The Charleston Battery fell 4-1 on the road Saturday against Louisville City FC in what proved to be a frustrating evening. Augustine Williams put the Battery ahead early with his 12th goal of the season. Louisville, however, scored four unanswered goals from there to secure the three points at Lynn Family Stadium. The Battery were reduced to 10 men when Enock Kwakwa was shown a red card in the second half. Charleston will look to bounce back as the away stand continues on Friday against New York Red Bulls II.
The evening started with the hosts controlling the majority of the possession and opportunities early on. Rising to the occasion, the Battery defense stood firm against Louisville’s advances to keep the game scoreless. Leland Archer came up with a goal-line clearance in the 13th minute during one of Louisville’s best looks inside the box. Goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux recorded his first of three saves of the half in the 23rd minute against a short-range shot from Jorge Gonzalez.
Charleston broke open the game in the 26th minute when Augustine Williams scored his 12th goal of the season on a counterattack play. Enock Kwakwa picked out DZ Harmon down the right flank and Harmon found Williams inside the box for the opening tally. Harmon was credited for the assist, his first of 2022. Louisville were undeterred and equalized at the half-hour mark via Brian Ownby following a corner kick. Fauroux came up big again 44th minute with a save to deny Wilson Harris inside the box.
The sides went into the break level at 1-1 despite Louisville retaining over 60% of possession during the half.
Play resumed in the second half with the hosts eager to break the deadlock. Louisville did just that in the 52nd minute when Enoch Mushagalusa found the back of the net. The tally came after Mushagalusa had a goal chalked off for offside at the end of the first half. Charleston were dealt a disadvantage in the 63rd minute as Enock Kwakwa was issued a red card, reducing the visitors to 10 men for the remainder of the match.
Louisville were quick to capitalize on the one-man advantage and added a third goal in the 67th minute via Wilson Harris. The Battery looked to fight back into the game but were unable to get a footing against the Eastern Conference leaders. Fauroux continued to go the distance to keep Louisville from adding to their count and made a trio of saves in the waning minutes of the match. The French shot-stopper would record a season-high seven saves on the night.
As the game closed out, Sean Totsh scored Louisville’s fourth goal in the 89th minute to seal the 4-1 victory.
Battery Head Coach Conor Casey and goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux addressed the match following the final whistle, with key quotes below.
Coach Casey on the overall performance against Louisville…
We were beaten by a much better team than us tonight. I don’t know what more there is to say, they’re a very good team, credit to them. We, however, came out hesitant, we weren’t good on either side of the ball tonight.
Coach Casey on what changed in the second half of the match…
We did a good job that first half by keeping ourselves in the game but it wasn’t enough. Overall, that’s not what the game was supposed to look like, we want to be an aggressive team and get pressure on the ball, but we were defending in our own box the whole second half. We come out for the second half and Louisville scored early. We were very poor with the ball tonight, and if you’re constantly losing the ball and having to defend, it’s going to be a long night.
Coach Casey on emotions running high as the night wore on…
There’s a lot of frustration in the group and we’ve got to do a better job funneling that frustration into proper aggression on the pitch. But right now, that’s not what is happening and we have a lot of looking within to do. We’ve been playing with a lot of fear all season, and now we’re looking for ways to break that but right now it’s not coming easy.
Fauroux on the difficulties faced against Louisville…
From my perspective, it was tough going up against the top team in the Eastern Conference with the talent they have. It was hard enough to play 11-on-11, but then to go a man down in the second half, that made it more difficult. They just came out at us very intense in the second half and we didn’t adapt well enough.
Fauroux on turning the page on the result and turning to focus to New York…
We have to put this game past us, that’s what’s been happening, and thankfully we get to play again next week against Red Bulls II. We’ll go back home tomorrow, get after it in training and hopefully we can turn things around from there.
The Battery will look to put Saturday’s result behind them as their August away stand continues on Friday against New York Red Bulls II in New Jersey.
