Knoxville Kick Off Its Season at Home with Fireworks

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USL1 One Knoxville SC

Knoxville Kick Off Its Season at Home with Fireworks

May 1, 2025 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
One Knoxville SC News Release


KNOXVILLE TN - One Knoxville SC kicked off it's first game at Covenant Health Park on Saturday, April 26th for the first round of the USL Jagermeister Cup vs USL Championship side FC Tulsa. It was a match filled with goals, penalty kicks and fireworks - literally.

The home side found themselves down a goal just 90 seconds into their home debut after a mistake at the back let Tulsa forward, Taylor Calheira, take on Sean Lewis one-on-one and guide the ball past the Knoxville goalkeeper.

It took Knoxville a little over half-an-hour to strike back for what was the first goal ever scored in Covenant Health Park for the home side after rookie, Mikkel Goeling, tapped in a cross from Stavros Zarokostas at the back post.

At half-time, One Knox striker Babacar Diene made way for Kempes Tekiela who made it 2-1 to the home side, converting a penalty he won himself after Lamar Batista tripped him in the box. Batista was later red-carded for a second yellow card leaving Tulsa with just 10-men on the field.

The packed-out, USL League One record breaking crowd of 6,378 were silenced in stoppage time when Al Hassan Toure tied the game in the 90+5 ‚¬Â² minute, taking the tie to penalty kicks.

Kempes Tekiela, Callum Johnson, Abel Caputo all stepped up and converted from the spot while Tulsa missed their first two penalty kicks. It allowed Daniel Fernandez, a founding member of the squad since the Club's earliest days in the USL League Two, to step up and score the winning penalty-kick. To the silenced that echoed throughout Knoxville, Fernandez stepped up and converted to the goalkeepers left that meant One Knoxville won its first home match of the season and first inside Covenant Health Park.

Your Peaceful Side Brewery Player of the Match was number 17, Mikkel Goeling.

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