The Charleston Battery dismantled Detroit City FC in a 1-3 road win on Saturday at Keyworth Stadium. After going down an early goal, Charleston immediately responded and never looked back, with Cal Jennings bagging a brace in the first half and Juan David Torres striking in the second half to secure the three points. It’s Charleston’s seventh consecutive victory in USL Championship play, the club’s longest in their Championship era, as they remain atop the league standings.
Despite the mild temperatures in Michigan, the game was off to a hot start. Detroit managed to pull ahead in the 2nd minute via Jay Chapman off a corner kick.
Charleston, however, responded immediately after going down 1-0. For the 10th time this year, Cal Jennings found the back of the net for the Battery, leveling the score at 1-1 in the 5th minute. Juan David Torres played a pinpoint cross from near the touchline and connected with Jennings, who was between two defenders and headed home the equalizer.
In addition to being Jennings’ 10th goal, it was his ninth match in a row with a goal involvement, tying the USL Championship record for consecutive games with a goal involvement. Torres’ assist was his fifth of the year, placing him tied for the league lead, as of writing.
Detroit thought they scored a second a minute later via Darren Smith, but the flag was raised for offside to chalk off the tally.
As the half wore on, the Battery began to find more of a footing and slow down Detroit. Both sides were reduced to only shots off target or blocked shots from the 7th minute through the 43rd minute.
The Battery grabbed the lead in the 44th minute after Jennings capped off a complete team effort to make the score 1-2. Nearly every player touched the ball while building out from the back, and it was Chris Allan’s release of Torres that initiated the movement across the field. From there, it went from Torres to MD Myers to Jennings in quick succession for the goal.
The tally brought Jennings’ season total to 11, and the assist was Myers’ second of the year.
Charleston took the 1-2 lead into the break, a strong response after conceding the early goal to the home side. Shots on target were even at two apiece.
Play resumed for the second half with the Battery’s foot firmly on the gas pedal.
Torres was the man of the moment again in the 52nd minute with a first-time strike from the top of the penalty area to the far post. Arturo Rodríguez played it to Torres while being knocked down, and Torres cleanly curled his shot away from goalkeeper Carlos Herrera to put the Battery ahead, 1-3.
Torres’ goal was his fourth of the year, and Rodríguez’s assist was his second.
After taking the two-goal lead, the Battery tightened their grip on the game, stifling Detroit and silencing the crowd.
Charleston’s defense held the hosts without a shot on target for the rest of the match.
The Battery secured the 1-3 victory at Keyworth Stadium, their seventh consecutive win in league play.
The win snapped Detroit’s nine-game undefeated streak at home and was the Battery’s first at Keyworth Stadium since 2023.
With the result, the Battery’s record advances to a league-best 8W-2L-0D (24pts). It was also Charleston’s fifth consecutive league match scoring at least three goals, which brings their goal differential to +14, best in the Championship.
Additionally, the Battery have won nine points from losing positions in the Championship this season, no team has recovered more.
Cal Jennings’ 11 goals place him firmly in the lead for the Championship Golden Boot race, as of writing.
Juan David Torres ended the day with a goal and an assist while having a game-high three chances created (tied). Furthermore, Torres was busy across the pitch with a match-high 82 touches, on top of eight recoveries, three chances created, two duels won, two successful dribbles and 10 accurate long balls.
Joey Akpunonu and Michael Edwards both turned in strong shifts again as a center-back pair with a combined 16 clearances, nine and seven, respectively.
Nathan Dossantos recorded a match-high four won tackles and eight duels won (tied), along with three interceptions, four clearances and one block.
Aaron Molloy had a game-high six interceptions, in addition to two tackles won, one clearance and 10 recoveries.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann, forward Cal Jennings and midfielder Juan David Torres discussed the victory after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the team responding after conceding the early goal…
It wasn’t a great start to the game. Letting the runner in behind, giving up the corner, giving up the header, but we responded immediately. Great first goal to gain the space, and then a great cross from Juan David to finish for Cal. We just focus on ourselves, focus on our principles.
We’ve been behind a lot this year, that’s coaching, not playing. So, start to finish, it was a top team performance. Incredible second team goal, great third goal. And then we shut it down, great to get out of one of the tougher places to play with all three points and a really good performance.
Coach Pirmann on what was working well against Detroit across the board…
It’s a tough place to play because they’re on top of you with their pressure, and it’s a really difficult pitch to play on, but we just kept going and that’s what I was so proud of.
The second goal was playing with confidence, playing with courage, and then a great finish to get in behind.
The boys need to enjoy the win, refresh, since this is a tough place to play. We focused on doing the little details, winning duels, and every single guy, from start to finish, they were animals. You have to be animals. So proud of the football taking over after that. They are a well-coached team, credit to the whole staff and coaches for getting them ready. Keyworth is a tough place to play, a big crowd again here, and I thought we thoroughly handled it tonight.
Jennings on the team’s discussions after Detroit’s early opener…
It’s a tough way to start a game, but I think we knew it was early, and we’re just like, ‘alright, let’s calm down and get back to what we do well.’ I thought we responded really well, the way we scored a couple of minutes after that, which was fantastic.
Detroit’s always a very difficult place to play, so you have to come for the fight, and then the football will take care of itself after that. I thought once we were fighting for second balls, once we were getting into tackles, then it opened up a little bit, especially in the first half. I thought we did a really good job moving the ball and creating chances.
I didn’t really feel any sort of worry. That’s not the way you want to start, but, like I said, we back ourselves, and we feel like we have got a really good team and a team that can respond to adversity. And, I thought we really did that today.
Jennings on how the offense was clicking throughout the afternoon…
I thought we moved the ball really well, unbalanced them, and got to the other side of the field. It was just about playing quickly, unbalancing them, and then getting in behind. I thought we were moving the ball one- and two-touch really well. And that was evident on the second goal.
I think everyone contributing to the goals shows we’ve got a lot of guys who can create chances, and that puts us in a really good spot, because it’s hard for other teams to game plan. You can’t just take off one option, because everybody on the field can score, assist and get in dangerous spots.
Torres on the strong overall performance today…
I was very confident in my game and what I could do. I like playing in front of a lot of fans from the other team. I try to use all of those factors as fuel and help the team.
We all stayed focused despite their early goal. We didn’t worry about the score and kept doing our job, and it paid off. That’s what we have to keep doing. No matter how things may go in the game, we have to focus on the next play and give our best effort.
It feels great to get a seventh win in a row. It’s a great privilege we have, and we want to keep going for more. This team is hungry for victory each week, and together we can achieve great things this year.
Charleston’s next match will be at home against Greenville Triumph SC on Sat., May 31, in the USL Jӓgermeister Cup. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
CHS – Zamudio, Akpunonu, Edwards, Dossantos, Houssou, Molloy, Allan (Segbers, 75’), Torres (Ycaza, 88’), Rodríguez (Martínez, 63’), Myers (Blackstock, 88’), Jennings (Rubín, 75’)
DET – Herrera, Wiedt, Amoo-Mensah, Villanueva (Yamazaki, 62’), Bryant (Carroll, 62’), Gasso, Chapman, Morris, Williams (Diouf, 74’), Cedeno (Rutz, 62’), Smith
Scoring Summary
DET: Jay Chapman, 2’
CHS: Cal Jennings, 5’ (Juan David Torres)
CHS: Cal Jennings, 44’ (MD Myers)
CHS: Juan David Torres, 52’ (Arturo Rodriguez)
