The Charleston Battery secured a 1-2 comeback win on the road against Miami FC in Week 33 of the USL Championship regular season at Pitbull Stadium on Saturday. After going down 1-0 in the first half, Charleston stormed back in the second half with a pair of quick goals scored by Colton Swan and Miguel Berry to complete the comeback victory. The win officially secured the Battery a top-four finish in the Eastern Conference, which locks in home-field advantage in the opening round of the 2026 USL Championship Playoffs, set for October 30.
The night kicked off with both teams looking to shore up positions in the playoffs: Charleston for a top-four finish and Miami for an outright spot in the postseason.
Rain rolled in early on, and so did the Battery’s shots on goal. Camilo Sanchez tested goalkeeper Eloy Room in the 8th minute, forcing a save, and Laurent Kissiedou had his shot in the ensuing corner kick parried away by Room.
Langston Blackstock appeared to fire the Battery in front in the 14th minute, but Blackstock’s goal was chalked off for offside on his run into the box. Miguel Berry helped sustain the pressure and forced Room to make a diving save on his shot in the 21st minute.
Miami managed to score first in the 25th minute via Harwan Al Zubaidi to take a 1-0 lead.
Nathan Messer nearly leveled the score in stoppage time with a first-time strike that was narrowly deflected away from the target.
The hosts took the 1-0 lead into the break despite Charleston having the lion’s share of shots (seven to three).
Play resumed for the second half with the Battery looking to make a comeback bid for the second consecutive game.
Charleston’s tempo persisted into the second stanza, aided by reinforcements off the bench in Maalique Foster and Colton Swan. Foster almost leveled the score in the 61st minute with a golden opportunity on a relatively open net, but his shot off the loose ball went just wide of the near post.
The Battery finally broke through in the 74th minute when Swan knocked in the equalizer to make the score 1-1. Foster and Berry initiated the play down the right flank with a cheeky give-and-go to get past the Miami defense. Then, Foster worked his way into the box, dribbling to create space before threading a perfect cross to Swan’s run toward goal. Swan slid in to send the ball home for the crucial tally.
Swan’s goal was his 12th of the year across all competitions, and his first since July 11. Foster’s assist brings his total to four for the year, and his third in league play.
Charleston maintained the pressure in search of a second goal now with the game back on level terms.
Berry was the hero this time and pounced on a loose ball in the 77th minute to fire the Battery in front, 1-2. Chris Allan lofted a ball up into the box to Emilio Ycaza, which led to contact between Ycaza and Miami’s Arthur Rogers and an ensuing scramble for the ball. Berry seized the opportunity in front of him and drove the ball past Room for the go-ahead goal.
Berry’s goal was his 10th of 2026 across all competitions, adding to his career-best mark and marking his third against Miami this year.
Miami, fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive, moved to level the score again to preserve a point. Goalkeeper Luis Zamudio made a key diving save in the 82nd minute to deny Denilson Milanés. Miami recorded six shots in the final 10 minutes of play, but all were either off target or blocked.
Charleston held on to secure the 1-2 comeback victory over Miami, just the second all-time away win for the Battery over the South Florida side.
With the win, the Battery officially secured a top-four finish in the Eastern Conference, which locks in home-field advantage in the opening round of the 2026 USL Championship Playoffs. The opening round will be played on October 30 at Patriots Point, with the kickoff time and opponent to be determined. Ticket sales for the general public will start Tuesday, October 20, and Season Members will receive direct contact regarding priority access for their seats.
Charleston’s record advances to 15W-9L-5D (50pts) following the win, moving the Battery up to second place in the Eastern Conference.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and forward Miguel Berry discussed the win after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his overall thoughts on the performance…
It was a tough game with Miami playing for the playoffs and it being their last game of the season, and they’ve been on fire. Tough conditions with the rain. I thought we started brilliantly, even with Langston’s goal that was called back, and their goalkeeper made two nice saves, and then we missed the attempt.
And then I thought it was a little bit unfortunate to go down, but you’ve got to give Miami credit because they broke the press on the deflection, and then the left-back cut inside and finished.
But, I thought the second half was really dominant by us. I thought we turned the screw on them. We played high, we were aggressive. I was a little worried since I didn’t know if we were going to score or not because they were making some saves and we were missing some shots. We just stuck with it. This week, we just said we want to be tougher mentally, and we want to be more psychologically driven, and to come back from a goal down on the road against a team fighting for their lives, a talented team, and a well-coached team, is big.
So, that was a tough week. That was a hard eight days there, and I’m glad the boys capped it off with a pretty deserved three points.
Coach Pirmann on the offense’s resolve to find two goals in the second half…
We’re a good attacking team this year, and we get into good spaces, and we have good profiles, and then good people behind those profiles. But, you still have to make the final action and finish it.
I know the second goal was a deflection, but the first goal was a great goal. Maalique [Foster] changed the game when he went on in that right channel. He had an incredible week on the road. Colton [Swan] back post tap-in hunting in the box.
So yes, it felt like it was a matter of time, but you still have to do it. Credit to those players who made the attack. The game opened up, and I thought that favored us in the second half. We made some good subs, some good aggression. Everybody was bought in, even the guys who didn’t get the chance to play, everybody was bought in and full-go. That was a full team effort.
Coach Pirmann on what he learned from the personnel swaps this week…
I think the biggest thing we learned is that this is a tough team. They’re dialed in, they’re selfless, they like each other and like playing for each other. We just have to continue to stay focused on the things that we can influence. For me, our guys are really good when we’re focused on a next-play mentality, focused on doing our jobs, when we grind and push in those moments.
There were some things where I thought Maalique had a really good week. If you look at Camilo [Sanchez] and Colton, they can start and sub, both guys can play. We utilize different players in the midfield. We utilize different fullbacks on the left and the right. We utilize different center-backs. Even the guys that maybe didn’t get the opportunity to play, they still help this team. So, we just want to keep pushing. We have to drive. We have one more regular season game left, and then the playoffs.
Berry on the mindset going into the second half before the comeback…
At halftime, we spoke about how many shots we had compared to them, and the quality chances we had, and we knew that if we could sort some things out defensively, that more chances would come. We knew we had fresh legs coming off the bench that were going to help, that’s the benefit of having a deep team at this point in the season. I think everyone who played gave everything they had, and we knew we would get one. Just getting back-to-back [goals] like that is a really good feeling. I know we did really well to hold on to it.
That’s been a trend throughout the season for us as a team. We kind of always feel like we’re going to score. And I think that game kind of opened up in a way that benefited us. I still think there are a lot of things we can improve on, in terms of playing through teams and chance creation, but we did a good job of creating, in our Charleston Battery way, and it was a great three points on the road.
Berry on what he saw during the match-winning goal…
It wasn’t one of my best games. I think I was hesitant to shoot a few times throughout the night, and I saw that ball bounce, and I said, ‘There’s no chance I’m not going to hit this.’
I’d say I let one or two opportunities slip by me in a way I really shouldn’t have, and it was almost out of frustration. I just needed to stay over it and put my head down, and obviously the rest is history. But it was a good feeling.
Emilio did so well to run beyond me from midfield and to fight and scrap for the ball, that’s what he’s so good at. It’s a good team effort on both goals, and a really good feeling to leave there with three points.
Berry on the significance of securing a top-four conference finish…
From our very first meeting on the first day, hosting a home playoff game was said to be important. The coaches said it basically in our first meeting. So, it’s a big thing for us, and our fans deserve to see us there at least two more times. For me, personally, I want to be at least second. I think we should have done more to be first. I think this next game is also a must-win, to stay in second place. That’s something that we need to be hungry for, and I hope we’re up for it next Saturday.
Charleston return home for the regular season finale against Indy Eleven on Sat., Oct. 24, a night that will feature post-match fireworks at Patriots Point. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
MIA: Room, Nidaye (Yacoubou, 71’), Rogers, Knutson, Al Zubaidi, Romero (Milanés, 81’), Riyon, Da Costa, Tunbridge, Soñora, Rocha
CHS: Zamudio, Messer, Suber (Akpunonu, 57’), Smith, Martinez, Allan, Kissiedou (Ycaza, 63’), Kelly (Cabrera, 82’), Berry, Blackstock (Foster, 57’), Sánchez (Swan, 63’)
Scoring Summary
MIA – Harwan Al Zubaidi, 25’ (Joel Soñora)
CHS – Colton Swan, 74’ (Maalique Foster)
CHS – Miguel Berry, 77’
