Red Wolves win, miss out on Players' Shield
Knoxville win means they finish second
EAST RIDGE, Tn. — One Knoxville SC claimed the League One Players’ Shield with a 1-0 victory against Greenville Triumph on Saturday night. The result meant that the Chattanooga Red Wolves, regardless of their 2-1 victory over Westchester the same evening would finish in second place and miss out on a first trophy in club history. Pedro Hernández and Matt Bentley scored a pair of goals for the Red Wolves, either side of a Bobby Pierre strike for visitors.
On a pleasant, if a little chilly, October evening on the Tennessee-Georgia border, just over 2,000 fans came to witness the final game of an unexpectedly successful season for the Red Wolves. Tipped by many (including myself) to struggle, due in no small part to the skeleton thin squad they had in March, Head Coach Scott Mackenzie has masterminded an incredible season, characterized by meticulous resource management, smart in-season player recruitment, and robust tactics that capitalized on ruthless counterattacking. And while September and October did witness a drop in form, fans would undoubtedly have bitten your hand off to finish second back in March.
Both sides fielded a standard 4-4-2 on Saturday evening. The Red Wolves, as they’ve done so effectively all season, yielded possession (35%) but dominated in attack (17-7 shots, 6-2 shots on target). They put pressure on Westchester early, quickly lodging two close attempts through Pedro Hernández and Aaron Lombardi. Both sides exchanged chances in the first half, with Chattanooga having the lion’s share. Their efforts were rewarded after 17 minutes when Hernández collected a terrible missed pass from Westchester goalkeeper Enrique Facussé who fed the ball directly to the 26-year-old who graciously collected and right footed a shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner. An awful error from Facussé and a club-leading 10th league goal of the season for Hernández who had the guile to be in the right place at the right time and take the opportunity given to him.
Westchester didn’t wilt however, as they seemed determined to play for pride and disturb Chattanooga’s slim chances of lifting a trophy in their faces. They gained a corner off an awkward Eric Kinzner clearance on 32 minutes. The resulting set piece from Josh Drack found the darting head of Bobby Pierre who beat Kinzner to the ball to excellently send it past Ricardo Jérez. Unmarked and inside six yards, it was his first ever goal for the club.
Westchester captain Juan Carlos Obregón then had a chance to put his team in front with a wicked shot on 38 minutes that slammed against the crossbar and returned into play. As the first half ended, it was the visitors who looked more likely to score next, and the Red Wolves looked as though they could make a banana skin of this one.
The second half was difficult. Chattanooga came out the stronger and showed immense resilience and belief to take hold of the game again. They weren’t helped by an underwhelming performance from referee Dion Coxe-Trieger who gave a number strange of calls against them. In two of them, he awarded Westchester a free kick, when it could easily have been a Red Wolves penalty. The first saw Lombardi fouled in the box by a defender and got a cut forehead for his troubles. Somehow Coxe-Trieger penalized the Chattanooga man when it had been a clear Westchester foul. A few minutes later, Facussé took out substitute Joshua Ramos with an arm to the head in an attempted punching clearance that left the Red Wolves’ man injured, but somehow Westchester had another free kick. Chattanooga’s players were getting frustrated and even Mackenzie saw yellow at one point.
But they kept their heads and substitute Bentley got the winning goal on 73 minutes through a Lombardi free kick that Facussé fumbled. Kinzner collected the ball in the box and let off a shot that Bentley deflected at short-range and into an empty net. It was the Englishman’s seventh league goal of the season. The home crowd were elated, the visiting players dejected.
A resilient win for Chattanooga, and not in easy circumstances. They march into the playoffs now with a home tie against seventh place Portland Hearts of Pine.
Match takeaways
Although he didn’t score on Saturday night, Westchester forward Juan Carlos Obregón took the USL League One Golden Boot with a league-leading 17 goals in the club’s inaugural season. He had broken the record for most goals scored by a USL League One player in a team’s expansion year, passing the mark of 16 set by Ronaldo Damus of North Texas in 2019. The 17 goals are also his career high, two more than the 15 he had a season ago as a member of Charlotte Independence.
The game marked the 100th appearance of Pedro Hernández for Chattanooga. Signed in January 2022 directly from a stint with the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters, the Californian has become (arguable alongside his namesake, Omar) the Red Wolves’ most important attacking asset. His 10 league goals this year amounted to a goal every four shots he took. A fantastic return for a player who isn’t even an out-and-out striker.
Chattanooga goalkeeper Jason Smith was rested on Saturday. But he has won the league’s Golden Glove award. Smith earned the accolade via the shutouts tiebreaker ahead of One Knoxville’s Sean Lewis as the two goalkeepers ended the season with a 0.875 goals-against average to conclude the regular season. Smith’s league-leading 11 shutouts gave him the award with Lewis ending the season on 10 clean sheets as the 22-year-old also recorded 43 saves and a save percentage of 67.2%.
Box Score
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC - Westchester SC
USL League One
Venue: CHI Memorial Stadium | East Ridge, TN
Attendance: 2,175
Final Score: Chattanooga 2-1 Westchester
Referee: Dion Coxe-Trieger
Scoring Summary:
17’: P. Hernández (CRW)
32’: B. Pierre (WES)
73’: M. Bentley (CRW)
Discipline:
11’: J. Ayimbila (CRW) - foul, yellow
21’: B. Pierre (WES) - foul, yellow
45’: D. Watters (CRW) - foul, yellow
Man of the Match: Pedro Hernández (CRW) - Took his goal well with the opportunity gifted him but was composed enough to be in the right place and to take advantage at short notice. A threat all evening, as usual. He’ll be key to the Red Wolves’ chances of success in the playoffs.
Line-ups:
Chattanooga Red Wolves (4-4-2): Ricardo Jérez; Yanis Lelin, Eric Kinzner, Declan Watters, Jordan Ayimbila; Omar Hernández (Joshua Ramos 66’, Zahir Vazquez 82’), Ualefi (C), Matt Acosta, Aaron Lombardi; Pedro Hernández, Greyson Mercer (Matt Bentley 66’)
Substitutes not used: Jason Smith, Kimball Jackson, Tobi Jnohope, Omar Gómez, Alhassan Alhassan
Head Coach: Scott Mackenzie
Westchester (4-4-2): Enrique Facussé; Samory Powder (Daniel Bouman 73’), Rashid Tetteh, Bobby Pierre, Josh Drack (Andrew Jean-Baptiste 73’); Jonathan Bolanos (Prince Saydee 24’), Conor McGlynn, Joel Johnson, Noah Powder; Deshane Beckford (Ermin Mačkić 81’), Juan Carlos Obregón (C)
Substitutes not used: Dane Jacomen, Dean Guezen, Bryan Vásquez
Head Coach: Dave Carton
Next Game
• November 1st, 19:00 (ET): Chattanooga Red Wolves SC v Portland Hearts of Pine, CHI Memorial Stadium, East Ridge, TN (USL League One)