Red Wolves Advance to USL League One Final for the First Time in Club History
November 2, 2022 – United Soccer League One (USL1) – Chattanooga Red Wolves SC News Release
The Red Wolves traveled to Richmond following the club’s 1-0 win at home in the first round of the playoffs against the defending league champions Union Omaha. Coach Weekley made only one change to the starting eleven that was victorious against Omaha, replacing Nico Cardona for DJ Benton.
The Red Wolves came out against the Kickers looking to make life difficult for their opponents much like against Union Omaha. A tepid start to the match would be broken by Richmond who would put the first shot of the match on target in the 8th minute, producing a good save out of the ever-reliable Carlos Avilez in goal. Timmy Mehl and Jimmie Villalobos would be yellow carded in the match’s next fifteen minutes that saw neither side able to produce any real opportunities on goal. The next chance would once again fall to Richmond in the 23rd minute as Carlos Avilez would produce a massive stop before Richmond would eventually scramble the ball in only for the offside flag to go up and deny the hosts the opening goal.
The 39th minute would see the Red Wolves reduced to ten men, as striker David Texeira was shown a red card for a hard challenge, leaving the visitors with work to do. However, the Red Wolves would get the last chance of the first half as Jimmie Villalobos found Moe Espinoza who fired with his left foot from distance but missed just right of the target. That would be the last action of the half and the shorthanded Red Wolves went to the locker room in a 0-0 tie looking to regroup for a big second half.
Coach Weekley would make the side’s first change of the evening at the beginning of the second half, bringing on Alex Tejera in place of Josue España. The next ten minutes would see little in the way of meaningful action outside of a chance for Richmond’s Jonathan Bolanos who came close to opening the scoring following a corner in the 49th minute. The second Red Wolves substitution would come in the 57th minute, as Rafa Mentzingen was introduced in place of Rey Ortiz. It was nearly Mentzingen who would open the scoring in the 69th minute, as he took aim with his left foot from outside the box and just barely missed to the left of goal.
The 74th minute would see the visitors’ third change, as Ivan Gutierrez came on in place of Moe Espinoza. A minute later Carlos Avilez would be called into action to deny Nil Vinyals a goal and, crucially, keep the Red Wolves level in the match. After a good spell for the Red Wolves, magic struck in the form of Rafa Mentzingen. The visitors countered electrically with pace as Villalobos found Mentzingen, who cut inside and thundered home an absolutely trademark Rafa goal from outside the box to stun the Kickers and give the Red Wolves the lead.
Ualefi would come on in stoppage time for Jimmie Villalobos and he would help see the Red Wolves to a massive 0-1 victory in Richmond. The win means the Red Wolves are heading to the club’s first ever USL League One final on November 6th at 6:30 PM.
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