
The Charleston Battery were defeated by Greenville Triumph SC, 0-1, in Round 2 of the USL Jägermeister Cup group stage on Saturday at Patriots Point. Charleston fought valiantly throughout the night but were unable to find the back of the net against the Upstate side. A goal by Ben Zakowski before halftime proved to be the difference-maker. While the loss hurts Charleston’s standing in the Jägermeister Cup, it bears no impact on their USL Championship regular season standing.
Featuring a lineup with six changes from last weekend, the Battery opened the night looking to secure their first victory in the Jägermeister Cup. Charleston quickly established control of the ball and held 74% possession through the first 10 minutes.
In the 7th minute, the Battery pushed forward as Rubio Rubín slipped a well-timed pass to Douglas Martínez, who fired a shot on target and forced a save from goalkeeper Gunther Rankenburg. Charleston made 16 entries into the final third through the first quarter-hour, more than doubling Greenville’s six.
Klein nearly scored the opener in the 27th minute with a first-time shot from the edge of the penalty area, but Rankenburg again made the save.
Goalkeeper Christian Garner was called into action for the first time in the 32nd minute when he denied Michael Gonzalez from close range.
Greenville managed to score the opener in the 44th minute via Ben Zakowski.
The Triumph took the 0-1 lead into the break, despite Charleston holding 71% possession and more than double the final third entries (40 to 19).
Play resumed in the second half with the Battery pressing for an equalizer.
Rubín nearly did that in the 55th minute when his shot from inside the box was blocked. Appeals for a handball were made, but no call was given. Moments later, Martínez fired a shot to the top of the goal that was saved by Rankenburg.
The Battery appeared to find an equalizer in the 58th minute when Cal Jennings had a stellar finish to beat Rankenburg, but the flag was raised for offside. Jennings had his shot in the 71st minute saved by Rackenburg.
Charleston continued to throw numbers forward as the half entered the final stages. Joey Akpunonu nearly found the leveler in the 82nd minute when he came crashing in for a header that went just wide of the crossbar.
In the 90th minute, MD Myers almost tied the game with a first-time strike from inside the box. His attempt was saved but rebounded back to him, however his follow-up shot off the volley went over the crossbar.
Rubín had a last-ditch attempt for a header off a Nathan Dossantos cross, but his shot was blocked as Greenville had four players along the goal line.
Greenville held on to secure the 0-1 win in the Jägermeister Cup group stage game. The result kept Charleston in sixth in the group and on the outside looking in, in terms of advancing to the knockout phase.
While the loss does not help the Battery’s cause in the Jägermeister Cup, it does not impact their standing in the USL Championship regular season.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Nathan Dossantos addressed the media after the match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his overall reflections of the evening…
It just wasn’t as crisp as it needed to be, some of the performances were sound. But in these cup games, it’s not about a performance, it’s about getting a result.
There’s got to be a reflection on why. We made some changes to the lineup, but we had a great squad. [Greenville] are a really strong squad, a lot of good players, a lot of hard-working players. Full credit to Greenville, they beat us and deserved to win.
Coach Pirmann on the difficulties in attack against Greenville…
We’ve been scoring goals for fun in the league and couldn’t get it in these two cup games. Sometimes that happens. Give credit to Greenville, and now we got to look in the mirror and just get better.
I think in the first half with 75-odd-percent possession, we have to create more than two chances and two shots. We had the great chance in the first half, and then we gave a bad giveaway to let them get into it. When you do that, like we learned in Naples, you’re just gonna be up against it, chasing the game and anything can happen. I don’t think it was an attitude thing, I don’t think it was an effort thing.
Coach Pirmann on home support and looking ahead…
Not our night. Disappointed mainly for the supporters. That was an incredible crowd and, like I said, I didn’t think we played poorly or anything just disappointing at the end of it.
We go to Loudoun, who are right there. [Loudoun are] very tough at their place, I think they have a perfect record. So for us, we’re going to have to be willing to suffer out of possession and defend on the turf. We’ll have to be more thorough. It’s going to be more of an up-and-down game next weekend and we’ll have to be ready to go.
Dossantos on his immediate takeaways from the match…
I think it’s this big sense of frustration. We never want to lose at home, I just don’t think we did enough tonight to deserve to win. [Greenville] created a couple of quality chances and they got one. It’s simple, they did enough to deserve to win.
I think for us, a lot of concern was just handling transition, and that’s where the goal came from. A bit soft on our part, and we’ve been letting in some soft wins this year. That’s been something that I’ve been frustrated with. At the same time, I just don’t think we had enough quality chances. We had a couple towards the end, I know MD had one. There were maybe a couple scrambles in the box, but at the end of the day, we didn’t create enough quality chances.
You give it 24 hours to be frustrated, to be unhappy with this all, and then when we come in, whether it’s when we come in on Monday, it’s just got to be focusing on Loudoun, because that’s a huge away game, and we just have to turn the page really fast.
Dossantos on the home support tonight…
I just want to say thank you, the performance wasn’t deserving of the support we get. Especially with these fans at home, I think we’re going to do our best to get some big results on the road, so when we come back at the end of the month, we’ll be in this top position that they expect us to be in.
Charleston’s next match will be away vs. Loudoun United FC on Sat., June 7. The Battery’s next home match will be vs. Phoenix Rising FC on Sat., June 21. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
CHS – Garner, Dossantos, Akpunonu, Houssou (Allan, 62’), Segbers (Myers, 63’), Ycaza (Rodríguez, 63’), Molloy, Martínez (Blackstock, 78’), Rubín, Klein (Edwards, 46’), Jennings
GVL – Rankenburg, Polak, Patti (Benton, 63’), Bubb (Sims, 46’), Evans, Gonzalez (Soto, 59’), Herrera, Agyaakwah, Zakowski, Castro (Mensah, 86’), Robles (Lee, 46’)
Scoring Summary
GVL: Ben Zakowski 44’