Lexington Sporting Club suffered a 2-0 defeat against One Knoxville SC in its first road trip of the season Saturday.
The loss sees the club fall to 1-1-1 (4 points) on the new season while One Knoxville SC improved to 2-0-0 (6 points). The home side currently occupies first in the league table while Lexington SC slots in at No. 5.
Lexington entered the match after earning its first win of the season in league play over Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, but more recently bowed out of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup against Vermont Green FC.
The match was neck-and-neck from the get-go with Lexington SC goalkeeper Amal Knight, along with One Knox SC keeper Sean Lewis, keeping the score deadlocked at 0-0 after 45 minutes of play.
Back out for the second half, it continued to be a tight battle until disaster struck for the visitors in the 70th minute when One Knox SC found the net courtesy of Rodolfo Castro Jr.
Lexington fought to get back into the game but fell victim to a dagger in the 86th minute when Knoxville scored a second goal, this time by Stuart Ritchie.
Trailing by two, Lexington was unable to come back to earn the victory and suffered its first loss of the season in league play.
“There is obviously more work to be done within our team,” Knight said. “We came away with no points so that’s a concern, but we’re just three games in and we’re still finding our footing in the league. Knoxville plays some good football so I think the result was unfortunate for us. We didn’t create many chances and that’s the nature of football.”
One Knox controlled the possession in the match, holding onto the ball 58.5-percent of the time while also slightly winning in expected goals with a .74-.39 advantage.
“It’s never fun to lose, but we had a lot of positives from the match and still have plenty of games left in the season to fix the issues we faced against One Knox,” Kaelon Fox said. “The guys are really looking forward to our next match on Friday against Greenville on national television.”
Next up for Lexington SC, the Boys in Green will return home for a fixture against Greenville Triumph SC in Toyota Stadium. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Friday, March 29.
About Lexington Sporting Club
Lexington Sporting Club is a U.S. Soccer professional soccer club competing in USL League One (U.S. Soccer third division men’s professional soccer), and in USL Super League (women’s professional soccer launching in 2024). The two professional teams are the pinnacle of the soccer ecosystem in Lexington that features more than 1,400 players within its youth and academy systems. Lexington SC in the process of building the club’s formal stadium, performance center and training fields.