory after leading at halftime.

“It’s something we’ll look at and learn from,” Fuller noted of relinquishing the lead. “I have to say that the fans were unbelievable tonight and their support was fantastic. We just didn’t do quite enough to get them off their seats.

In a rare match that saw One Knox conceding the majority of possession with 44.4%, Boise’s two goals still came against the run of play via balls over the top for Tumi Moshobane in the 31st minute and Jonathan Ricketts in the 83rd.

“I think we’re all tired of giving away goals,” said Fuller. “To give away that goal in the second half, the way it happened, was a gut punch because we were starting to get a little bit of a handle of the game.”

Despite the two hardluck goals against him, goalkeeper Johan Garibay was strong in front of goal with four saves. The biggest one of the bunch happened in the 68th minute where he was able to get both hands behind a free kick from Jake Dengler that took a deflection as it went through the wall and onto goal.

It was an eventful evening for Dengler who had a hand in both Knoxville goals. The Boise defender took down Knoxville’s Dani Fernandez in the box, setting up a Gill’s penalty kick goal in the 17th minute for his first in USL1 play this season.

Dengler then got the last touch on a ball sent across the goalmouth by Linhares, redirecting it into the back of the net to put Knoxville up 2-0.

“We haven’t been scoring as much lately and sometimes you have to do the dirty work to create chances,” Fuller explained. “We created something of nothing to get a penalty on the first goal. And then on the second, we did a good job of creating an overload out wide and got a little fortunate with the bounce.”

The overall physicality of the match saw tempers boil over on multiple occasions throughout the evening as the two teams combined for five total yellow cards.

Due to Boise’s style of play and the amount of minutes logged by his players over the last week, Fuller deployed a new-look starting lineup on Saturday, highlighted with a back-three of Dani Fernandez, Jordan Skelton and Finn McRobb, with Linhares and Stavros Zarokostas, making his first start in a month, as wingbacks.

NEXT UP
After such a long and grueling stretch of matches, One Knox now gets a lengthy break before returning back to action. As the 2026 season creeps to its culmination, the squad’s next match is a big one against third-place Forward Madison FC on the road. That match is set for September 2, followed by a September 5 trip out west to AV Alta FC.

Knoxville returns to Covenant Health Park on September 11 for a date with FC Naples (tickets).