The Charleston Battery secured a dramatic 1-2 road victory over Loudoun United FC in Round 1 of the Prinx Tires USL Cup Group Stage on Saturday at Segra Field. After the hosts’ equalizer negated the lead from Miguel Berry’s goal in the first half, Graham Smith’s tally at the death secured the win for the Battery, providing a positive start to the interleague tournament.
Group 6 of the Prinx Tires USL Cup kicked off in Virginia amid rainy conditions from the first minute.
After a few half-chances in the early stages of the match, Miguel Berry broke the game open in the 16th minute to put the Battery ahead, 0-1. Nathan Messer lofted a long ball over the top to Berry, and the striker then powered forward to beat two defenders and danced past goalkeeper Ethan Bandre before smashing the ball into the net uncontested.
The goal marked Berry’s first with the Battery.
Loudoun leveled the score, 1-1, in the 27th minute via Pedro Santos.
Douglas Martinez nearly connected with a free Berry in the six-yard box in the 41st minute to restore the Battery’s lead, but the ball just missed the striker’s reach and was claimed by Bandre.
The game went into the break still tied at 1-1. Shots were nearly even between Charleston’s four and Loudoun’s three, but the Opta xG (Expected Goals) rating favored the Battery 1.03 to 0.21.
Play resumed in the second half with the rainy conditions subsiding at Segra Field.
Goalkeeper John Berner recorded his first save of the game in the 48th minute, denying Richard Aman. The shot-stopper made another save in the 74th minute to keep Arquímides Ordóñez from breaking the deadlock.
Emilio Ycaza nearly reclaimed the lead for the Battery in the 78th minute with a first-time strike from the edge of the box, but the shot was saved by Bandre with the help of the crossbar.
Staring down a penalty shootout if the score remained the same at the final whistle, the Battery ramped up the pressure in an effort to secure all three points.
The late heroics came in the 92nd minute when Graham Smith scored the go-ahead goal with a flicked header to put Charleston up, 1-2. Ycaza’s initial corner kick was knocked forward by Joey Akpunonu, and fellow center-back Smith sent the ball toward goal with the right amount of pace to put the Battery ahead at the death.
The goal was Smith’s first of the year, and Akpunonu’s assist was his third of 2026.
Charleston saw out the time that remained and secured all three points with a 1-2 win in the Group 6 opener over Loudoun, placing the Battery into an early favorable position in the Group 6 standings.
For the all-time series against Loudoun, the result improves Charleston’s record to 10W-1L-4D in the fixture and extends their undefeated streak at Segra Field to eight games (5W-0L-3D).
The win offered a sound response and positive development for the Battery’s away record following the Wednesday road defeat against Rhode Island.
Graham Smith had a productive match on both sides of the ball. In addition to the game-winning goal, the veteran center-back led the game with seven clearances and two tackles won (tied).
Joey Akpunonu and Emilio Ycaza tied for the team lead in duels won (six), and both played a key role in Smith’s go-ahead tally.
Miguel Berry opened his Battery account and co-led the team with two chances created, along with registering three duels won, two recoveries, and 90% passing accuracy.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Graham Smith addressed the victory after the match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the importance of this win for the team…
It was great to start off the new competition with a victory, especially on the road. And then, in general, it’s good to get a couple of goals. We’ve been really good in games, but without putting up any goals. So, to get those tonight was big. But win, lose or draw, we’re always looking forward to the next one. We’ll rest, we’ll travel, we’ll get back after for a huge game in the league next week.
The boys implemented the things that we asked them to do, and more importantly, they implemented it for 95, 96 minutes, right until the last kick. When we grind it out, and we were tough, and we had a unique game plan, and we did it. It’s been a long week with travel and all the stuff that goes with it.
Coach Pirmann on his overall assessment of the performance…
We knew it would be a lot of, what I kind of call, backyard football, street football, with the turf, the weather, the rain, the wind. Loudoun wanted to match up and mark us tightly, and they did a good job of that. So, we knew we wanted to play beyond them. And part of that is being willing to run without getting the ball.
And then the second bit is that Loudoun have a unique build-up game where they want to try to draw us out and break the line centrally. We also wanted to use those plays to create counterattacks going the other way.
In an ugly situation with the weather and the elements, I thought both teams tried to play really good football, and I thought we tilted things in our favor. We just got a lot of growth that we have to continue to push for and we’ve had growing pains up and down, and we’ll continue to have those. But, it feels good to win. It feels good to go out of town for a week and end the trip on a high note.
Coach Pirmann on the team’s response following the Wednesday game…
I think it was the response we were looking for. Our work rate, toughness and desire haven’t been an issue since we played Detroit and Charlotte. We were tough against Brooklyn and just got our butts kicked. We were tough against Rhode Island and got our butts kicked. We played a good game against Tampa and didn’t get the three points. Sometimes, you just can’t control the result. You can only control your attitude and your effort, and that’s been really good for us.
Now, we just have to control some of our performances and our actions in and out of possession, and make sure that we’re executing at a high level. We’re banged up, so were Loudoun. We’re all those things. All these teams are banged up. We just want to make sure that we’re getting better and better. And, as you mentioned, continue to use positivity to perform at the highest level possible.
Smith on what he saw in the match-winning goal…
I think Colton [Swan] made a really good effort to earn the corner that led to the goal off a long throw. And then on the corner kick, Emilio [Ycaza] put in a really good ball to Joey [Akpunonu] at the back post. Joey did well to win it first, directing the ball my way. And I just tried to do the best I could to get it on target. And, thankfully, it went in. I was just trying to move and position myself in a spot where I would be able to redirect it on target.
Smith on the boost the victory provides to the squad…
I think we were looking for a response after Rhode Island, a game where the result definitely wasn’t what we wanted, and the standard that we hold ourselves to, but the performance overall was not as bad as the result made it look. So, this new competition, a few days later, gave us a great opportunity to come out and respond.
I think there’s an aspect of going into next week where we can build on this. It’s a little bit easier to go in and reflect when you do it after a win. But like Coach Pirmann always says, we’re process-based. So, the process remains the same. We will still look to improve, analyze it similarly, and look to move forward and carry momentum on.
Lastly, I want to give a shoutout to Miguel [Berry]. I think he worked very hard up top, with all the runs and everything else that goes unnoticed. I’m very happy that he was able to get a reward tonight and get on the scoresheet.
Charleston’s next match will be home vs. Sporting Club Jacksonville in the USL Championship regular season on Sat., May 2. Tickets for the Cinco de Mayo weekend celebration game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
LDN: Bandre, Adnan, Essengue, Akinyode, Niyongabire (Piras, 90’), Murphy, Santos, Awuah, Souper (Dias, 66’), Aman, Ordóñez
CHS: Berner, Messer (Swan, 83’), Akpunonu, Smith, Suber, Martinez (Blackstock, 62’), Kelly, Ycaza, Houssou (Pakhomov, 62’), Cabrera (Foster, 62’), Berry (Wayne, 90’+4)
Scoring Summary
CHS – Miguel Berry, 16’
LDN – Pedro Santos, 27’
CHS – Graham Smith, 90’+2 (Joey Akpunonu)
