Hearts Fall to Knoxville on the Road
August 2, 2025 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
Portland Hearts of Pine News Release
PORTLAND, Maine - Portland Hearts of Pine (4-4-8) fell 1-0 to One Knoxville SC (7-2-6) in Tennessee on Saturday night. Knoxville remains undefeated at Covenant Health Park in their six regular-season home matches.
Knoxville controlled much of the match from the start and created several dangerous chances. One of the first opportunities came in the 11th minute, when a close-range strike forced Portland goalkeeper Hunter Morse into a forward-diving save to keep the game level.
Knoxville thought it had found success in the 30th minute after Nico Rosamilia sent a ball across the six-yard box to Babacar Diene, who hit it into the right corner. But the Knoxville celebrations were short-lived; Diene was offside, and the goal was called back.
Just seven minutes later, Knoxville had its breakthrough. Defender Dani Fernández sent a ball across the middle of the field to Mikkel Gøling, who settled it and unleashed a powerful 25-yard strike into the bottom right corner, putting the hosts up just before halftime.
In the second half, the crossbar was Hearts' best friend. In the 76th minute, Diene jumped and headed a ball in from the far post but was denied by the crossbar. Ten minutes later, another dangerous Knoxville strike bounced off the crossbar and kept the home team at just a one-goal lead.
Knoxville continued to attack, but Hearts fought until the very end. Portland nearly equalized in the final minute of added time, when a free kick by Natty James ricocheted off several players before finding itself at Mo Mohamed's feet. Mohamed took a powerful shot toward the left of the net, but Knoxville goalkeeper Sean Lewis rescued the home team with a diving save right before the final whistle.
Up next: Portland Hearts of Pine are back at Fitzpatrick Stadium next week to host Halifax Wanderers from Nova Scotia in the club's first-ever international friendly. The match is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed online.
GOALS
POR - NONE
KNOX - Gøling 37' (Fernández)
DISCIPLINE
YC - Johnson (KNOX 21'), Vinberg (POR 28'), Green (POR 55'), Langlois (POR 67'), Kelly (KNOX 81'), Zarokostas (KNOX 85')
RC - NONE
LINEUPS
PORTLAND HEARTS OF PINE - Hunter Morse, Nathan Messer (Mo Mohamed 87'), Sean Vinberg, Kemali Green, Colby Quiñones, Ollie Wright (Natty James 78'), Michel Poon-Angeron (Pat Langlois 61'), Mikey Lopez ©, Jay Tee Kamara (Walter Varela 61'), Titus Washington, Masashi Wada (Noah Kvifte 61')
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES - Kash Oladapo, Shandon Wright
ONE KNOXVILLE SC - Sean Lewis, Jaheim Brown (James Thomas 64'), Dani Fernández (Stuart Ritchie 64'), Jordan Skelton ©, Sivert Haugli, Callum Johnson (Abel Caputo 64'), Nico Rosamilia (Kimarni Smith 78'), Angelo Kelly, Mikkel Gøling, Stavros Zarokostas, Babacar Diene
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES - Johan Garibay, Benjamin Brophy, Scott McLeod, Gio Calixtro
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