The Charleston Battery played Charlotte Independence to a 2-2 draw but fell in the subsequent penalty shootout, 2-4, in Round 4 of the Prinx Tires USL Cup Group Stage at Patriots Point on Saturday. Maalique Foster and Colton Swan scored for the Battery in normal time. However, a pair of saves by Charlotte in the penalty shootout secured the Group 6 win for the visitors, ending the Battery’s USL Cup run.
Play kicked off at Patriots Point after a two-hour-long delay for severe thunderstorms that impacted the Charleston area, including the stadium’s playing surface, during the evening.
Goalkeeper John Berner made a massive stop in the 12th minute to deny Souaibou Marou in a one-on-one situation after Marou got past Joey Akpunonu in the final third. Berner came off his line aggressively, made himself big, and neutralized the threat.
Charlotte believed they were awarded a penalty in the 19th minute for a foul inside the box, but a discussion by the referees reverted the call to a free kick for Charleston. The change was justified as it was Charlotte’s Mathis Guffroy who pulled Charleston’s Douglas Martinez down in the box.
The Battery pulled ahead 1-0 in the 27th minute when Maalique Foster struck again against Charlotte from inside the box. Miguel Berry made a savvy pass to play Foster forward, and Foster tucked his shot inside the far post and outside of goalkeeper Matt Levy’s reach.
Foster’s goal was his seventh of the year across all competitions, including his second against Charlotte. Berry’s assist was his fourth of 2026.
Charlotte managed to pull level in the 37th minute via Jon Bakero, evening the score at 1-1.
Jeremy Kelly nearly broke the deadlock in stoppage time with a strong strike to the near post that forced Levy to make a decisive save.
The game went into the break tied at 1-1. Charleston out-shot Charlotte by a margin of 10 to three.
Action resumed with all still to play for in the second half, as both sides contended for the Group 6 crown.
Charlotte broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute via Marou to take a 1-2 lead.
However, Charleston immediately responded, and Colton Swan equalized in the 59th minute to level the score at 2-2. Emilio Ycaza forced the issue with an initial shot that was blocked and fell right to Swan. From there, Swan’s first attempt was saved, but the rebound fell right back to him near the byline, and he redirected the ball into the net on a tight angle for the tally.
Swan’s goal marked his 11th of the year across all competitions, the most on the Battery.
The Battery pushed forward for an equalizer as the half wore on. Laurent Kissiedou had a strong shot blocked in the 82nd minute, and Chris Allan was on target in the 85th minute and Langston Blackstock’s follow-up off the save went just over the crossbar.
On the other end, Prince Saydee nearly added a third for Charlotte, but his shot rocked off the woodwork in the 82nd minute.
Ycaza and Alec Hughes almost scored the late winner at the death, but their attempts were blocked and narrowly off target, respectively.
The game officially ended in a 2-2 draw and went into an immediate penalty shootout to determine the winner of the bonus point, and therefore the winner of the group.
Charlotte were a perfect four-of-four on their spot attempts, but the Battery had two of their penalties saved, clinching the shootout win for the visitors.
The Battery ended the USL Cup Group Stage in second place with a 2W-0L-2D record (9pts), but missed out on the Wild Card spot on account of the goals scored tiebreaker, held by Miami FC, who tallied 11 goals in group play.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann addressed the media after the match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his overall assessment of the game…
It’s disappointing to go out just because we were right there. But I think, firstly, you’ve got to give credit to Charlotte and Mike [Jeffries], he’s a great coach. There’s a reason they’ve gone 14 in a row without losing. I think when you step back and look at it, we did more than enough, creating chances, scoring two goals. When it was 1-0, we needed to make it 2-0, and we didn’t, and then a super soft goal to concede, by three or four or five players there. And then, fair credit, Charlotte scored a really nice goal to make it 1-2. Then we fought back to 2-2, with a nice goal of our own and kept pushing, but you just need to finish those chances. Anytime you score two goals at home, you should be advancing.
Coach Pirmann on the difficulties faced during the night…
What went wrong, I think there were some individual performances that weren’t on par with where we’ve been the last two months of the season. Not sure if it was poor mindset, poor preparation, or just maybe gripping because it’s a playoff game. But, in the end of the day, like I said, you’ve got to give Charlotte credit. They made the plays, and we didn’t. It’s two weeks in a row where the performance overall was dominant in possession, in chance creation, and we’re conceding goals again. So, it’s disappointing.
Coach Pirmann on his season outlook following the USL Cup exit…
We made so many steps over the last two months of progress, of dominating the ball with purpose. I thought we did that the last two games, but you can’t give up two goals a game and expect to win games. So, we need a little bit tougher grittiness. We need a little bit better coaching from myself and the group to make sure we’re a little bit more clear on that identity. And we’ve got to just perform. Every week’s tough, we play Sacramento [Republic FC], who’s a top team, next weekend. We’ll have to rebound, we’ll have to get back at it. We’re at home next weekend, we need a big crowd, we need good energy. But it stinks to not advance.
Charleston will be back home for their next match on Sat., July 18, against Sacramento Republic FC in the USL Championship regular season. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
CHS: Berner, Messer, Akpunonu, Smith, Martínez (Blackstock, 70’), Pakhomov (Allan, 57’), Ycaza, Kelly, Berry (Suber, 87’), Foster (Kissiedou, 70’) , Swan (Hughes, 87’)
CLT: Levy, Skinner (Riascos, 88’), Romero, Manin, Dimick, Bakero (Nare, 84’), Amaya, Lyons, Ortiz (Saydee, 71’), Marou, Guffroy (Ngah, 70’)
Scoring Summary
CHS – Maalique Foster, 27’ (Miguel Berry)
CLT – Jon Bakero, 37’ (Souaibou Marou)
CLT – Souaibou Marou, 53’ (Joey Skinner)
CHS – Colton Swan, 59’
Penalty Shootout Summary
CLT – Prince Saydee, Make
CHS – Sean Suber, Make
CLT – Javen Romero, Make
CHS – Jeremy Kelly, Miss
CLT – Souaibou Marou, Make
CHS – Emilio Ycaza, Make
CLT – Jefferson Amaya, Make
CHS – Joey Akpunonu, Miss
