Thousands cheer on One Knoxville to club's first soccer playoff victory
No sound was more welcome than the referee's whistle for both the players on the field and the approximately 2,000 fans in attendance for One Knoxville’s playoff quarterfinal at West High School.
After 120 minutes of soccer, the hosts had finally defeated previously unbeaten Texas United (9-1-5), 4-2, for a place in the USL League Two’s Southern Conference semifinals, which will be played at the same venue Sunday night.
“We need to be better,” said head coach Mark McKeever afterward. “We are better. We clawed it back, did it dirty, did it the hard way. But, at the end of the day, we did it.”
One Knoxville SC (12-2-1) never trailed.
But the game was still a roller coaster ride for the hosts, which watched as top-seeded Nona FC were upset 2-1 by West Virginia United, seeded last in the Southern Conference, in the night’s early game. The fact that One Knoxville had claimed its division title, is hosting quarter- and semifinals at home, and was ranked third in the 114-team league for least goals received in its first season did not matter. There are no bad teams come playoff time.
After a scoreless first half, One Knoxville found a breakthrough in the 51st minute as captain James Thomas struck a free kick from 25-yards-out past the goalie. It was the right wingback’s first goal of the season, and the fourth time in the last six games that Texas United had fallen behind.
But the team – one of only four in the USL League Two that carried an undefeated regular season record into the postseason – responded less than 60 seconds later through forward Emil Jaaskelainen, who took advantage of a defensive mistake to chip the ball past goalkeeper Ryan Troutman into the back of the net.
Thomas stepped up again in the 85th minute. After a long dribbling sequence, left-sided wingback Moses Mensah backheeled the ball to the Englishman just outside the penalty box. Thomas hit a one-time shot high and into the top far corner of the net, a potential Goal of the Year candidate.
But again the euphoria was short-lived. In the 90th minute, Texas United forward Hector Remero snuck in between the two center-backs and headed an inch-perfect cross past Troutman to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime.
“We've talked about emotional stability from the day that we got into playoffs,” McKeever said. “And I felt as though we stayed emotionally stable. We never got rocked by the equalizer, and we should’ve been rocked. But we went in and did it again. We stayed stable.”
After 90 minutes, One Knoxville had the bulk of both possession and attacking threat, with 13 shots to Texas United’s four. And in the first 15-minute overtime period they began to impose themselves again. In the 97th minute, leading goal scorer Stephen Afrifa, who had missed once and hit the post after coming on as a substitute in the second half, broke the deadlock for the third time, taking down a long throw-in from fellow substitute Alex Abril and finishing from inside the penalty box.
“It was a big feeling of relief, if I’m being honest,” Afrifa said. “After the first two, I got the third chance and I couldn't let that slip again.”
Abril put the game away for good in the 117th minute, sprinting more than 50 yards to chase down a deflection, beat his defender, and score the night’s final goal before running into the corner to celebrate with a group of fans.
The 4-2 victory means One Knoxville will face West Virginia United at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The winner will advance to the Southern Conference Championship next Friday against the victor from the other regional semifinal between Asheville City and North Carolina Fusion.
While one of the benefits of hosting was the reduced travel time – Texas United had traveled 13 hours to Knoxville—the biggest differentiator for the players may have been the home support, spurred on by the team’s supporter’s group, The Scruffs, who waved flags, played drums, and sang throughout the game, even as the time ticked past 10 p.m.
“The crowd really piped up, really got behind us. And we were feeling it,” said Thomas, who last year captained the Des Moines Menace to the USL League Two national title.
“But I am asking one thing of them, and that's to come out Sunday night. We’re going to need them. We're playing against good teams. We've got a good West Virginia side on Sunday. So we need those fans to get behind us because they were absolutely electric tonight.”
Brian Gabriel Canever is a soccer writer and co-host of the Knox Soccer Podcast.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Thousands cheer on One Knoxville to club's first soccer playoff victory
