Charleston, SC. The Charleston Battery defeated the Richmond Kickers 1-0 Saturday night at MUSC Health Stadium. Substitute forward Heviel Cordoves scored the lone goal, flicking a shot inside the near post from an acute angle in the 84th minute. The Battery played the majority of the game with only ten men after Romario Williams was sent off in the first half but somehow managed to find the result which keeps them in the hunt for a top-four finish in the USL Eastern Conference.
The result lifts the Battery into third place in the Eastern Conference standings with five games remaining; the top four teams host in the first round of the USL post-season.
Head coach Mike Anhaeuser was pleased with his team’s resilience, ‘the back four really stood out tonight. They stayed compact, we won every ball in the air limiting Richmond’s chances and not really giving them a look. Then of course Cordoves getting the goal, it gives us the feeling of winning back and keeps our momentum going here at home.’
The Battery started brightly and Williams was denied by the cross-bar twice in the opening 20 minutes. On the first occasion in the 15th minute he saw a dipping left-footed strike bang back off the bar.
Five minutes later he tried again this time with a right footed attempt that spun off the underside of the bar. The ball bounced invitingly for Kotaro Higashi but his header was pushed wide of the post by Richmond goalkeeper Travis Worra.
William’s night took a turn for the worse in the 37th minute as he was shown a straight red-card for kicking out at defender Alex Lee reducing Charleston to ten men for the remainder of the game.
Despite playing with a man disadvantage the Battery continued to push forward looking for a goal and were rewarded with just over five minutes remaining as they earned a corner. Maikel Chang whipped the ball into the middle and Cordoves met the cross with deft flick that flew past Worra into the goal.
The Charleston Battery returns to action on Wednesday night at MUSC Health Stadium for a 7 PM match versus the Charlotte Independence. The game versus Charlotte was originally scheduled for September 9 but was postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Irma.
CHARLESTON: Alec Kann (Odisnel Cooper, 45), Skylar Thomas (yellow card, 77), Taylor Mueller, Forrest Lasso (yellow card, 34), Jarad van Schaik, Maikel Chang (yellow card, 89), Tah Brian Anunga (Nico Rittmeyer, 90), Justin Portillo, Kotaro Higashi, Ataulla Guerra (Heviel Cordoves, 70, goal, 84), Romario Williams (red card, 37)
Unused substitutes: Neveal Hackshaw, Ryan Arambula, Laurent Kissiedou, Ricky Garbanzo
RICHMOND: Travis Worra, Alex Lee, Braeden Troyer, William Yomby, Mallan Roberts, Oscar Umar, Sunny Jane (Jackson Eskay, 52, yellow card, 65), Luiz Fernando (Owusu Sekyere, 80), Yudai Imura, Matt Bolduc, Mikey Minutillo (Franck Tayou, 76)
Unused substitutes: Makcu Debellis, Paddy McCann, Evan Lee, Raul Gonzalez,
