SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane Velocity’s undefeated home record came to an end Saturday night as defending USL League One champion One Knoxville handed Spokane a 4-0 loss at ONE Spokane Stadium.
The defeat dropped Velocity to 6-1-0 at home this season and extended the club’s winless all-time record against Knoxville.
Knoxville struck twice in the first half and added two more goals after the break to spoil a night that featured a rematch of last year’s USL League One Final.
Velocity head coach Leigh Veidman pointed to Knoxville’s dominance on set pieces as an early turning point.
“The first goal was obviously a big one,” Veidman said. “When you lose the set-piece battle, that certainly doesn’t help.”
Knoxville opened the scoring in the 34th minute when Finn McRobb headed home a free kick delivery from Teddy Baker. Just three minutes later, Baker doubled the lead himself with a curling effort that beat the Spokane defense and gave the visitors a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Spokane controlled possession for stretches of the match but struggled to create quality scoring opportunities against one of the league’s stingiest defenses.
Veidman credited Knoxville’s size and organization in the back.
“They’ve got a couple of guys who are 6-foot-2-plus inside there,” Veidman said. “When they sit deep and you force crosses into the box, the bigger guys are always going to win that battle.”
Looking to climb back into the match, Spokane pushed numbers forward in the second half. The aggressive approach created more attacking chances but also left the Velocity vulnerable on the counterattack.
Kyle Linhares made it 3-0 in the 56th minute before Mikkel Goling added Knoxville’s fourth goal in the 74th minute.
Defender Derek Waldeck said Spokane understood the risks of chasing the game.
“When you go down 2-0 in the first half, it’s expected you’re going to be chasing the game,” Waldeck said. “We were trying to throw more numbers forward and pull a goal back. We kind of went with that high-risk, high-reward mentality, and we got punished.”
Despite the lopsided scoreline, midfielder Nil Vinyals felt the result did not fully reflect the flow of the match.
“If you look at the result, you might say we got completely dominated, but I don’t think that’s the story of the game,” Vinyals said. “We had most of the ball, but we need to create higher-quality chances and take the chances that we have.”
The loss also marked Spokane’s second straight defeat, dropping the club further down the League One standings.
Still, both players and coaches emphasized that there is plenty of season remaining.
“We’re not even halfway through the season,” Veidman said. “These results do happen. It’s not something we want to make a habit of, but we take it, we move on and we try to improve for Wednesday.”
Velocity will look to bounce back when they host Westchester SC on Wednesday at ONE Spokane Stadium.
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