Women wrap up challenging first season, men return to winning ways
This past month has been an oddly disjointed one for both the men and women of One Knoxville SC, as historic rainfall amounts in May coupled with wetter-than-usual conditions in June resulted in several displaced and rescheduled fixtures.
Forced to relocate its last four home matches from Covenant Health Park to Carson-Newman and Maryville College, with each regional institution hosting a pair of games, the USL W League side experienced an especially difficult finish to its inaugural campaign. However, while it posted a disappointing 3-1-8 record that culminated with its heaviest defeat – a 4-0 loss to Greenville Liberty SC in Maryville – in the final match of the year, the team will have been encouraged by its spirited play throughout those 12 games, the majority of which were hard-fought, one-score contests. Also, the experience the players gained should prove invaluable as they prepare for 2026.
The One Knox men were able to salvage a 1-1 draw on the road against Westchester SC on June 7 but perhaps were unlucky not to have emerged victorious despite playing an entire half and some change down a man. After Stuart Ritchie was sent off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity as the last defender in the 44th minute, the squad rallied in the second frame, ceding the bulk of possession to its opponent and slowing down the action with strategic fouls yet creating the better chances and nearly eking out a go-ahead goal in extra time.
After Westchester opened the scoring in the 51st minute, Kempes Tekiela added to his tally for the season 20 minutes later by calmly converting a spot kick after a warranted penalty call, but the teams ultimately shared the spoils in the New York City suburb. Judging by the ESPN+ broadcast, the crowd at Memorial Field was fairly thin yet very vocal, and its antagonism was bolstered by someone, seemingly set up either inside the stadium or just outside of it, continuously shredding “Mad Max: Fury Road”-style on an electric guitar. The distorted riffs echoed menacingly around the antiquated 3,900-seat ground, effectively turning it into a hostile environment for the away side.
The atmosphere against the Richmond Kickers the following Friday, June 13 – billed as “Knoxville’s Biggest Happy Hour” and attracting more than 5,000 supporters to Covenant Health Park – should have been more hospitable for One Knox, but myriad issues plagued the proceedings. Kickoff was pushed back half an hour with weather cited as the official reasoning, but the refereeing crew thoroughly inspected the pitch throughout the delay, receiving an earful from Richmond players and management all the while. Identifying the nature of their complaints would be purely speculative, but it seemed to be focused on the state of the temporary sod, which didn’t appear to have taken hold because of the aforementioned saturation levels.
When the action finally got underway, it took just a couple of minutes for a clearance from the back to land in the path of Gio Calixtro, who outran the coverage, cradled the ball into his possession, pushed it to his right to place himself between a defender and the ball and fired it near post past goalkeeper Pablo Jara. Given that the goal occurred on the northwestern half of the pitch that houses the baseball infield and that large chunks of sod looked to be uprooted during the move, protestations from the opposition were immediate and vociferous. Play was allowed to continue, however, and the Kickers equalized in the 23rd minute via a set piece.
Sand had been scattered everywhere around the pitch, presumably to facilitate drainage, and it flew up with every bounce of the ball or stamp of a boot, and the sod looked even more tattered as the game progressed. Jara, moving quickly across his goal to usher a Tekiela free kick over the bar, crashed into his left post and dislodged it at its base around the 35th minute, prompting another lengthy delay. As inclement weather rolled in, though, the match was abandoned before the damage could be fully repaired. It has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 13.
With summer arriving the previous day, conditions for the match against South Georgia Tormenta FC on June 21 were appropriately sweltering. Underneath an unrelenting sun and a cloudless sky, Ian Fuller put on a managerial masterclass, setting his team up in a conservative 4-2-3-1 formation that permitted the away side to control the ball in midfield but rarely allowed a penetrating attack or even a shot on goal. (In fact, that was the only statistical category that One Knox, which converted three of its five attempts on frame, won.) The backline, which featured Scott McLeod deputizing for a suspended Ritchie at left back and Sivert Haugli filling in at center back, was dominant, and the pairing of Callum Johnson and Angelo Kelly in defensive midfield worked exceptionally well, as each put in a good shift in the pivot.
A high press ensured that Tormenta’s two-thirds advantage in possession didn’t amount to much, with much of the passing occurring laterally or directed backward, particularly as the match wore on. Although Knoxville was satisfied to remain in a defensive shell and threaten on the counter, it capitalized on two first-half set pieces and a cross into the box late in the second en route to cruising to a 3-0 win. The breakthrough came after a quarter of an hour, with a Johnson corner kick from the right finding a soaring Jordan Skelton, whose header on goal hit Tekiela and fell in front of Haugli, who coolly roofed it into the net with a side-footed volley.
The home side doubled its lead in the 39th minute, just a short time after a much-needed hydration break. McLeod launched a long throw-in from an advanced position on the left touchline, and Austin Pack, South Georgia’s keeper, came out to meet it. Rather than trying to collect the ball, however, he opted for a punch but got his attempt all wrong. Making only slight contact with it, the ball squirted to Mikkel Gøling, who, being in the right place at the right time, nodded it over the line into an empty net. Although Sean Lewis smartly repelled a close-range effort that resulted from a corner in the second of four added minutes, One Knox entered halftime with a comfortable two-goal lead.
Replacing McLeod to start the second half, Knoxville native Heath Martin saw his first action representing his hometown team. Sporting kit No. 15, a designation reserved for local players, it didn’t take long for the Hardin Valley and IMG Academy product to announce his presence. Hustling to close the gap to a loose ball in the corner, the fullback lunged into a sliding tackle that demolished the right winger also vying for possession. It was just one of many moments that constituted the full 90 minutes, but it was indicative of the gritty effort that each individual on the team put in on the evening.
With the away side unable to pierce a resilient One Knox defense and the result no longer in question, Fuller continued to lean on his substitutes’ bench as the match proceeded. In the 66th minute, he gave Mark Doyle his first taste of action since returning from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him since the beginning of May. The Irishman replaced Calixtro on the left wing. Fuller also brought on Babacar Diene for Gøling during the same interval, and the Senegalese forward took up residence centrally in the playmaking No. 10 role.
Diene made an immediate impact, almost scoring what would have been a wonder goal within three minutes of stepping onto the pitch. Tekiela, who had dropped back into midfield, collected an errant pass and spotted Diene’s run between Tormenta’s two center backs. Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to sprint in on goal, though, Diene held the ball up momentarily before springing headlong with a deliberate third touch. Briefly squaring up on Makel Rasheed, he cut the ball through the hapless defender’s legs in a swift motion and faced up to Pack, who had come off his line to narrow the angles. Opening his body and aiming for the far post with his right peg, he curled in a shot that a sliding Pack just barely clipped over the endline with his trailing left leg.
It didn’t completely atone for his error on the second goal, but it nevertheless was an excellent save by the keeper. Diene had signaled his intent, though, and he left Pack floundering yet again fewer than 10 minutes later. Holding off a defender with his back to goal, he deadened a long ball and played it back to Doyle, who switched the point of attack with a cross-field pass to Dani Fernandez – another recent returnee from injury who had replaced Jaheim Brown on 74 minutes – on the right flank. He passed to Stavros Zarokostas, who bent in a perfectly measured cross to the center of the goal box. Fighting off a defender, Diene rose and guided a header to the left corner of the goal to finish off a movement he was instrumental in starting and to cap the scoring in the 80th minute. While it was his first tally of the campaign, the assist was the Greek winger’s fourth, which ties him atop the League One leaderboard.
With Tormenta pressing for a consolation goal in the final minutes, Diene had a golden opportunity to score a second deep in extra time. Finding himself on a breakaway with a lone defender in hot pursuit, he did the hard part by rounding the keeper, but that allowed enough time for the defender to recover and guard the line. Still, Diene had a lot of goal at which to shoot but opted to go near post and drilled the ball into the defender’s legs, and it bounced away to safety. The referee sounded the whistle for full time soon after.
The win put Knoxville’s record at 4-1-4, and the three points gave it 16 for the season, leaving the team in fifth place and firmly entrenched in a playoff position. It has played at least two fewer matches than all the clubs around it, though, which could result in upward mobility were the squad to experience a purple patch. For its part, the sod withstood the rigors of the match pretty well, clearly fraying at the edges where the infield dirt meets the natural turf but holding strong otherwise. The next three games for One Knox will be on the road, beginning with a Jägermeister Cup tilt in Wisconsin against Forward Madison on June 28. It will return to the Southeast thereafter, playing Red Wolves SC in Chattanooga on July 5 and South Georgia in a rematch on July 12. The next fixtures at Covenant Health Park will be back-to-back league games on July 16 and 19 against California-based AV ALTA FC and Westchester, respectively.
