The Chuckey-Doak Black Knights soccer team celebrated a key District 1-A win over rival University High by the score of 3-1 on Tuesday night.
“That was a great win. We talked about it at halftime and said we needed to be more aggressive to the ball and we did that. We stepped through it and it was just a great team effort,” Black Knights head coach Steven Neesen stated.
A second-half takeover saw Chuckey-Doak score all three goals in the span of 15 minutes after a scoreless first half. Pablo Dimas broke the game open with back-to-back goals on two well-placed shots in the 47th and 50th minutes. Dominic Hahnlen added insurance with a header in the 62nd minute.
The win helped the Black Knights improve to 3-2 within the District 1-A standings and locked up third place in the regular season. They bumped their total record to 6-4-2 with the win.
“It’s a good win. Ending up in third place is better standing than anywhere else. Especially since we’ll probably have to face Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg-Pittman,” Neesen mentioned.
The first half was dry and both teams went into the half with clean sheets. Chuckey-Doak started producing more offense in the late stages of the first and there were promising signs of what was to come in the second.
A free kick opportunity in the 47th minute quickly changed everything. Pablo Dimas noticed something that made him want to take a shot at the goal instead of putting the ball in play to his teammates. He found his target and sent a low shot toward the net. He managed to find his spot and snuck the ball in between the keeper and the far-right post to put Chuckey-Doak ahead 1-0.
Three minutes later in the 50th Dimas extended the Knights’ lead to 2-0 with a bullet shot. He pulled the trigger from the top of the penalty box and caught everyone off guard with a rocket past the goalie.
“That was impressive. He had been working on it and he’s been working hard all season. That was a good redemption to come back and beat University High with them. They have a pretty good team,” Neesen said.
The Black Knights kept pushing the pace on their side of the field and got another opportunity to add some insurance in the 62nd minute and made the most of it. Dominic Hahnlen connected on a corner kick from Brayden Collins and provided a larger cushion for their lead.
“That goal from Dom was just beautiful,” Coach Neesen expressed.
University’s Tyler DeGennaro scored a goal in the 66th minute, but no other threat was made by the Junior Bucs.
Chuckey-Doak picked up their third-straight regular season win over University High by the score of 3-1.
They host Daniel Boone this Thursday at 6:00 for senior night.
