ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Asheville City SC hosted One Knoxville SC for their fourth match of the USL W League (USLW) season on Thursday night at Greenwood Field. This was the second meeting between the two teams this season, with Asheville winning the first matchup 1-0 away from home in their USL W League season opener.
The first half was more of the same from the first game for Asheville as they dominated possession throughout the half, putting pressure on the One Knoxville backline and forcing them back into their own half for the majority of the 45 minutes. Because of this, Asheville had no shortage of chances in the first half.
Yuliia Khrystiuk forced a good save out of the One Knoxville goalkeeper with a powerful strike from the left-center of the penalty area in the 27th minute. The press from forward Emma Sheehan forced a mistake from the goalkeeper who cleared the ball directly to the foot of Lucia Flores. Flores launched a first-time effort at the net but it narrowly cleared the crossbar.
Despite a plethora of dangerous chances, Asheville was unable to find the opener and went into the half locked in a scoreless draw.
Sarah Jacobs finally broke the deadlock for The Blues in the 63rd minute with a well-placed shot from the top of the penalty area.
Caitlin Conroy recovered a cross on the left side of the penalty area before turning inside and squaring the ball to the on-running Jacobs who placed a first-time strike into the side netting to beat the One Knox goalkeeper and push Asheville City in front 1-0.
The Blues doubled their lead through substitute Kelly Gordon in the 73rd minute after a well-placed corner kick caused chaos inside of the One Knoxville box.
Khrystiuk swung a corner into the box from the right side which forced the One Knox goalkeeper off of her line to punch the ball away. The ball fell to Flores who headed the ball goalward where it had to be cleared off the line by a defender, causing a scramble in the box. Gordon was the last player to get a foot on it to will it over the line, giving Asheville a 2-0 lead with 17 minutes left to play.
Gabrielle Rourke was forced into action in the 78th minute with a quality save at her near post to preserve the clean sheet for The Blues.
Heavy rain began to fall in the 80th minute of the match and continued for the remainder of the game, but it proved no problem for Rourke, who again was forced to make a save low to her right in the final moments of the match to secure Asheville’s third clean sheet of the season.
After the game, manager Maximiliano Viera spoke on the key to the team’s success tonight, “It was going to be key for us, the will. We wanted it more, and to win the battles in the wide areas, which both teams are trying to attack and capitalize in those areas. So it’s going to be about that, being very disciplined tactically, very focused and winning those battles, individual battles.”
Sarah Jacobs was awarded the Noble Cider Player of the Match award for her efforts in the match which included a goal.
“I think Sarah Jacobs played an amazing game, even before the goal she controlled the midfield,” said Coach Viera. “Defensively, she does a lot of that dirty work, organizing the team, moving the ball from one side to the other side.”
With the victory, the Women in Blue extended their unbeaten streak to four matches and improved to 3-0-1 on the season, which leaves them sitting atop of the South Central Division table a third of the way through the season.
The Women in Blue play again at home on Saturday, May 31. as the Blues try to extract revenge from the Southern Conference Final playoff loss to last year’s South Central Division champions Tennessee SC at Greenwood Field at 7:30 p.m. The team’s played each other three times last season with both teams finishing with a 1-1-1 record in those contests. You can buy your tickets here.