Match Preview: Chattanooga Red Wolves SC vs. Greenville Triumph SC
Red Wolves aiming to halt losing bounce
Match: Chattanooga Red Wolves SC v Greenville Triumph SC
Date: Saturday, October 4th, 2025. 19:00 (Eastern)
Venue: CHI Memorial Stadium, East Ridge, TN. Capacity: 2,500
How to watch: ESPN+
Tickets: Red Wolves Website
Greenville Triumph visits East Ridge for the second time this year in the third of their regular season bouts with the Chattanooga Red Wolves. The home side is chasing first place while their visitors are fighting for a playoff spot as we reach the final stretch of games in USL League One.
Chattanooga (W13 D4 L9 in the league) are coming off a bruising week in which they lost twice, at home 3-0 against Omaha and 2-0 away at Knoxville on Wednesday. Prior to that they’d gone 14 games unbeaten, not losing since June 28. Although they’ve already qualified for the playoffs, they’ll be keen to bounce back and avoid a third slip-up as we approach season’s end. At home they’ve won eight and drawn four (losing once), scoring 18 and conceding nine goals in 13 games.
While the Red Wolves have lost two-in-a-row, Greenville (W8 D12 L6 in the league) is on a two-game winning bounce. They beat Madison 3-0 at home and followed that up with a 1-0 away win at a sinking Spokane. This represents a welcome change of fortunes for the Triumph, who previously went seven games without a win across August and September. With three wins and three draws from 13 road trips, they’ve picked up points in just under half their away games. This is a slightly below average record, with a -4 goal difference.
The game will be officiated by Luis Arroyo (New Jersey) and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
The history
Chattanooga: P:20 W:5 D:4 L:11 GF:22 GA:31 GD:-9
Greenville: P:20 W:11 D:4 L:5 GF:31 GA:22 GD:+9
Greenville boasts a dominant record over their hosts. Of the 20 games they’ve played since 2019, Triumph have won over half of them and taken points in 15. They’ve also scored more than twice the number of goals than the Red Wolves. With seven strikes, Lyam MacKinnon (formerly Greenville Triumph, now Orange County SC) is the top scorer in this fixture. Steven Beattie (formerly Red Wolves, now retired), Jacob Labovitz (formerly Triumph, now Vermont Green), and Jake Keegan (formerly Triumph, now Hearts of Pine) all have three goals in the match-up, as does current Greenville forward Leo Castro.
This will be the third meeting of these two teams in 2025. In late April, the Red Wolves were 1-0 winners over Greenville at home in CHI Memorial Stadium. Zahir Vazquez scored the game’s only goal. On June 21 at Paladin Stadium, Pedro Hernández gave Chattanooga an early lead before a trio of goals from Castro, Toby Sims, and Ezekiel Soto gave Greenville a thumping victory.
Report cards and lineups
Chattanooga
Earlier this week, the Red Wolves announced the appointment of Patrick Mashburn as the club’s new General Manager. More of a front office role, it means that Head Coach and Technical Director Scott Mackenzie will continue to lead all soccer operations and on-field performance. This past Wednesday, Chattanooga were relieved of their position at the top of the table by One Knoxville when the Red Wolves suffered a 2-0 loss at Covenant Health Park. Chattanooga had 24 shots (to Knoxville’s 8) and twice as many on target. They and One Knoxville are level on points at 48 with the same number of matches being played. The two sides split matches this season, but Knoxville leads on goal differential.
I expect Head Coach Scott Mackenzie to opt for a variation of his usual 5-4-1 setup, incorporating three center backs, two fullbacks and a pair of central midfielders. Although it will be interesting to see if he makes any alterations given their recent results. Fans will be relieved to see center-back Declan Watters start at home again after an MCL injury kept him out for a number of weeks. Michael Knapp, Jonny Filipe, and Gharett Morris will likely remain on the injury list.
My player-to-watch for Chattanooga is Pedro Hernández. The 26-year-old has eight league goals this season, joint-ninth in USL League One and has fired off 32 shots. His namesake Omar, is another key part of this Red Wolves attack sending off 109 crosses, taking 28 shots, creating 41 chances, and scoring six goals of this own. Matt Bentley also has six goals. South African Wynand Wessels has the most assists in this side, with four in 2025. Goalkeeper Jason Smith has 10 clean sheets, the most of any goalkeeper in the league.
International experience in this Red Wolves squad is with Guatemala (Ricardo Jérez, 63 caps) and the US Virgin Islands (Joshua Ramos, 18 caps).
Greenville
Greenville is currently on a two-game winning bounce. On September 27 they came away from Spokane with a gritty 1-0 road win that kept their playoff hopes alive. After Rodrigo Robles was fouled in the box, Louis ‘Chapa’ Herrera converted from the penalty spot, blasting his kick into the top corner for the game’s lone goal. The hosts pressed for an equalizer, but Greenville’s defense proved impenetrable.
Two of the Red Wolves’ top three goalscorers in club history - Ropapa Mensah and Chevone Marsh - will return to CHI Memorial Stadium for the second time since departing the club in the offseason. Defender DJ Benton is also a former Red Wolf, playing 26 games for them in 2022. Mensah was recently nominated for USL League One Player of the Month for September. He opened the month with goals in back-to-back matches before notching a 36-minute hat trick against Madison on 20 September. In addition to his five goals on the month, the 28-year-old Ghanaian won 35 duels, totaled 11 clearances, placed 10 shots on target and added six recoveries through 416 minutes. He’s my player to watch for Greenville tonight.
Another key performer for the Triumph is midfielder Chapa Herrera, who was named to the USL League One Team of the Week for Week 30. He scored the winner against Spokane, finishing with an 88% passing accuracy rate, three recoveries, three duels won and two clearances. He’s made 1,195 passes, the ninth most in the league. Meanwhile, captain Brandon Fricke has distributed the third most passes in the league (1,395). Midfielder Connor Evans has fired in more crosses (188) than any other player and goalkeeper Gunther Rankenburg has six clean sheets, fifth best in the league and has made 55 saves.
Chevone Marsh has five caps for Jamaica while Tyler Polak and Ezekiel Soto have US youth national team experience at U20 and U17 level respectively.
Analysis and Predictions
I smell a draw tonight. Chattanooga is coming off some unexpected and unwelcome defeats and will probably be happy just to stop a losing rot before it really sets in. They also look a little goal shy these days, which can be a slow thing to recover from. Greenville, meanwhile, is hitting form at just the right time for a playoff push and will likely also be happy with a draw, keeping a nascent unbeaten run going. They’re decent away from home, but the Red Wolves’ Den is a tough place to get wins. 1-1.
