Encouraging debut followed by disappointing home result
One Knoxville SC’s defense of last year’s double – winning the Players’ Shield as the regular-season champion of USL League One and advancing through the playoffs to claim the 2025 Final over Spokane Velocity – began in promising fashion with a 3-2 road victory over Westchester SC in Mount Vernon, New York, on Saturday, March 7.
In a far more convincing display than the final score might suggest, the visitors carried a 3-1 lead into halftime before resting on their laurels in the second half. To its credit, the home team made a much better account of itself in the latter period, dominating possession and proactively attempting to break down an organized Knoxville backline, which mostly held resolute.
But aside from veteran midfielder Conor McGlynn converting a penalty after a controversial foul call on One Knox captain Jordan Skelton in the 18th minute and rookie Kyle Evans lashing home a volley as time expired, Westchester looked much like the same outfit that struggled en route to being gifted the dubious Wooden Spoon as the league’s cellar dweller at the end of last season.
On the other hand, the away side looked comfortable throughout the encounter despite the foggy, damp and chilly conditions and the fact that it featured a markedly different lineup from the one that captured the double in 2025. Signed from Texoma FC after that club announced it would be dropping down to semi-professional League Two, Teddy Baker slotted naturally into the right side of the midfield alongside returning pivot Abel Caputo and made an immediate impact for his new team in the 12th minute.
Collecting a pass from 2025 first-team All-League right back Jaheim Brown, Baker turned and took a single touch before threading an incisive through ball to another newcomer, Denis Krioutchenkov. The first-year pro out of UNC Charlotte was leading the line in lieu of Babacar Diene, who was experiencing visa complications, and the replacement striker took advantage of his opportunity. Taking the pass in stride, Krioutchenkov stutter stepped before uncorking a sizzling low drive that easily beat goalkeeper Matías Molina at his near post to make it 1-0.
Knoxville nearly doubled its lead a couple minutes later when new left back Chris Tiao chased a long ball into the corner and squared it into the penalty area. The slow roller evaded a pair of Westchester defenders and ran on to Mikkel Gøling, who rapped a low first-time shot on frame. Molina got down well to parry it over the crossbar, a save that earned him a nomination for Save of the Week for the light opening round of matches.
After some uncharacteristically untidy play at the back by reigning Defender of the Year Skelton resulted in McGlynn’s equalizer from the spot, Gøling intercepted a pass in the center circle that bounced forward to Stavros Zarokostas. The speedy winger led a counterattack in which he drifted to the right before sliding a precise pass to Krioutchenkov on the left.
Sharply cutting the ball with the outside of his right foot to where the arc meets the penalty area, he used his instep to whip a curling effort between center back Max Jennings’ legs that found the far bottom corner of the Westchester goal for a 2-0 lead. One Knox continued to knock on the door as the half wound down, and it was rewarded with a third deep into injury time.
Baker, the designated set-piece taker, bent in a delivery from the right side of the Memorial Field turf in the 47th minute that eluded the thicket of bodies rooted to the center of the goal box but was controlled at the back stick by Krioutchenkov. He volleyed a low cross that was alertly tapped into the net by John Murphy Jr. The nifty backheeled finish was yet another goal involvement in the game from a seasoned League One vet, this one fresh from Forward Madison FC.
Westchester was energized by a raft of substitutions that came on at the hour mark and soon after tested Knoxville’s new No. 1 netminder, Johan Garibay, the backup to 2025 Goalkeeper of the Year Sean Lewis. Applying a burst of speed following a solo run, Miguel Diaz pushed the ball beyond Skelton and fired across goal.
Though the Winter Games had concluded a fortnight prior, Garibay nevertheless channeled his inner Olympian and stuck out his left leg to make what was a kick save and a beaut. The stop would win him Save of the Week honors with almost half of the votes, 19 percentage points more than his closest competitor, Athletic Club Boise’s Joseph Andema.
Although the match lulled to a bit of a standstill in the last quarter hour and the outcome seemed to be written in stone, Evans pounced on a ball headed into his vicinity from a lofted cross from the left flank to cut the deficit to 3-2. The late tally was netted half a minute past the two allotted for stoppage, though, and the referee sounded the final whistle as soon as the restart occurred. Three points secured, One Knox headed south to face Forward Madison in its first home game since clinching its second trophy.
The weather for the matchup against the Wisconsin club on March 14 couldn’t have been more agreeable and was perfectly suited for the festivities – the 2026 Bassmaster Classic, the St. Patrick’s Day procession down Gay Street and the two neighborhood pub crawls associated with the holiday – that ushered in the 7 p.m. contest. The kickoff party at Barley’s, too, was well-attended and lively, featuring music, giveaways and plenty of folks sporting kits, team merch and scarves.
Even with all of the concurrent activities, the crowd that gathered to watch the Knoxville squad take on the Mingos was almost as stout as the Guinness that was flowing freely in the Old City and across the river along Sevier Avenue. Though not the 7,500-strong, standing room-only mass that flooded the stadium last November, the count was still impressive at 4,568.
It cheered mightily as injured winger Nico Rosamilia (out for the first two months of the season) unfurled a championship banner on the east pavilion of the concourse level just before the match got underway, and it roared when Murphy scored a somewhat scrappy goal against his former team in the 16th minute, launched himself over the advertising boards and embraced his new coach, Ian Fuller, with a hug.
The opening goal was preceded by a fair amount of action from both sides, however. End-to-end rushes, blocked dangerous shots, long throw-ins and zesty challenges punctuated the first 10 minutes of the match. Krioutchenkov, who was named Player of the Week, retained his spot ahead of Diene, who had sorted his visa issues but started on the bench. Given the rookie’s form in the previous match, he would have been impossible to drop, and he nearly repaid the manager’s faith in him in the 10th minute with a stunning effort from 20 yards that pinged off the far post and rocketed straight out to safety.
The chance came out of nowhere, as the buildup seemed innocuous, but Krioutchenkov created just enough space for the shot and generated tremendous power with very little backlift to bend the ball around Madison keeper JT Harms and onto the base of the frame. The move looked quite similar to the forward’s second goal versus Westchester, but that this stayed out was perhaps an omen of things to come.
But not before Harms’ heart leapt into his throat the next minute when he rolled the ball out for a long pass that was redirected just wide of his own goal by Krioutchenkov, who made a mad dash across the pitch, slid and blocked the clearance. The hustle play was indicative of the Israeli’s unbridled determination to make a difference both on the ball and off in his first two professional appearances.
And certainly not before Baker’s corner kick was palmed away to Tiao, whose smashed drive was blocked back to Murphy, who caught enough of the ball with his left peg to pull it just inside of the right upright. In the age of the noncelebration when scoring against a prior employer, kudos to the midfielder for endearing himself to a new set of supporters by shattering that expectation with his exuberance.
Murphy had already proven to be a live wire early on when he plowed into the back of Aaron Edwards and sent him flying to the ground, but that act of aggression was not an isolated incident in the game. Head referee Edson Carvajal had his hands full all evening, distributing seven yellow cards and halting play for long stretches to admonish players and settle emotions in what was an unusually testy affair for this soon in the season.
Despite those calming attempts, home fans will have felt that more severe punishment should have been ascribed to the away side over the course of the 90 minutes. Myriad instances of shirt grabs, obstructions, embellishments, time wasting and the like went uncalled, much to the consternation of those in the stands, and advantages were not properly granted a couple of times.
Such perceived leniency had nothing to do with One Knox conceding the leveler in the 24th minute, however. Roman Torres’ initial corner from the left was dangerous but too flat and was cleared over the endline by Skelton, but his follow-up was whipped in with ferocity and at an ideal height and location for 6-foot-4 defender Turner Humphrey to nod with a skimming header past Garibay and into the far-post netting.
Derek Gebhard, one of only two remaining players after the Madison roster was retooled in the offseason, received a long ball from the back in the 33rd minute, spun past Caputo and darted on a run through midfield, eventually cutting inside the recovered defensive mid and drawing a fine save from a diving Garibay.
A ball over the top by Brown in the 36th minute was flicked on nicely by Murphy to Zarokostas, who got goal side of Geni Kanyane and was barreled down from behind, drawing a yellow on the wide man who was tracking back to help out his backline. The resulting free kick was taken by Krioutchenkov, whose lasered effort went up and over the wall but didn’t dip enough to worry Harms.
Two minutes later, Brown played a pass down the touchline to Gøling and made a run into the space the Dane left unoccupied. As he received a return pass and entered the 18-yard box, he deftly nutmegged Collin McCamy and ripped a hard shot that Kevin Carmichael got a boot on to keep it from troubling his netminder.
The Mingos took the lead in the 39th minute on a simple ball that Kanyane, the beneficiary of a sharp first-time pass from Torres, lifted from the left channel into the penalty area to Stephen Annor Gyamfi. Holding off Dani Fernández with his back to goal, the attacking midfielder swiveled and dragged a shot that deflected off the longtime Knoxville defender, wrong-footing Garibay on its way into the net.
In the 41st minute, Skelton chipped the ball to Zarokostas, who fooled McCamy with a subtle inside-out move down the flank and chopped a cross across the goal box as he approached the endline. It was rather reminiscent of the deciding goal in the 2025 Final against Spokane, but this time there was no Rosamilia to finish at the back stick, and the opportunity fizzled.
On the other side of halftime, Fernández was unable to direct successive headers from corners on goal in the 48th minute. He was completely free for the second; he held his head in his hands, ruing the miss as he jogged back to his defensive position after the ball flew a few feet wide to the right.
As the period progressed, Knoxville tightened its grip on possession but made few inroads into threatening areas. It attempted to spread the width of its attacks, but the final ball was lacking on too many occasions. Madison was content to patiently sit in a low-to-mid block and hit on the counter. The most ominous of those chances saw McCamy lumber forward from the back, receive a pass in the penalty area but sky his shot well over the bar.
Diene, who entered the fray in the 72nd minute, worked hard in the 90th to win back the ball and start an attack, but he chose the wrong pass, opting to play in Real Gill on the left when he had two runners, Krioutchenkov and Kyle Linhares, to his right. Still, Gill did well to cut inside, take two extra touches and strike the ball beyond the outstretched Harms but just wide right of the goal.
Unfortunately, that movement was the last legitimate opportunity for One Knox, which lost, 2-1, at home for the first time since June 2024, a span of 21 consecutive matches that included all of last season. Taking into consideration the substantial turnover in personnel and the inherent difficulty of a fresh crop of players being able to assimilate into a team and adapt to its style of play at the outset of a new campaign, it would have been unrealistic to think that the streak could last indefinitely.
Though there were a few bright spots, the offense often was stagnant, and the absence of Stuart Ritchie’s dynamic presence on the left could be felt. This is a supremely talented squad led by a top-notch coach, however, and the possibilities for 2026 still seem endless. Knoxville begins its Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup adventure tonight in New Jersey, where it will face amateur side SC Vistula Garfield in the first round of the tournament. The match commences at 7:30 and will be streamed on the U.S. Soccer YouTube channel.
