The Red Wolves closed out this season’s series against Lexington SC Saturday night in a 5-3 victory with goals from Marios Lomis, Jonny Filipe, Ropapa Mensah, Omar Gomez, and Mayele Malango. In addition to his goal, Filipe picked up assists on Lomis’ and Malango’s goals while Ryley Kraft got his fourth and fifth assists of the year on the goals from Mensah and Gomez. This marks the third series won in the 2023 season for the Red Wolves having also taken the series against One Knoxville SC and Forward Madison FC.
Chattanooga opened the scoring early in the match as Marios Lomis edged past the Lexington SC defense to slip the ball behind Amal Knight to put the Red Wolves up 1-0 in the 13th minute. Not long after, Jonny Filipe, left unattended just outside the box, struck the ball past Knight to take the Red Wolves up to 2-0 in the first 20 minutes of the match. As Lexington worked to find their footing, the Red Wolves continued to press as the possession and opportunities evened out.
Lexington grabbed their first goal of the match just before halftime with a successful penalty kick from Nico Brown to cut the Red Wolves lead to 2-1; however, their celebration was short lived as Ryley Kraft found Ropapa Mensah with space in the middle outside the six-yard box, who would collect his tenth goal of the season to allow Chattanooga a 3-1 lead at the end of the first half.
The Red Wolves continued their momentum into the second half just ten minutes in with Kraft’s second assist of the match allowing Omar Gomez to pick up his first goal of the year with a header finish for a 4-1 score in the 55th minute. Mayele Malango found the back of the net in the 58th minute, after several chances earlier in the game, pushing the ball past Knight for the final Red Wolves goal of the contest.
Lexington, having made several substitutions to combat their opponent’s offensive ferocity, claimed 66.7% possession between the 60th and 75th minutes and were rewarded in the 76th with their second goal of the match coming from Ates Diouf to cut the Red Wolves lead to 5-2. Chattanooga worked to buckle down defensively, but Diouf would strike again in the 90+1st minute for the final 5-3 result.
Chattanooga returns home to CHI Memorial Stadium for their final home matches of 2023 on September 30th against Central Valley Fuego and the following week on October 7th against Greenville Triumph SC before they close out the season against Northern Colorado Hailstorm on October 14th.