May 16, 2023 – United Soccer League One (USL1) News Release
TAMPA, Fla. – USL League One today announced the Team of the Week for Week 9 of the 2023 regular season with Lexington SC goalkeeper Amal Knight named Player of the Week presented by Konami eFootball with his six-save, clean-sheet victory over the Charlotte Independence.
Lexington SC’s Amal Knight, the 29-year-old Jamaica international, recorded the 14th clean sheet of his senior club and international career in spectacular fashion on Saturday evening. Knight tallied five crucial stops ahead of the 60th minute before the Charlotte attack cooled off. Khalid Balogun granted Lexington a one-goal advantage in the 78th minute, but a brief lightning delay in the 86th minute had the potential to derail the LSC momentum.
After the resumption of play, and with just 18 seconds remaining in the four minutes of announced stoppage time, Lexington defender Kaelon Fox conceded a penalty that saw Khori Bennett have a chance to earn the Jacks a goal and a point. Knight, though, made a massive save against fellow Jamaican Bennett – the first penalty miss of his career – that saw Lexington secure a massive home victory.
“I’ve been training really well, and I’ve been trusting that training,” Knight said. “I got my opportunity tonight to come in and do my thing and I really felt good. I’d been making saves all night, so I knew going into the penalty I had to help out the team and that’s what I did. I came up big, and I thank God we got three points.”
Knight’s six saves in Lexington’s 1-0 victory over second-place Charlotte serve as the most in a single match for a Lexington goalkeeper, and Lexington’s goals conceded minus expected goals conceded mark of -2.10 is the second-best margin across the league this season.
“That’s what this game does. It’s such a beautiful game and it can take you from the highest of highs to the lowest low and back to the highest high in a matter of seconds,” Lexington Head Coach Sam Stockley said of Knight’s Penalty save. “We honestly felt we were hard done at Chattanooga where we dominated the game and we had a difficult 90 seconds that cost us. Today it evens out. I couldn’t be more proud of the team, the staff and the club. It’s just a wonderful moment for us to be able to get three points. The season carries on but we’ll enjoy this one tonight.”
Madison leads all clubs with three starters named to the Team of the Week, while Lexington, Northern Colorado and Greenville place multiple…