The Chattanooga Red Wolves kicked off the 2024 season on the road Friday night against Lexington SC at Toyota Stadium. The match saw Chattanooga outshoot Lexington, doubling them with 15 shots to Lexington’s seven and led in shots on goal. Chattanooga also out possessed Lexington, but the final score landed in the home club’s favor with a final score of 1-0. The two clubs meet again in Chattanooga on May 25th for the first matchup of the League One cup competition, in Lexington on August 31st for the second cup match, and the regular season finale at home for the Red Wolves on October 26th.
While Lexington opened the season in Week One of the League One season, this match marked the first regulation contest of a roster with nine returning players from 2023 and 15 new signings including a mix of League One, Championship, collegiate, and other professional teams for the Red Wolves.
Chattanooga dominated through the first half with a 65.7% possession between the 15th and 30th minutes, with 56.8% by the end of the half and only allowed three shots for the home side, the first of which coming in the 28th minute.
On the other side of the ball, the Red Wolves collected shots early with an 11th minute shot from Lukic followed by chances from Filipe and Ualefi, the latter bouncing off of Ropapa Mensah at the last moment to be saved by the Lexington keeper.
The first half ended in a nil-nil deadlock as the Red Wolves settled into their first contest of the season.
The physicality increased in the second half with the home side picking up two yellow cards in the 60th and 68th minutes and a total of 25 fouls on the night. Newcomer Omar Hernandez was Chattanooga’s first sub of the night and contributed to two threatening chances for the Red Wolves in the offensive end, including a threatening free kick in the 76th minute.
Chattanooga continued to lead in possession and shots during the half with a 57% rate and 11 additional shots to bring the match total to 15; however, Lexington found the back of the net first as a cross bounced around the box and found the foot of Yannick Yankam who landed a hard shot past TJ Bush just before the 80th minute.
Ricky Ruiz threatened in the 87th minute with a leaping header as the Red Wolves pushed for an equalizer as the match headed into eight minutes of stoppage time. Chattanooga’s best chances came back-to-back in the 94th minute with headers from Marsh and Hernandez that both bounced off of an unforgiving crossbar. Lexington managed to hang on to their one goal lead as time expired heading into the 100th minute.
“Not the result we wanted, but still a very good performance,” said Red Wolves head coach Scott Mackenzie. “…overall in every metric other than the result, we were the dominant team. Lots of positives to build from in terms of identity and lots of little things to get better at. We showed tonight that we are a good team, but it just wasn’t our night. We move on, learn, and get better.”
The Red Wolves will have an early bye week before hosting Union Omaha for the 2024 season opener at CHI Memorial Stadium on Saturday, March 30th featuring a pre-game Easter egg hunt and a post match live concert by local Chattanooga band, Lilac Line on the Outlaw Stage at the Howl Bar. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online.