USL League One title match pits One Knoxville vs. Spokane Velocity in a tale of two very different teams

On Sunday, a new USL League One champion will be crowned as One Knoxville SC takes on the Spokane Velocity on the CBS Sports Golazo network. While both are newer teams in the American soccer landscape, they're showing that success can come quickly if groundwork is laid. And both are doing it in different ways. For the Velocity, this is already their second consecutive appearance in the USL League in the final despite only being two years old as a club, while Knoxville are doing their damage under a first-year head coach as the club continues to improve.

The Velocity needed a dramatic finish in the semifinals, with Nil Vinyals scoring in the 121st minute of play to send the match to a penalty shootout. When it went to the shootout, starting goalkeeper Carlos Merancio told the team that they would win, and with a strong performance by him in net, they did just that.

It was a slightly simpler process for Ian Fuller's One Knoxville with the team riding a 66th-minute goal by Kempes Tekiela to victory over FC Naples, and now they'll get to play this final in front of their home fans, where they've rode strong support all season long. There are plenty of similarities between each team with how they embrace the communities that they represent, but on Sunday, they'll square off as rivals.

How to watch One Knoxville vs. Spokane Velocity

• Date: Sunday, Nov. 16 | Time: 5 p.m. ET
• Location: Regal Stadium -- Knoxville, Tennessee
• Live stream: CBS Sports Golazo

A growing power 

When Spokane started play last season, no one expected them to make it to the League One final, and while they were able to ride fan support to that, before coming up short against Union Omaha, this season they're back, and they feel like they belong. In year two, some of the shine has worn off with the club no longer being new in town but with attendance rebounding during the season as fans came out to support a team that came up just short of breaking the USL record for the fewest losses in a season, it's clear that they're representatives for Spokane in a town where Gonzaga are king and they're surpassing even themselves with that success.

"Earlier this year, we had a season ticket member event, and a group of fans came over, and originally, there was no real soccer team in Spokane. There was no professional team. They tried back in the day, but it didn't quite work out. So this is the real like real go at having a pro team here, and one of the fans, sort of a group of the fans, walked up to me and said that you've made Spokane the soccer city," Velocity head coach Leigh Veidman said. "That comment in itself, I think weighed everything up for me. And then you see the attendance and the energy that we get in the last two home playoff games. I mean, you feel that Spokane is a soccer city now, so it's, it's been fantastic."

It's a sentiment echoed by fans of the club through and through, from calling the win over Portland Hearts of Pine one of the greatest sporting events that they've seen, to also giving them something in Spokane that's uniquely theirs. While Veidman doesn't know if they'll ever reach Gonzaga levels of support in the city, it's clear that the club is on to something, and it's being backed up on and off the pitch.

"The people of Spokane feel proud of their city, and that's not easily come by. Civic pride can sometimes be a challenging topic," Spokane soccer show host Benji Wade said. "As somebody who loves soccer and loves Spokane, I couldn't feel more proud. That's really what it comes back to, and I don't use that word lightly."

Ahead of this second consecutive final, the energy is lighter around the club because they've been here before. No longer is this a new team in League One, but instead it's a club that has hit the ground running and produced success from day one, a feat that is quite hard to accomplish, but that also brings pressure as well because they want to win this final while giving their fans more to be proud of along the way.

Even how teams approached playing the Velocity this season was different due to their success, which led to an evolution in how they played. 

"I know a lot of teams adapted to us a little bit more this year, just style wise, right? I feel like last year, every time we were obviously kind of like the underdogs in a way, and now we were kind of the team to beat for quite a bit,"  midfielder Luis Gil said.

Even in this final, it was One Knoxville who won the league behind a stout defense while finishing with a plus 17 goal difference. The Velocity may not truly be coming into this match as underdogs in comparison to their last shot at this title, but similarities are there.

A head coach on the rise

Coming into a new club as a head coach is already a tough task, but that's the case even more so when it's your first head coaching job, like what Ian Fuller has experienced with One Knoxville. An experienced soccer player and seasoned assistant, spending time with the Charleston Battery, Orlando City SC, and Minnesota United, Fuller was ready to try his hand at a head coaching job and took over One Knoxville in December of 2024. 

There were adjustments to the players getting used to his style, but once they hit their stride with a defense anchored by the defender of the year, Jordan Skelton, it has been quite a ride for Fuller and the team while also enduring some bumps in the road while getting here.

"It's just great to see that they've taken the chance that they've been given here, and that's all you want is, you know, to give players chances and to see them grow, not only individually, but these guys are so tight," Fuller said. "They love each other, and for them to win together is awesome to see. You know, for me individually, it's been a really hard year. You know, my wife's battling breast cancer, and it's been a hard year, and to win your first year is really, really hard. But to win the way we've had to fight my wife and I, it would mean a lot.

"The club has been unbelievable, I have to say. And the support that the people have given us, you know, it's made my wife's fight even stronger, and so I would be remiss to not give the club a lot of credit for being so wonderful," Fuller continued.

Community has meant a lot to both of these clubs, and that's a bit of the nature of lower division soccer. One Knoxville shares their stadium with the Knoxville Smokies in Double-A baseball, something that shows how unique the environment is where these games are taking place. There are travel challenges to manage, but they also help make a tight knit squad and add to the community buy in for a side like this.

"The travel is, I'm not saying more difficult than Major League Soccer, but you certainly have the finer airplanes, not as many stops on the road, and seven hour bus trips. But I grew up in this atmosphere playing so I was very familiar and I knew the challenges, but it's a very difficult league. You don't have an easy match," Fuller said ahead of the playoffs on CBS Sports Golazo's Morning Footy.

Even with those challenges, One Knoxville have looked to improve year after year, and both players and fans are taking notice of those.

"It's a club that from day one, felt like they were taking steps forward. You know, trying to build, trying to progress and I know firsthand that that's not the case with every League One club," Skelton said. "So to be part of one that does have a bit of a plan for longevity, and not only longevity, but to progress and improve, not just survive, is obviously you feel that as a player and it just lets you have trust in where you are."

As USL builds toward massive changes, looking to introduce promotion and relegation in 2028, this is a final that can showcase some of the best that the lower divisions have to offer. Two ambitious clubs who are representing their communities well, investing in their facilities and putting their best foot forward on and off the pitch, come together in an even tie, but someone will have to come out on top on Sunday.