The Opposition Report: One Knoxville SC
The Champions Have One of the Best Defenses in League One. So Do We.
The Opposition Report — MD15 vs One Knoxville SC
Fort Wayne Football Club carries an 11-match league unbeaten run into Covenant Health Park to face defending champion One Knoxville SC in a meeting of two of the stingiest defenses in USL League One.
Wednesday, July 15 | 6:30 PM ET | Covenant Health Park, Knoxville, TN | ESPN+
The Profile
We talk a lot about what Fort Wayne Football Club could become. Today, we get to measure ourselves by another best-in-class USL club. One Knoxville was founded five years ago today, on July 15, 2021. They entered League One as an expansion side in 2023, spent two seasons building their club, and won everything in year three: the Players’ Shield, then the title itself, sealed in front of a league-record crowd at Covenant Health Park, where they went the entire 2025 season without a home defeat. Three years from first kick to the double.
The champions do not chase the ball. Head coach Ian Fuller’s side sits mid-pack by possession metrics, lets opponents hold the ball for long stretches, and selects the right moment to attack. Only Charlotte puts more shots on target, and almost nobody is harder to score on. Reigning Defender of the Year Jordan Skelton anchors the back line alongside Finn McRobb, who has barely left the pitch all season.
Denis Krioutchenkov is the finisher. His goals lead the team, and the underlying numbers say he earns every one, arriving in scoring positions relentlessly rather than riding a hot streak. Teddy Baker is the supply line and their best performer this season, the passer who turns a quiet match into a dangerous one.
One Knoxville has been historically difficult to beat at home. This year is a bit different, as both of their defeats came at home, against Madison and Omaha. While 2025 was impossible to win away at Knoxville, 2026 is proving otherwise. One note: they closed out their Prinx Tires USL Cup campaign Saturday with a heavily rotated squad at Corpus Christi, so the first-choice eleven arrives rested.
The Matchup
The two best defenses in League One share a pitch tonight. Fewest goals allowed, most clean sheets, dead level in both, and each built on an organized block in front of a goalkeeper in form. The difference is what each side has done with all that defending. Knoxville turns those nights into three points more often than we do, and that habit is nearly the entire gap between third place and sixth. A match this tight gets decided by one moment, probably a set piece or a transition. Knoxville has been finding exactly those moments lately, with McRobb stepping up from the back line to score in each of their last two league matches. We will need to be clinical in front of their goal tonight. I do not suspect we will have many good looks, so the few we will have, we need to capitalize on.
Krioutchenkov against our back line is the contest that worries me most. One lapse between the center backs and a half-yard in the box is all he needs. Bernd Schipmann has been a wall all season, but the plan starts further up the pitch: cut the supply from Baker, make Krioutchenkov receive facing his own goal, and force the champions to beat us from distance. The one thing we cannot allow is him running at our line in transition.
Then there is what a result would mean. A draw ties the longest league unbeaten run by a first-year club in League One history, the 12 matches Lansing Ignite strung together in 2019. A win does that and pulls us within three points of the champions with more than half the season still to play. The measure tonight is simple: points away at Knoxville keep the streak alive, but a win puts the league on notice. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Always FWD
Nice!