Almost a year ago to the day, Greenville Triumph broke the hearts of One Knoxville SC in the Second Round of the US Open Cup, taking a 3-2 thriller in extra time.
While head coach Ian Fuller was not with the club for last year’s defeat, the loss was on the minds of One Knoxville going into the rematch.
“We reminded them, for sure,” Fuller said with a coy smile. “I mean, it’s there. We know it and the good thing is every single one of our guys has a tremendous amount of pride.”
On Wednesday, Knoxville returned the favor in the upstate, Knocking out fellow USL League One side Greenville 3-1 in regulation.
One Knoxville came out swinging, netting two goals in the opening 25 minutes. Stavros Zarokostas opened the scoring in the 14th minute, picking up the loose ball outside the 18-yard box and rifling it into the bottom corner.
Zarokostas broke through the Triumph defense again not even 10 minutes later when he linked up with Mark Doyle on a counterattack, doubling the advantage.
“I was trying to find Marky a few times this game,” Zarokostas said. “I feel like we should’ve had a few more goals but I’m glad that one went through.”
The first half drama didn’t end there as Greenville were awarded a penalty just before stoppage time, only to see it saved by Knoxville’s Johan Garibay.
The drama carried over into the second half as the Triumph thought they had cut the advantage in half in the 48th minute but it was called back for offsides. Less than two minutes later, Rodrigo Robles Grajera was sent off following scuffle.
Despite being a man down, Greenville were finally able to breach the Knoxville defense in the 55th minute after Ropapa Mensah slotted home the goal.
From there, Knoxville were on their heels and defense felt immense pressure from a Triumph side desperate for an equalizer.
“We didn’t quite match what we had asked of them in the second half, but you know, luckily we were able to get a hold of the game from minute 60 to 80,” Fuller said.
There were numerous times in the final 10 minutes where it looked like Greenville would force extra time. However, a long ball up the left side of the field found Babacar Diene, who hustled his way into the box and found the back of the net deep into stoppage time, sending the USL League One side to the third round for the first time in club history.
“We’re going to keep fighting through every round,” Fuller said. “We love this competition.”