The Charleston Battery secured a thrilling 2-5 road victory over Sporting Club Jacksonville at Hodges Stadium on Saturday. Charleston recorded their second consecutive game with five goals following tallies by Miguel Berry (two), Maalique Foster, Jeremy Kelly and Alec Hughes. By completing the season sweep over Jacksonville, the Battery have ascended to second in the Eastern Conference standings.
Kickoff at Hodges finally arrived after a two-and-a-half-hour delay due to thunderstorms that hit the area during the evening. Despite the delay, Charleston came out of the gate on the front foot and with heavy pressure.
The Battery broke the game open in the 12th minute when Maalique Foster capitalized on a defensive error by Jacksonville to take an early 0-1 lead. Harvey Neville’s pass back toward goalkeeper Christian Olivares was intercepted by Foster, who took a touch around Olivares before finishing into an open net.
Foster’s goal was his fifth of the year across all competitions, his fourth in the league, and marked his third consecutive match with a goal.
Charleston were quick to double their lead, and just moments later, Jeremy Kelly struck from distance to make it 0-2 in the 14th minute. Miguel Berry’s clever pass in the middle of the park made its way to Kelly, and the midfielder crashed in from the left flank with ample space for a shot. Kelly’s attempt from outside the box to the far post and past Olivares.
The Battery continued to pour on the pressure and added a third goal in the 19th minute via Berry. Foster again capitalized on Jacksonville’s mistake by intercepting a weak pass intended for Tyshawn Rose and initiated a quick counterattack into the final third. Colton Swan collected the rebound from the cross by Foster and played the ball back to Berry. From there, Berry smashed his shot first-time from near the penalty spot, tucking the ball just inside the post.
Berry’s goal was his third of the year and first of the league campaign. Swan’s assist was his second of the year.
On the other end, goalkeeper Luis Zamudio made a key save in the 37th minute when Raheem Somerall had a low effort on target, but Zamudio dove to make the save
Jacksonville managed to pull one back in the 44th minute via Wan Kuzain, cutting the score to 1-3.
Charleston took the 1-3 lead into the break.
Play resumed for the second half with the Battery bringing on Wilmer Cabrera in place of Maalique Foster.
Jacksonville cut their deficit in half in the 47th minute via Wan Kuzain to make the score 2-3.
Charleston, however, issued a quick response when Berry struck again in the 53rd minute to restore the two-goal lead, 2-4. Kelly and Cabrera worked the ball into the box and Cabrera made a savvy pass to an unmarked Berry on the opposite side of the box. Berry then lined up his shot and drove the ball home for his second goal of the night.
Berry’s second goal marked his first brace of the season, bringing his 2026 total to four. It was also Berry’s first brace since August 2021. Cabrera’s assist was his second of the year and his second in as many games.
A notable moment for the Battery occurred in the 71st minute when Laurent Kissiedou entered the game off the bench for his first appearance in roughly two months.
The complexion of the final stages of the match changed when Jacksonville’s Ryan Edwards was sent off with a red card in the 81st minute after earning his second yellow card of the game. Jacksonville were forced to end the game with only 10 men.
Charleston made quick work of the man advantage and scored their fifth goal via Alec Hughes in the 82nd minute, going up 2-5. Berry took the free kick that followed the red card, and his attempt at a hat trick rocked the woodwork. However, Hughes was positioned perfectly in the box to knock the rebound into the back of the net.
Hughes officially opened his Battery account with the goal.
In the waning phase of the game, Jack Wayne entered the match in the 83rd minute to make his 10th appearance of the year, an impressive feat for the USL Academy player and Ohio State Buckeye signee.
Charleston saw out the 2-5 road win against Jacksonville to complete the season sweep over the expansion club.
The win advanced the Battery to second in the Eastern Conference table with a record of 7W-4L-2D (23pts).
With the assist tonight, Colton Swan extended his streak of games with a goal contribution to four matches, notching three goals and two assists in that span.
Maalique Foster also extended his goalscoring streak to three games with the opening tally tonight.
Miguel Berry’s brace was his first since August 2021, when he scored twice against FC Cincinnati as a member of the Columbus Crew.
Joey Akpunonu posted a match-high 10 clearances, more than double the next highest total after him.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and forward Miguel Berry discussed the win after the match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the team’s response to the extensive weather delays…
It was a tough situation, a two-and-a-half-hour delay, and then we came out firing in the first 20 minutes. I thought our pursuit against the ball was very good. Maalique Foster presses the error pass, and we create the goal, and then we kept hunting and going and then again we’ve been having this habit this year.
But then we responded very well and turned the screw a little bit and got what we wanted and ended up where we probably deserve to be. It was a tough game, tough situation, but I was proud of the boys to go on the road, get three points, score five goals.
Coach Pirmann on the overall performance by the team tonight…
I think if you take a big step back and do a 50,000-foot view, we had to sign a lot of new attacking pieces this year, so things were a little slow clicking at the beginning of the year, and now we’re starting to find a little bit better rhythm. But we want to build principles; we want to build moments where we move the ball, move the opponent, try to create some disorganization and unbalance them to gain the spaces behind so we can get our matchups and get our numbers in and around the box.
For me, it’s about doing what the team needs and being selfless. And when this group does it, they’re very, very good. And then we already mentioned some of the stuff against the ball, so, in order to score goals, you have to be able to be strong defensively. In order to score goals, you have to be able to build the game from the back. In order to score goals, you have to be strong in all 11 positions.
We kind of took our foot off the gas, and next thing you know, it’s 2-3. We preached against it all week, and so, you saw the goods and the bads of this team right now, which is, I think, that we can be collectively aggressive and be very difficult to play against, score a lot of goals, create a lot of chances, get in the opponent’s face defensively. But then we can also be easy to play against, and get behind us and not defend on the back post, and give up too many touches in the box.
So, we’re getting better and better. We’ve got a long, long way to go, but I’m proud of the group for their focus, their mentality, their attitude. We want to definitely clean some things up defensively, but overall, you take it: three points, job done, get back on the bus, rest, recover, and we got to go again Wednesday.
Berry on his performance with two goals, one assist…
It feels good. I think the stats are more for my family than for me. I’ve been happy with some of my performances recently, stats aside. At this point in my career, I don’t need that to validate me as a player. I’ve always been my harshest critic, and today is icing on the cake. But there are things in the game that I love more than anything, and I think we’re on the right trajectory. I’m just really proud of the group.
Berry on the team’s overall balanced attack…
Really we just have been building the whole season. I think we started kind if slow but this team has a lot of places we can grow. Every night is a new person’s night and we do a good job moving the ball around and, overall, we came out hungry after a long pause and I’m proud of the group.
Berry on adjusting to the delay, momentum swings…
I think it comes with the territory of having a long break, it’s like 11:30 p.m. right now. But I think just knowing when to settle the game down, I think it got a little hectic there at the start of the second half, and I think we came out a little flat, and we got a goal and we started putting our foot on the ball a little more. They got tired, and we got tired, and we just played through it a little more. Credit to [Jacksonville], they fought the whole way. So, we worked hard and we deserved it.
Charleston’s next match will be home vs. Loudoun United FC on Wed., June 24, which is Pups at the Pitch at Patriots Point. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider, and information on tickets specifically for fans and their canine companions can be found at www.charlestonbattery.com/dogs.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
JAX: Olivares, Neville, Gomez, Edwards, Rose, Sommersall (Rito, 63’), Rossiter, Kuzain, Pedder, Jääskeläinen, Sadlier
CHS: Zamudio, Messer, Akpunonu, Smith, Suber, Kelly (Kissiedou, 71’), Ycaza, Pakhomov, Foster (Cabrera, 46’), Berry (Wayne, 83’), Swan (Hughes, 71’)
Scoring Summary
CHS – Maalique Foster, 12’
CHS – Jeremy Kelly, 14’ (Miguel Berry)
CHS – Miguel Berry, 19’ (Colton Swan)
JAX – Wan Kuzain, 44’ (Tyshawn Rose)
JAX – Wan Kuzain, 47’ (Emil Jääskeläinen)
CHS – Miguel Berry, 53’ (Wilmer Cabrera)
CHS – Alec Hughes 82’
