The Charleston Battery fell 0-2 to Louisville City FC in Week 32 of the USL Championship regular season at Patriots Point on Saturday. After a scoreless first half, Charleston were unable to overcome Louisville’s early goal in the second half, and the visitors struck again late to seal the result. The defeat moves Charleston into third in the Eastern Conference, as of writing.
Charleston kicked off wearing the Resilience Kit, a special-edition pink jersey for Breast Cancer Awareness Night. Despite storms in the area throughout the day caused by Hurricane Isaias, the game went on without any delays.
Maalique Foster had a golden opportunity to score the opener in the 22nd minute, breaking free for a one-on-one with goalkeeper Ryan Schewe, but his curler went just wide of the goal.
Louisville added a wave of pressure near the half-hour mark with shots from Taylor Davila, Aiden McFadden and Jansen Wilson. All three shots were off target.
The Battery appeared to take the lead in the 40th minute when Chris Allan’s strike from outside the box hit the left post and went in. However, the referee’s flag was raised for offside in the box, nullifying the goal.
Charleston and Louisville went into the break square and scoreless as shots narrowly favored the hosts, five to four.
Play resumed in the second half with all still to play for at 0-0.
Louisville managed to take a 0-1 lead in the 51st minute via Wilson.
A contentious moment occurred in the 64th minute when Miguel Berry, going to head the ball inside the box, was hit by Schewe after the striker contacted the ball, but no foul was called. Charleston made appeals for a penalty that were unsuccessful.
Langston Blackstock entered the match in the 74th minute to officially record his 100th career appearance in the USL Championship regular season. Additionally, Laurent Kissiedou came off the bench in the second half and eclipsed 10,000 career minutes played in the USL Championship regular season.
The Battery continued to apply pressure in search of an equalizer. Emilio Ycaza ripped a strike from the top of the box in the 76th minute that hit off the crossbar, representing the closest chance to an equalizer in that moment.
Louisville added to their lead in the 88th minute via Mukwelle Akale to take a 0-2 lead.
Ycaza again nearly found the net in the 92nd minute with a header inside the box to cut the deficit, but the attempt was saved.
The visitors held on to secure the 0-2 over the Battery.
Saturday’s result moves Charleston’s record to 14W-9L-4D (46pts), placing them third in the Eastern Conference, as of writing.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann discussed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his overall assessment of the game…
Yeah, I think first and foremost, give Louisville credit, Coach Simon [Bird] and Louisville credit. They won the game, so they deserve the three points. Jansen [Wilson], incredible goal. That was the play.
But look, you can’t feel sorry for ourselves. I feel sorry for the boys. Tough week with the weather and all this, and the bye weekend, and then a tough game. Honestly, we played a great game, which stinks, because if you lose and you play well, it’s usually bad coaching. But they played great. Our guys played great.
Coach Pirmann on silver linings to the match…
I guess the one redeeming positive is that we have four weeks until the playoffs, so maybe it’s better now than at the end of October. But yeah, it was a bummer. The boys played well. The staff did an incredible job getting this field ready. The fans showed up in the middle of a hurricane, all of that. It should have been a good night for the club and the community, and we came up just short.
But I’m not upset with the boys. They worked their socks off, they played great. Sometimes in football, it just doesn’t go your way.
Coach Pirmann on the support for Breast Cancer Awareness Night…
I think that’s maybe why we’re even a little more disappointed. We had a good crowd, we had a tough week with the hurricane and the weather, Breast Cancer Night with a lot of people being honored. It was a big evening and we just came up short.
The supporters, A-plus again. They’re the class of this community, this club. They do an incredible job. The things we try to do in our community each week, and this week being breast cancer week, it just stings a little.
Coach Pirmann on next week’s slate of games…
The focus is on Hartford. We’ve got to rest tomorrow, a little bit of light [work] Monday and Tuesday, travel, and then go to Hartford, where they’re flying and they’re good, they’re coming off a cup final.
So, it’s a tough time of the year, three games in eight days. You’re playing Louisville, who just won a trophy and are the best club. They came in and kind of did what we did to them back in [April], a little smash and grab. They’re a good team. Play Hartford, they’re a top team, and it’s going to be tough. Going to Miami, the third game in eight days against a team probably playing for their lives. So, it is what it is. Tough result, but you can’t control the result. I thought we played well.
Charleston’s next two matches will be on the road, on October 14 against Hartford Athletic and on October 17 against Miami FC. The Battery return home for the regular season finale on October 24 against Indy Eleven, the last game before the playoffs begin the following weekend. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
CHS: Zamudio, Houssou (Messer, 62’), Akpunonu, Suber, Martínez (Smith, 83’), Allan (Kissiedou, 62’), Ycaza, Kelly, Berry, Foster (Blackstock, 74’), Sánchez (Swan, 74’)
LOU: Schewe, Adams, Lambert, McFadden, Morris (Dia, 46’), Niang (Duncan, 64’), Davila, Perez (Totsch, 83’), Wilson (Serrano, 77’), Donovan (Gleadle, 64’), Akale
Scoring Summary
LOU – Jansen Wilson, 51’
LOU – Mukwelle Akale, 88’
