12,131 fans filled Finley Stadium on Wednesday evening as Chattanooga FC dropped out of the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup after a 1-1 draw after extra time and 5-4 defeat on penalties by the East Ridge-based Red Wolves.
This was the fourth-largest attendence for a CFC game in team history, as the two local professional teams faced each other for the very first time.
The teams exchanged a pair of superbly-converted free-kicks early in the first half. CFC Academy product Omar Hernandez opened the scoring for Red Wolves in the seventh minute, but Chattanooga FC's Daniel Mangarov answered with one of his own slightly further out to bring the hosts level by the 19th minute.
Chattanooga thought it had the lead right before half-time but an apparent goal from a corner kick was called off.
The match was played on a knife's edge throughout the early spring evening at the base of Lookout Mountain, with several cards issued by referee Richionne Clark.
Ultimately the result was decided by a penalty shootout with Red Wolves prevailing 5-4.
"This night fulfills the mission and values of our club," said Chattanooga FC Chris Nugent in his post-match press conference. "We want to grow our community through soccer. We had 12,000 people out on a Wednesday night. It's a tough result to take, but there are bigger things than just 90 minutes on the field. Seeing the support of the club and how the players fought, it's huge. We know who we are and this was another opportunity to show that."
CFC will be back at Finley Stadium this Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. to host Orlando City B as the club looks to continue its strong start in MLS NEXT Pro league action.