FC Naples and Chattanooga Draw

It was a classic back-and-forth battle between FC Naples, Collier County’s pro soccer squad and first-ever professional sports franchise, and the Chattanooga Red Wolves, with more than pride on the line. The home game Saturday night was FC Naples’ first and only appearance this month at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex (PCSC).

All the scoring happened in a 10-minute flurry during the first half. Naples struck first, with striker Justin Weiss finding the net in the 33rd minute. Three minutes later, the Red Wolves answered with their own score. Weiss put in another goal in minute 41, and Chattanooga once again drew even in the 43rd minute, just before the half ended.

The second half played out as a scoreless tie, so the two rivals each earned one point in league standings. There was no overtime period or penalty kick shootout. FC Naples played the Red Wolves to a tie in their inaugural game, also at the PCSC stadium in Naples.

Weiss’s two goals marked his first-ever scores as a professional and made the difference between a draw and a loss. Top scorer Karsen Henderlong made the assist on the first goal, and Jaden Onen assisted on the second goal.

After the game, Weiss shared his thoughts on his first professional start and first two career goals, calling it a night he’ll never forget. “I'm super grateful to have done it in my first start – I mean, a dream come true. That's what I've been looking forward to my whole life, so I'm pretty happy it happened tonight.”

FC Naples seemed slow to get on the ball in the early going, with much of the play forced into their half by the Wolves. They absorbed 19 total shots, with six of those being on target, according to the official stats. In contrast, FC Naples had just five total shots, and just two on target – but those both went into the back of the net for a score.

Naples did end up with a better than two-to-one time of possession, and passing accuracy of over 83 percent, versus 70 percent accuracy for Chattanooga, and logged 456 total passes to just 197 for the Red Wolves.

Fouls were another category in which Naples led, with 14 to 8, and three yellow cards to two. The most memorable yellow card of the evening, though, came when Red Wolves goalkeeper Ricard Jerez became irate, deliberately tossed the ball out of the field, and began yelling at referee Alexandra Billeter. After she flashed the yellow card, Naples was awarded a throw-in and sportingly tapped the ball back to the Chattanooga keeper.

Head Coach Matt Poland applauded the team’s overall performance, stating, “Offensively, some great actions. It’s just about cleaning up some of the defending in the box. They didn’t present us with any challenges we couldn’t handle – it was more our own mistakes that led to the goals. So on one hand, it’s good that it’s something we can control and fix. On the other hand, it’s on us to make sure we do just that.”

The local squad has enjoyed notable success for a first-year expansion team. Before Saturday’s game, Naples was sitting at third place in league standings, with Chattanooga two points behind, holding down fourth place, so the two teams playing to a draw kept the status quo with no relief of tension between the two rivals. FC Naples’ USL1 season runs through October 25.

FC Naples’ Joel Serrano and Rodolfo Sulia are currently unavailable to the team due to being called up by the Puerto Rico National Team for the World Cup qualifiers.

Attendance for Saturday’s match was 3,518 energized fans, including the La Barra 239 drum and flag corps. A threat of rain, which would not stop the match, and lightning, which would have, gave way to a beautiful evening with the few dozen raindrops bringing along cooler air to make for ideal game weather.

FC Naples will be back in town on July 4th to face the first-division Tampa Bay Rowdies in a Jägermeister Cup match. These two teams last met in a thrilling showdown that went all the way to the ninth round of penalty kicks, making this contest one of the most intense in recent memory.