One Knoxville 2, Richmond Kickers 2
| RICHMOND KICKERS | 2 | 32′ Vinyals (penalty), 86′ Vinyals (Fitch) |
| ONE KNOXVILLE | 2 | 4′ Bentley (own goal), 38′ Ilić (Waldeck) |
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Richmond Kickers (6-14-11, 29 pts) drew Friday night against One Knoxville SC (9-11-11, 38 pts) after Nil Vinyals netted equalizers in each half to secure the point. The season series against the league debutants ended tied with both matches ending in draws.
Knoxville got on the board early with a Knoxville corner resulting in a Richmond own goal in the opening four minutes. As the ball flew into the Kickers’ penalty area, Matthew Bentley appeared to be pushed in the back by a Knoxville player as he tried to clear the ball with his head and it deflected in.
In the 10th minute, after two rebound saves from Will Palmquist, another Knoxville corner flew to the back post where he made another save and left back Beckett Howell cleared it.
An attempt from Hornsby from the top left corner of the box flew just barely over the crossbar minutes later.
In the 25th minute, another One Knox corner turned into an option at the top of the box for Knoxville right midfielder Derek Waldeck. But, Palmquist completely denied the attempt, sending the ball over the top of the crossbar and out of play.
In the 30th minute, midfielder Nil Vinyals was fouled in the box, trying to make a touch on a low cross from rightback Simon Fitch. After Knox’s Jalen Crisler took him down, Vinyals went to the spot and buried his attempt in the top left corner with the keeper Sean Lewis diving the other way.
Knoxville took the lead again though, in the 38th, Waldeck found Ilija Ilić on the run at the top of the box and got a shot off right before Palmquist arrived from coming off his line.
Waldeck set up another push for One Knox. His cross found the head of Ilić but Palmquist dove with one hand to his right and made the save. He made another shortly after in the 58th stopping another approach from Waldeck and making a save on the ground, this time to his left.
Richmond saw several attempts in the second half that nearly found the back of the net. Bentley took the keeper on one-on-one after shaking two Knoxville defenders in the 74th minute but Lewis was able to get his hands to it.
In the 77th minute, the Kickers sent fresh legs onto the pitch. Landon Johnson and Nick Simmonds, joined by Ethan Vanacore-Decker, stepped on the pitch to push the One Knox defenders. The trio replaced, Hornsby, Bentley, and midfielder João Gomiero respectively.
Beckett Howell swung a cross in off a pass from Vinyals in the 80th minute but Lewis got in the way again. A low, cross-field through ball from Simmonds in the 83rd minute sliced through the Knox midfield and found Ryan Sierakowski, but he was knocked off his feet by the closing defender and the ball was sent away.
In the 85th, constant pressure from the Kickers finally was rewarded with the ball in the back of the net. Vinyals, captaining the team tonight, scored his second on the night, ripping a shot with his weak foot from well outside of the box to beat Lewis and find the bottom left corner.
Fitch got the scoring play started with the last pass to Vinyals, earning his team-leading fourth assist of the season.
The Kickers’ defense held the score even through to the end, after four minutes of extra time. Richmond was able to play spoiler in the match as the resulting draw knocked One Knox out of playoff contention.
The Kickers return home for their season finale on Saturday, Oct. 14th to host Central Valley Fuego FC during Fan Appreciation Night presented by FeedMore. The doors at City Stadium are set to open at 4:45 p.m. ahead of the 6 p.m. kickoff. Tickets are available at richmondkickers.com/tickets.
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