WHAT TO WATCH FOR AND WHAT TO EXPECT
The Chattanooga Red Wolves will head out to Windsor, Colorado for this week’s match against the Northern Colorado Hailstorm. Chattanooga hosted the first meeting between the clubs in the 2024 home opener on April 20th, which resulted in a 1-1 draw after a late equalizer by the visitors. Following a 5-2 final score in favor of Greenville, the Red Wolves look for critical points against an imposing Hailstorm, who recently qualified for the USL Jägermeister Cup final.
Chattanooga found themselves down two goals early in their most recent contest against the Triumph. A second yellow, match ejection shown to Tobi Jnohope sent Chattanooga down to ten men in the 32nd minute, but a goal by Mayele Malango brought the score to 2-1 for his sixth goal of the year just before halftime. The Red Wolves looked to capitalize on the momentum going into the second half of play, but Greenville would hold the offensive advantage to score two additional goals in the 59th and 63rd minutes. Chattanooga made several substitutions in search of fresh offense, but the Triumph would score their fifth and final goal in the 85th minute. A penalty in the box would see Gustavo Fernandes draw a penalty kick that was successfully scored by Ropapa Mensah to bring the Red Wolves to two goals, but they were unable to overcome the deficit by the final whistle.
Northern Colorado suffered a 3-2 loss at the hands of Union Omaha in league play on Saturday, September 14th after dropping a 2-0 result against the Owls to go to the USL Jägermeister Cup finals. Omaha opened the scoring in the 40th minute and accrued 10 shots to Colorado’s four after the first 45 minutes. The Hailstorm won a penalty in the 53rd minute by second half substitute Jackson Dietrich and scored to even the match at 1-1; however, Owls forward Lagos Kunga would reclaim the lead for his side just two minutes later. Their lead would hold until Colorado found a second equalizer in the 83rd minute for a 2-2 score, but Omaha would strike again for the win – after a back and forth contest, Omaha snapped the Hailstorm’s nine-match win streak across all competitions with an 85th minute go ahead goal.
The Red Wolves will go on a bye week for the Jägermeister Cup final and will face intrastate rival One Knoxville for a final time on Saturday, October 5th at CHI Memorial Stadium. They will then head on the road for two weeks to take on Forward Madison and the Richmond Kickers before closing out the regular season at home on Saturday, October 26th against Lexington SC.
JNOHOPE TO MISS MATCH, ONLY LONG TERM INJURIES LIMIT ROSTER
Tobi Jnohope will serve his one match red card suspension this week against Northern Colorado. Michael Knapp will potentially return after missing the last few matches with a lower body injury.
Outside of long term injuries to Richard Renteria, Jonny Filipe, and Omar Gomez, the Chattanooga roster is nearly at full health.
TRIPLE M SQUAD LEAD IN GOAL SCORING, MENSAH RECLAIMS LEAD
The “Triple M” squad of Ropapa Mensah, Chevone Marsh, and Mayele Malango currently lead the Chattanooga Red Wolves in goals scored in League One competition. The threesome were tied at six goals for approximately 45 minutes on Saturday, September 14th in the match against Greenville, but Mensah’s late penalty goal gave him the one-goal lead once again for a total of seven on the year.
Chattanooga will continue to depend on offensive depth as the regular season nears its close and the Red Wolves sit just outside of a playoff spot in tenth place with five matches remaining on the schedule and only a few points separating the qualifying clubs.
WATCHING FROM CHATTANOOGA
Chattanooga Red Wolves fans will be watching this match from Jonathan’s Grille, the official pub partner of the Red Wolves.
