Triumph SC grabs early, but allows two set piece goals in loss
Greenville, SC (May 20, 2023) – An early goal from Leonardo Castro was not enough to push the Greenville Triumph to victory, as the club lost 2-1 to One Knoxville on Saturday night after the visitors netted two set-piece goals. Greenville dropped to eighth in league standings after its fifth loss.
Greenville had a strong start Saturday night for a second straight match, with forward Leo Castro putting the home team on top in the 8th minute. The Colombian beat a One Knox defender and saw the opportunity to connect with Lucas Coutinho in the box, but then took the shot himself to put the Triumph on top. Greenville continued to best the expansion side in possession, but a free kick in the 20th minute evened the score when Knoxville’s Gabriel Claudio scored a header. The first half was played between the 18-yard boxes with the home team maintaining possession but unable to add a second before the halftime break.
Only four minutes into the half, the match turned when Knoxville notched another goal outside the run of play. A corner kick flew across the face of the Greenville goal and a lucky heel flick by Knoxville’s Sebastian Andressan hit the crossbar and deflected across the goal line to pull Knoxville in front. After taking a lead, One Knox focused their efforts on defending for the remainder of the match. Greenville struggled to create and collaborate in the midfield, but threw balls up the flanks of the field as they put heavy pressure on the Knoxville defense late in the match. Despite their efforts, GTSC was unable to equalize as they conceded the match 2-1.
The Greenville Triumph face a short turnaround, as they head to Nebraska to face rivals Union Omaha on Wednesday at 8:00 PM EST. GTSC will return home for Fiesta De Fútbol on June 3rd in Paladin Stadium. Tickets are on sale now.
Head Coach, John Harkes on the match: “We score a great goal early, Leo gets on the end of it, Lucas combining with him and then it’s just the discipline has to rise up,” said Head Coach John Harkes. “We can’t be leaving our feet fouling late in the shape that we are in. We talked about what they want to do they don’t score a lot in the run of play they score on set pieces. They compete for everything and we conceded two fouls in dangerous areas and the corner and we shouldn’t concede like that and the guys know that and we’ve got to get better.”
