Paradise Unable to Overcome Deficit in Loss to One Knoxville
Published on April 4, 2026 under United Soccer League One (USL1)
Sarasota Paradise News Release
Two second half goals were too much for Sarasota to overcome, as the Paradise dropped Saturday's match 2-1 to One Knoxville SC
The first half mirrored Sarasota's matchup with AC Boise, as each team was unable to break through the defense of the other. An early scoring chance in the 22nd minute saw Sarasota's Sean Karani float an arcing ball to Jonathan Bolanos, who couldn't find the net. They had another chance in the 35th from Ethan Bryant, but it was saved by Knoxville goalkeeper Johan Garibay. Sarasota held firm in the first half, only allowing two Knoxville shots on goal the entire half. Defense was the star of the show for the half, as neither team was able to break through on goal. Clearances from both teams and stellar goalkeeping saw the teams go into the half tied at zero.
Paradise came out of the locker room with a renewed vigor, attacking the One Knox defense just a minute into the half as Bolanos nearly connected with Jordan Bender before the shot was blocked by Garibay to deny Paradise the first goal of the game. They would continue to pressure Garibay and the defense for the next several minutes but weren't able to put one past Garibay as the clock ticked past minute fifty. The first goal of the game came in the 54th when Knoxville's Mikkel Gøling streaked down the right side and floated a pass that found the left foot of Braudilio Rodriguez, who tapped it past Sutton to give Knoxville a 1-0 lead. Their second goal came just eight minutes later, when Rodriguez found Babacar Diene in the box who fired a shot into the net to give the Tennessee side a 2-0 lead. The Paradise would continue their search for a goal until the 73rd minute, when Karani found a streaking Bolanos, slotted it past Garibay for his second goal of the season to cut the deficit to one. Sarasota continued to create chances as the final twenty minutes counted down but were unable to equalize from a late push before the final whistle.
"Plenty of of positives to build off of...but we know we can't get too high on the good days and too low on the bad days. Long season and the beauty of football we get to go again on Wednesday." Declan Watters
"We rely a lot on the culture and we are going to take that on the road as well" Jonathan Bolanos
"The togetherness of the group is amazing, you saw that when we got scored on again... The captains brought the team together and they huddled up and they decided to roll up their sleeve and not stay down." Mika Elovaara
NEXT UP
The Paradise have a multi-match week as they travel to face Westchester SC on Wednesday, April 8 before returning to Florida for in-state rival FC Naples in the Battle for Paradise on Saturday, April 11. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.
By Ryan Flynn
United Soccer League One Stories from April 4, 2026
- New Rivalry: the First Matchup Between Velocity FC and AC Boise Results in a 1-1 Draw - Spokane Velocity FC
- FC Naples Earns 1-0 Victory over Greenville Triumph SC on First Responders Night - FC Naples
- Defense Falters for Corpus Christi FC in 5-1 Loss at Westchester SC - Corpus Christi FC
- Paradise Unable to Overcome Deficit in Loss to One Knoxville - Sarasota Paradise
- Paradise Unable to Overcome Deficit in Loss to One Knoxville - Sarasota Paradise
- Rodrigues Paces One Knox over Sarasota - One Knoxville SC
- Late Push Falls Short in Naples Road Opener - Greenville Triumph SC
- Spengler Hat Trick Lifts Cosmos in 3-2 Win - New York Cosmos
- Paradise Welcome League One Champions One Knoxville SC - Sarasota Paradise
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