#20 Knights Defeated by #6 Jones College

By Austin Johnson

Knoxville, Tenn. – The #20 ranked CCBC Essex Knights finished their second contest of the weekend in defeat, losing 5-0 to #6 ranked Jones College.

Reflecting on his team's performance Head Coach Steve King said "Tonight was a tough game against an athletic, physical team. Having to play two high-quality teams back-to-back this early in the season was a great test and learning experience, but ultimately, we fell short. It would have been nice to get a result, but the effort was there for 90 minutes."

The game started brightly for the Knights registering two shots on goal in the first 19 minutes from sophomore Kylie Staubitz. This trend wouldn't continue as the Knights would only record one more shot on target for the rest of the game, coming from sophomore Samantha Hosier in the 76^th minute.

Jones College continued to apply pressure throughout the entire game registering 15 shots in the first half with seven on target, and 18 shots in the second half with six on target. The first two goals of the game came from Gracie Gustafson and Carson Turner, giving the Bobcats a 2-0 lead at halftime.

The goals continued to pile on in the second half with midfielder Poppy Binding scoring in the 66^th minute to extend the Bobcat's lead to three. The Bobcat's final two goals came from Caragan Childs in the 73^rd minute and a late goal in the 89^th minute Leahmae Keogh.

Even though the Knights allowed five goals in the game, freshman goalkeeper Reagan Cantner continued to make saves, stopping ten of 15 shots on goal. She ended the weekend by making 19 saves on the 26 shots on goal she faced in both games.

Giving his thoughts on any takeaways from the weekend trip, King said "My biggest takeaway from the weekend is that when we play up to our ability, we will be able to play and compete with the top teams in the country. We have a team full of hard-working, talented players that will be disappointed with the results this weekend and will put the work in to improve. I was very proud of the grit and fight they showed in both games, and it only makes me more excited to get back home and into league play."

The Knights will have a break before returning to action on Tuesday, September 6^th for their first home game of the season, hosting conference rival Howard Community College. When asked about taking what they learned from the trip to prepare for this game, King said "The most important thing this week is to recover from a grueling, physical weekend and get healthy. There are things we need to fine-tune in training, but I'm very confident that we'll be ready for our game against Howard. The players know how important it is to get off to a good start in league play, so we'll have to be focused and put in a good week of training to prepare."