RICHMOND, Va. — Emiliano Terzaghi scored the game-winning goal in front of the Richmond Kickers’ (8-8-7) largest crowd of the season over second-place Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (10-4-10) and notched the first Kickers’ win over Chattanooga in USL League One history.
The official’s whistle blew and the Richmond Kickers home rematch against the Red Wolves was underway. In the 11th minute, Chattanooga found themselves on the attack after their high press.
Blake Frischknecht found space on the left side of the box and shot at goal but Akira Fitzgerald’s reactions were sublime and he parried the ball over the crossbar. Shortly after, Esteban Calvo threaded a perfectly-weighted through pass into Ethan Bryant who made an incisive run into the Chattanooga box and centered the ball, but the Chattanooga defense cleared it for a corner.
After a tense 20 minutes of back-and-forth play between the sides, Bryant received a pass outside of the Chattanooga box as he was surging up the right-wing and curled an in-swinging cross to Jonathan Bolanos who soared into the air to power a header at goal but the attempt went just slightly over the crossbar.
With only a minute left in the first half, Bolanos held possession of the ball near the corner flag and managed to sneak a pass into Emiliano Terzaghi near the edge of the Chattanooga box. Terzaghi turned and fired off his first shot of the night, but Tim Trilk got behind the shot and collected it to keep the first half scoreless, 0-0.
The second half was underway at a packed City Stadium, and the two sides jumped right back into action with the same fervor and intensity. Only five minutes into the half, and Bolanos was freed up on the left-wing, he held up the play and waited for Chris Cole to overlap who sent a ball into Terzaghi at the center of the box.
Terzaghi took a shot, but it was deflected out for a corner. Victor Falck received the set piece delivery outside of the Chattanooga box and curled in a wonderfully-weighted pass to the head of Jalen Crisler who knocked the ball towards the far post, nearly beating Trilk who pawed the ball away right into the run of Terzaghi. The Argentine talisman caught the bouncing deflection with a beautifully hit side-footed volley that smashed into the back of the net.
With the introduction of Nathan Aune and Devante Dubose onto the pitch in the 68th minute, the Reds looked to reinforce their defense for the remainder of the match with some fresh legs and physicality to see out their lead. The substitution marked a special moment for Dubose who was making his City Stadium debut after recovering from a knee injury suffered last summer.
A few minutes later, in the 74th minute, Richmond was on the front foot of a counterattack. Nil Vinyals gained possession just outside of the Richmond box and sent Bolanos running forward with a long ball forward. Bolanos dribbled all the way from half field into the Chattanooga box, he turned, held the ball up and laid a pass off to Matt Bolduc who caught the pass in stride and struck it with his weak foot but the shot went just over the bar.
With only five minutes left of regular time, Chattanooga had a set piece outside of the Richmond box. The free kick was delivered into the box, but Jason Ramos, who was previously booked in the first half was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Fitzgerald. Ramos was ejected from the match and Chattanooga was down a man and a goal.
As the clock hit the 90th minute, the fourth official indicated seven minutes of stoppage time, and Richmond would have to batten down the hatches to earn a hard-fought three points. Late into stoppage time, Trilk attempted to distribute the ball out of the backfield but Vinyals intercepted and had a go at the goal that Trilk left open behind him but the ball went only slightly over the bar.
Richmond saw out the remaining minutes of the match and walked off the pitch having earned three points at City Stadium for the second match in a row.
Richmond will return to City Stadium for a midweek matchup against Henny Derby-rivals, Forward Madison, Wednesday, October 6. With both teams separated by only two points, the match will have massive implications on the USL League One playoffs as the Kickers finally have the opportunity to host their rivals at City Stadium for the first time this season. Kickoff for the match is set for 6:30 p.m.
Stay up to date with the latest news from the Kickers at www.richmondkickers.com and on the official team app.
BOX SCORE
|
First Half |
Second Half |
Final |
|
|
Richmond |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Chattanooga |
0 |
0 |
0 |
LINEUPS
Richmond: Akira Fitzgerald, Chris Cole, Ivan Magalhães, Jalen Crisler, Esteban Calvo (68’ – Devante Dubose), Victor Falck, Matt Bolduc, Nil Vinyals, Jonathan Bolanos (83’ – Luke Pavone), Emiliano Terzaghi (90+6’ – Hernan Gonzalez), Ethan Bryant (68’ – Nathan Aune)
Unused Substitutes: Austin Causey, Juan Pablo Monticelli, Oalex Anderson
Chattanooga: Tim Trilk, Jonathan Ricketts, Jason Ramos, Jonathan Esparza, Ronaldo Pineda, Jimmie Villalobos, Ualefi (75’ – Juan Galindrez), Rey Ortiz (58’ – Mark Hernández), Ricky Ruiz, José Carrera-Garcia, Blake Frischknecht (58‘ – David Texeira)
STATISTICS
|
Shots |
Saves |
Fouls |
Corners |
|
|
Richmond |
10 |
6 |
20 |
3 |
|
Chattanooga |
21 |
3 |
14 |
7 |
SCORING SUMMARY
|
52’ |
RIC |
Terzaghi |
CAUTIONS SUMMARY
|
29’ 33’ 38’ 43’ 45+1’ 78’ 82’ 84’ 85’ 90’ 90’+8 |
CHA RIC RIC CHA CHA CHA RIC RIC CHA RIC RIC |
Ramos Bolanos Magalhães Ortiz Pineda Hernandez Vinyals Dubose Ramos Pavone Bolduc |
EJECTIONS SUMMARY
85’ CHA Ramos
