The Charleston Battery were defeated 2-0 by Indy Eleven on Independence Day at Carroll Stadium on Saturday. Charleston held their own against Indy until a Graham Smith red card in the second half altered the complexion of the game, with the hosts scoring twice while up a man. The result snaps the Battery’s three-game winning streak in league play.
Charleston and Indy kicked off amid pleasant and sunny conditions at Carroll Stadium, a stadium in which Indy are undefeated in the regular season this year.
With the start, Maalique Foster officially recorded his 150th appearance in the USL Championship regular season.
Goalkeeper Luis Zamudio had a crucial intervention in the 11th minute to deny Cam Lindley’s corner kick that was curling toward the goal, but Zamudio’s swipe neutralized the threat. Zamudio then made a big save in the 15th minute to stop Noble Okello’s strong shot from inside the box.
Charleston appeared to have pulled ahead in the 23rd minute when Colton Swan fired the ball into the net from inside the box, but the referee’s flag was raised for offside to chalk off the tally.
Indy were victims of the offside flag in stoppage time when Bruno Rendon’s apparent goal was also waived off.
The game went into the break tied at 0-0. Charleston outshot Indy, 10 to three, and held the majority of possession at roughly 66%.
Action picked up again in the second half with all still to play for in the Indiana capital.
Charleston’s attack was on the front foot out of the break with Miguel Berry, Colton Swan and Jeremy Kelly recording shots through the opening 15 minutes of the second stanza. However, none of the attempts made it past goalkeeper Eric Dick.
The Battery were reduced to 10 men in the 68th minute when Graham Smith was issued a straight red card for a last-man foul.
Indy managed to take a 1-0 lead in the 82nd minute via Josh O’Brien.
Charleston nearly equalized in the 86th minute when Nathan Messer’s free kick was met by Douglas Martinez for a header on target, but the shot was narrowly saved.
The hosts made it 2-0 in the 94th minute via Rendon.
Charleston’s 10-man side were defeated 2-0 by Indy, snapping their three-game winning streak in league play and the six-game undefeated run against the Indiana club.
The Battery’s record moves to 8W-5L-2D (26pts) following the result, placing them in second place in the Eastern Conference table, as of writing.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Nathan Messer addressed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his immediate takeaways from the game…
This just showed the difficulties of going on the road against good teams in USL. I think they are undefeated at home, so we knew no matter what it was going to be a very difficult match. Then throw in a couple of the elements and all that type of stuff that both teams had to deal with, and some travel and all those things. It was a very difficult match.
I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t finish a couple of the attacks and didn’t get a goal earlier, but there were still 20, 25 minutes there for us, and we needed to see out a result.
We defended the restart all week on the back post, and you’ve got to give Indy Eleven credit. They made the big plays at the end of the day, and we didn’t. They finished the chance, they made the saves, they did what was needed, and we didn’t.
But, for the most part, you can’t be upset with our boys’ effort. It’s frustrating when you lose, and when you lose, it makes some of the mistakes, some of the habits, and some of the weaknesses more glaring, which we have to improve upon.
It’s a setback. It’s tough. We needed to come out of that game with at least a point. I thought it was there for us to get all three points, so it’s definitely disappointing. But, at the end of the day, you’ve just got to give credit to Indy Eleven for winning the game. They deserve it.
Coach Pirmann on turning the page to the Prinx Tires USL Cup Group Stage finale next Saturday…
I think we want to be ticked off right now for the next 24 hours. We want to be agitated. You can’t accept losing, no matter how well you play, or what the travel was like, or what the moments were in the game. You play football to win, and we want to be ticked off. So, we’ll get back after it in training on Tuesday.
Charlotte have been incredible, and I think they’re one of the hottest teams in North America right now, so it will be another difficult game and something that we’ll have to be ready for.
Messer on his overall assessment of the game…
It’s really disappointing. I thought we dominated the game for the most part, and I thought we were right in it. We were playing really well, and could have potentially had a game-winner had it not been for that red card.
At the end of the day, it’s disappointing that, even with 10 men, we couldn’t see the game out and just get a point. That’s something that we were striving for and could have achieved, but we just weren’t good enough on our set-piece defending, and we’re going to try and correct that going into next week.
Messer on the impact of the red card…
It changed the game on its head, really. I thought we were all over them before that moment, and in terms of possession, it must have been through the roof in our favor, and I thought we were comfortable defensively. And then, when the red card happened, we were straight away on the back foot, having to sit in and defend our own box. So, it really changed momentum. I think the second goal was one where we were caught in transition while really pushing for the equalizer, because at that point there wasn’t really much to lose for us. So, it was just one of those cases where I think the red card definitely impacted the game a lot today.
Charleston’s next home game will be on Sat., July 11, against the Charlotte Independence in the Prinx Tires USL Cup. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
IND: Dick, Neidlinger, Rasheed, Barry, Quinn, Rendón, O’Brien, Lindley, Blake, Omar (Sharp, 65’), Okello (Mesanvi, 81’)
CHS: Zamudio, Messer, Akpunonu, Smith, Suber, Kelly (Kissiedou, 78’), Allan (Pakhomov, 59’), Ycaza, Foster (Cabrera, 78’), Swan (Martinez, 70’), Berry (Hughes, 78’)
Scoring Summary
IND – Josh O’Brien, 82’ (Makel Rasheed)
IND – Bruno Rendón, 90’+4 (Jack Blake)
