The Charleston Battery defeated Indy Eleven, 2-1, in front of a sold-out crowd at Patriots Point on Saturday. The win punched Charleston’s ticket to the 2025 USL Championship Playoffs, their third consecutive year reaching the postseason. Cal Jennings bagged a brace with goals on both sides of halftime
Charleston started the match on the front foot, eager to rebound from the previous weekend’s result. Aaron Molloy recorded the first shot on target of the night in the 6th minute, an opportunistic attempt amid appeals for a penalty after Arturo Rodriguez was taken down in the box. Goalkeeper Hunter Sulte made the save.
The Battery continued to apply pressure as the half wore on. Cal Jennings saw his shot in the 8th minute drift just wide of the post and Joey Akpunonu uncorked a missile from the edge of the box in the 16th minute that forced another save from Sulte.
A breakthrough moment for Charleston came in the 36th minute when they were awarded a penalty in the 36th minute, after MD Myers was brought down in the box by Ben Ofeimu.
Jennings stepped up to the spot in the 38th minute and made no mistake, burying the goal to put Charleston ahead, 1-0.
The goal was Jennings’ 13th of the year in league play, placing him back into a tie for first in the Championship Golden Boot race, as of writing. It was his 14th goal of 2025 across all competitions.
Ben Pirmann was forced to make a pair of early substitutions after Douglas Martinez and Jeremy Kelly appeared to pick up knocks in the 31st and 42nd minutes, respectively. Juan David Torres and Emilio Ycaza entered the game in their spots.
The Battery took the 1-0 into halftime after dominating many phases of the game, including retaining nearly 86% possession, recording three shots on target to Indy’s zero and winning 67% of the first half duels.
Play resumed in the second half with Charleston looking to maintain the momentum established during the first 45 minutes.
After knocking on the door repeatedly, Jennings doubled Charleston’s lead in the 67th minute with his second goal of the night, capitalizing on Indy’s defensive error. Ycaza created the issue by sending a long ball into Indy’s defensive third. Jennings’ pressure and chase forced Brian Schaefer to make a hasty header back to Sulte, and the goalkeeper misplayed the ball. Jennings beat Sulte into the box and poked the ball into the net to make the score 2-0.
The brace brings Jennings’ league total to 14 goals, lifting him back into sole possession of first in the Championship Golden Boot race, as of writing. His 15 overall goals tie him with MD Myers for the team lead across all competitions.
Indy managed to pull one back in the 72nd minute through Jack Blake, cutting the score to 2-1.
Charleston nearly restored their two-goal lead just minutes later. In the 74th minute, Ycaza played a clever ball through to Myers, whose on-target strike from inside the box was saved by Sulte. The rebound fell to Torres, and his shot forced another save by Sulte.
Rodriguez nearly sent a header into the net after Torres picked him out with a cross, but his attempt went fractionally wide of the post.
On the opposite end, the Battery’s defense held firm to keep Indy from scoring an equalizer. Goalkeeper Luis Zamudio made a key save against Ofeimu in the 89th minute and Graham Smith made an important block in the 90th minute.
Charleston secured the 2-1 win over Indy, their fifth consecutive win over the Indiana club, completing the season sweep.
With the win, the Battery officially punched their ticket to the USL Championship Playoffs. It’s Charleston’s third straight year making the postseason under Ben Pirmann’s guidance.
The result advances the Battery’s record to 16W-5L-2D (50pts), good for second in the Eastern Conference.
Cal Jennings now leads in the Championship Golden Boot race with 14 goals in league play.
Aaron Molloy was active all over the pitch with a game-high 105 accurate passes, along with six duels won, four clearances, two interceptions, two chances created and six recoveries.
Juan David Torres, despite entering around the half-hour mark, led the match with four chances created.
Leland Archer tallied a game-high eight clearances.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and forward Cal Jennings addressed the victory after the match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his overall assessment of the match…
Only two or three guys played a complete performance tonight for us, and if you do that, you’re going to be on the hook for it at the end of the game. I thought after we scored the penalty kick, we stopped playing. We just weren’t good. We were selfish and we weren’t focused. I get it, there were a couple of injuries in the first 30 minutes, and you make subs. You go up 2-0 and take your foot off the gas, but nowhere near the standard that we need. So, it’s disappointing, just flat out disappointing. That’s the honest assessment. But I’d rather play crappy and win than last weekend, we played really well and lost. But, we have to get it right.
Fair credit to Indy Eleven. They played their socks off. They’ve had a tough week of travel and three games, and we looked like the team that was not up for it. So it’s disappointing from that end, but at the end of the day, we got three points.
Coach Pirmann on playing in front of a sold-out crowd…
That’s massive, and in front of an incredible crowd. We are honored and privileged to have this crowd and play here. The front office did a tremendous job.
Jennings on securing the victory at home…
It’s massive to win at home. We’re happy to be back in front of our fans. We’re happy to get a good win, a good result, and clinch the playoffs. I thought a lot of guys had a really good performance today, and the effort was fantastic out there, so we’re happy about it.
Jennings on his first goal…
MD did a fantastic job drawing the penalty. I don’t know who put him in that position, but that’s where we want to be. Then, they just trusted me to put it away. So, I just have to have the confidence, calm the nerves, and I’m happy to do that job for the team.
Jennings on what he saw in his second goal…
We picked up the ball halfway, Emilio got it and played a nice little ball in behind the back line and gave the goalkeeper a tough decision. I knew if I could just put some pressure on the defense, it was going to be difficult for them to head it back to the goalkeeper. I had a little luck and he bounced it over the keeper. At that point, I’m like, ‘Alright, now I got to get a touch on this and make sure it goes in the back of the net.’ So, I’m happy that the work paid off.
Jennings on the team’s momentum going forward…
We’re trying to get as many results as we can put together. We want to do that and have momentum going into the playoffs. We know there’s still lots of games left, and we weren’t happy with the result in Rhode Island, and felt we needed to respond. So, I thought we did that tonight, and we’re planning to do that again next weekend.
Charleston’s next match will be home vs. Oakland Roots SC on Sat., Sept. 13, as the club celebrates Hispanic Heritage Night at Patriots Point. Tickets for the rematch are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
CHS: Zamudio, Blackstock (Edwards, 90’), Archer, Akpunonu, Martínez (Torres, 32’), Kelly (Ycaza, 45’ (Dossantos, 90’)), Molloy, Houssou, Rodríguez, Myers (Smith, 90’), Jennings
IND: Sulte, Musa, Ofeimu, O’Brien, Schaefer, Murphy (Collier, 88’), McRobb (Foster, 61’), Rendón, Soumaoro (Lindley, 76’), Kizza (Williams, 61’), Brynéus (Blake, 60’)
Scoring Summary
CHS – Cal Jennings, 38’
CHS – Cal Jennings, 67’
IND – Jack Blake, 72’ (Ben Ofeimu)
