The Streak is Over

Wednesday night meant the end of Fort Wayne Football Club’s historic 11-game unbeaten run in league play which now stands as the second-longest unbeaten streak in league history for a team in their inaugural season. One Knoxville SC handed Fort Wayne just their 3rd loss of the season, 2-1. The result catapulted Knoxville to the top of the league, while Fort Wayne fell to the 7th position in the table.

Seconds into the match, Fort Wayne FC went down a man as Javier Armas was sent off for kicking Knoxville’s Krioutchenkov in the back while falling to ground after Krioutchenkov ran into Armas and knocked him off balance. The play also resulted in a yellow card for Krioutchenkov, One Knoxville’s top scorer. Fort Wayne is now in the record books with the fastest red card in league history.

It was Fort Wayne FC who looked more promising in the early stages of the match. In the fifth minute, Jack Thomas beat two defenders with some nifty footwork and released a shot that was off the mark only by a couple yards. Then in the 11th minute, Fort Wayne had to face more adversity as veteran, James Musa, suffered his second injury of the season after only just being fit enough to go a full 90 minutes against Spokane Velocity FC back on July 4th.

Although Fort Wayne was down a man and only had 30% possession in the first half, they were able to outshoot One Knox 5 to 3. Fortunately, Fort Wayne FC was able to go into the half playing 10v10 as One Knox striker Denis Krioutchenkov was issued a second yellow card for a late challenge on Michael Rempel.

One Knoxville SC ultimately found the breakthrough after only 2 minutes in the second half as the former Jamaican U17 International, Scott McLeod, scored off a corner kick sent in by Teddy Baker. Taig Healy continued to show his class as Fort Wayne FC’s best players with a dangerous shot off the crossbar in the 52nd minute and later setting up the equalizer through an exquisite slip pass into Kabiru Gafar who scored his first senior professional goal for Fort Wayne in the 72nd minute.

After the equalizer, Teddy Baker responded in the 74th minute with a run into the box unmarked but ultimately fired his shot high from eight yards out. That scare from One Knoxville seemed to wake Fort Wayne back up. Clarence Awoudor had a pair of shots that were eventually blocked, then saved by Johan Garibay.

Then came the winning goal by Abel Caputo in the 81st minute. After the initial corner was headed away by Michael Rempel, Caputo scored on a volley that took a wicked deflection off of Healy, and put the ball just out of Schipmann’s grasp.

Fort Wayne FC battled to the end like they have done so many times before including, most notably against Indy Eleven and their recent defeat against Detroit City FC, but were unable to come up with anything against the defending champions, One Knoxville SC, who now have conceded the least goals in the league with 13, one ahead of Fort Wayne FC’s 14.

Next, Fort Wayne FC faces Greenville Triumph SC on Saturday the 18th, back at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium where they have never lost a game in league play. Fort Wayne FC can continue to climb the table with a win against 15th place Greenville whose only away win so far this season came against bottom of the table New York Cosmos on July 4th.