
The Charleston Battery fell 4-2 on the road against the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday at Al Lang Stadium. Charleston were off to an early lead with goals from Juan David Torres and Graham Smith, but a late rally by the Rowdies, aided by the Battery being reduced to 10 men following Adam Grinwis’ red card, made the difference in the end. The result ended a six-match unbeaten run for the Battery.
Charleston started the match on the front foot and made effective progress into the final third in the early stages.
Following a couple of close looks, Juan David Torres uncorked a belter from roughly 30 yards out that went bar down in the 8th minute to put the Battery ahead 0-1. Torres carried the ball up about 10 yards after Aaron Molloy’s pass and left no doubt with his shot from distance.
The goal was Torres’ second of the year and the assist was Molloy’s third.
Charleston continued to apply pressure to the hosts and wouldn’t wait long for another reward.
Graham Smith doubled the Battery’s lead with a header from inside the box in the 13th minute. Smith rose the highest and met Torres’ cross in the air and directed it to the far side of the net.
The goal was Smith’s first with the Battery and the assist was Torres’ third of the year.
Charleston dominated the match as the half wore on and came close to a third goal multiple times. Nick Markanich saw his crafty attempt on goal cleared off the line in the 24th minute and Leland Archer almost had his deflection go into the net in the 28th minute, but it was saved.
Tampa Bay managed to pull a goal back in the 38th minute when Manuel Arteaga converted from the penalty spot.
The Battery were dealt a blow in the 43rd minute when Aaron Molloy was forced to exit the game following an awkward landing in the attacking half of the field. He was replaced by Arutro Rodriguez after being helped off the field.
Charleston maintained their 1-2 lead into the halftime.
Out of the break, the hosts were eager to level the score and did just that in the 46th via Joshua Perez from inside the box.
The Rowdies remained on the front foot and were the main aggressors this time. Goalkeeper Adam Grinwis remained up the task, however, and did ample work to deny the hosts on multiple occasions. This included a decisive save in the 53rd minute and a punched-out cross in the 65th minute.
Charleston nearly regained the lead in the 78th minute, but Markanich’s shot dragged narrowly wide of the far post.
The complexion of the match changed in the 83rd minute when goalkeeper Adam Grinwis was sent off for a last-man foul against Tampa Bay’s Damian Rivera outside the box. Grinwis’ dismissal reduced the Battery to 10 men and saw the introduction of USL Academy goalkeeper and Charleston native Enzo Mori into the game. The appearance marked Mori’s professional debut at the age of 18 years, three months, six days old.
Tampa Bay scored the go-ahead goal in the ensuing free kick via Nate Worth, making the score 3-2. The hosts added a fourth goal in stoppage time through Rivera to seal the 4-2 win.
The loss snaps a six-match unbeaten run for the Battery and moves their record to 12W-3L-7D (43 points), placing them in second place in the Eastern Conference standings.
However, the result concludes a relatively successful week for the Battery who took home six points from a busy span of three games across nine days.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Leland Archer discussed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his assessment of the match…
I’m super proud of this team, proud of our players. They gave absolutely everything. We made a mistake with Emilio getting the penalty, but he went all in and played with intensity. Adam was a half-second off his line trying to make the block. We bashed them pretty good there initially and then with the injury, the penalty against, and then the tired legs and tired minds, Tampa Bay kind of took the game. UBut at the end of the day, that’s football. You’re on the road at Tampa Bay, who are an excellent team, one of the top two teams in the league.
Nick Markanich had the chance to make it 2-3. Disappointing to concede the goal right at the start of halftime, because we talked about that movement, but nothing but pride for these players. Definitely unfortunate to not be three-nil. We deserved the red card against, we deserved the penalty against, but they gave absolutely everything they could. We had an [18]-year-old amateur in goal who shouldn’t have been put in that situation. He did great and tried his heart out. Everybody gave everything they had. Nothing but pride.
Coach Pirmann on turning the page to August 2 vs. Indy Eleven…
This group is tough. We [play Indy Eleven] in six days, who are incredible. They’ve been in great form. They’re in the Open Cup semi-final. Top coach, team, top talent. They’re good, so it’ll be a tough game.
We just have got to make sure that we reflect, look in the mirror and get better. You can’t feel bad for yourself. It’s one game, I’m proud of the effort and unbelievably proud of the performance. It just didn’t go our way on the scoreboard.
We have to get back to focusing on the things that we can control, which is attitude and effort. For our boys, the work ethic to fight through the crazy game Wednesday, the crazy travel, losing our luggage, all these types of things that can get in the way of playing hard and playing well. The team just stuck their head down, worked hard and got after it, they worked their tails off. If we keep playing like that and keep pushing, we will continue to be a good team.
Archer on his takeaways from the game…
We’re a little bit disappointed, we could have come away with three points. It was a long week, so a little bit of tired legs kind of hit us all at the end, but we’ll take the positives from it and look forward to Indy.
We feel like we haven’t been as good coming out of the gate, especially in a couple of away games, like Hartford. So we have that mindset for the away games to start off on the front foot and not let teams hit us with the first punch. It’s always good to see my center-back partner score, hopefully I’ll score next.
We had a good amount of fans, saw a lot of Charleston Battery t-shirts. It was good. Definitely heard them, it was a tough environment but the away fans made it very loud.
Archer on the team’s mindset going into this coming week…
I think everybody’s mindset is so good. Obviously, disappointment from the game, from the loss, but I think we’ll use that this week to try to get the win against Indy. This squad is resilient. We saw that in the first half, but I feel like tired legs hit us in the second half. We just need to regroup and recognize that we were tired and not push as much as we were.
Archer on Mori making his debut off the bench…
I know it’s a tough, tough environment to come in for your very first game. I think he did what he could have, not much he could do on that free kick. It’s a little disappointing just because I’m sure he is going to beat himself up about it. [Enzo is] here for a reason, he’s been training well, so we’ll just keep pushing him and give him that motivation and he’ll be fine.
The Charleston Battery return home on Fri., Aug. 2, to host Indy Eleven at Patriots Point for 93 Night to honor Battery alumni and over 30 years of club history. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups:
CHS: Grinwis, Segbers, Archer, Smith, Dossantos, Molloy (Rodriguez, 43’), Allan, Ycaza (Crawford, 71’), Markanich (Drack, 86’), Torres (Mori, 86’), Myers (Conway, 71’)
TBR: Farr, Doherty, Kleemann, Guillen, Munjoma, Cirsostomo, Hilton, Niyongabire, Perez (Bodily, 71’), Jennings (Rivera, 71’), Arteaga
Scoring Summary:
CHS – Juan Torres (Aaron Molloy), 8’
CHS – Graham Smith (Juan Torres), 13’
TBR – Manuel Arteaga, 38’
TBR – Joshua Perez (Manuel Arteaga) 46’
TBR – Nathan Worth, 87’
TBR – Damian Rivera (Leo Fernandes), 90 +12’