The Charleston Battery take on Swope Park Rangers on Saturday night at MUSC Health Stadium. The Battery look to extend their unbeaten run at home while Swope Park are in search of their first win since early May.
The Battery played to a 1-1 draw against the Eastern Conference leaders, Tampa Bay Rowdies, last Saturday at Al Lang Stadium. Both sides had ample opportunities to score in the opening fourty-five minutes but it was the Rowdies who took a 1-0 first half lead.
Rowdies captain Sebastian Guenzatti scored his seventh goal of the season in the 39th minute. Midfielder Malik Johnson provided the assist on Guenzatti’s goal playing a one-touch pass into the forward who found a yard of space in the box and powered a shot past Kuzminsky.
Ian Svantesson rescued a point late, scoring in the 88th minute after coming on for Nicque Daley in the 82nd minute. The Battery and Jarad van Schaik earned a free kick which would lead to Svantesson’s goal. Van Schaik’s subsequent cross found the head of Arthur Bosua who sent a headed pass back across the face of goal. Svantesson raised a leg and flicked the Bosua header past John McCarthy at the far post.
Swope Park Rangers suffered a 2-0 loss to North Carolina FC on June 15th at WakeMed Park. Swope conceded two first half goals to Yamikani Chester and Andre Fortune, who were on the scoresheet within the opening quarter hour.
A turnover from Swope forward Killian Colombie led to the first goal for Chester and NCFC. After intercepting Colombie’s pass, Robert Kristo turned towards goal, sending a pass towards Chester who found himself in behind the Swope defense. He tucked his shot past Eric Dick in the 5th minute to opening the scoring.
Things would get worse for the visitors seven minutes later on the back of a second Swope Park turnover. Camden Riley played a poor pass that was intercepted by Fortune and the NCFC midfielder curled in a shot to make it 2-0.
What to Watch For
One For the Future – Felipe Hernandez is the focal point of the Swope Park attack. The Sporting Kansas City product has scored 5 goals in 13 appearances for Swope this season, leading the team in that category. In addition to his eye for goal, Hernandez has two assists and eighteen chances created, both good for second best on the team. Hernandez hasn’t wasted many chances this season converting on nearly 34% of his attempts with 9 of his 15 shots on target.
Defense Wins Championships – Taylor Mueller and Jarad van Schaik have anchored Charleston’s defense this season, and will look to lead the Battery to three points against Swope Park on Saturday night. The pair have started twelve and thirteen matches for the Battery, respectively, and rank third and fourth in minutes played this season. The Battery are unbeaten at home through eight games (4-0-4) and the defenders have played a major part of that success. Charleston have only conceded seven goals at home this season, and have only allowed multiple goals in one match at MUSC Health Stadium in a 2-2 draw against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
Coaches Corner
Mike Anhaeuser
“Hopefully the boys are back to 100% and that’s the key. They have some younger guys and physically we have to dominate. It should be a great week and we are going to look to end it on Saturday with three points.”
“The big thing is resiliency, no matter what happens in a game, your seeing that these guys don’t quit and we’ve got players that dig deep and don’t quit. We don’t want to wait we want to get on top of them early and put them under pressure.”
Charleston Battery: USL Championship Record, 5-3-6 (Home: 4-0-4)
Team Leaders
Goals: Lewis, Svantesson (4)
Assists: Higashi, Lewis, Woodbine (2)
Chances Created: Lewis (22)
Saves: Kuzminsky (34)
Clean Sheets: Kuzminsky (3)
Swope Park Rangers: USL Championship Record, 1-8-5 (Away Record: 0-5-1)
Team Leaders
Goals: Hernandez (5)
Assists: Andrade (5)
Chances Created: Andrade (25)
Saves: Dick (30)
Clean Sheets: Dick, Zendejas (1)