The Charleston Battery fell 2-1 against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC in Week 21 of the USL Championship regular season at Weidner Field on Saturday. After a scoreless first half, Charleston and Colorado Springs traded goals through the 90th minute, with Wilmer Cabrera netting one for the Battery, but a late tally for the hosts sent all three points to Switchbacks FC.
Charleston kicked off against Colorado Springs with four changes to the starting lineup from the previous game, headlined by Alec Hughes making his first start of the year among the swaps.
Jeremy Kelly, making his 100th career appearance in the USL Championship regular season, nearly opened the scoring in the 8th minute, but his header from inside the box went fractionally over the crossbar.
Switchbacks FC dialed up pressure midway through the first half with shots from Speedy Williams, Adrien Perez and Khori Bennett between the 19th and 26th minutes, but only Bennett recorded an attempt on target, which Luis Zamudio saved.
The hosts held roughly 60% possession through the half-hour mark.
Charleston and Colorado Springs went into the break tied and scoreless. Switchbacks FC outshot the Battery, 10 to one.
Play resumed in the second half with all still to play for at Weidner Field.
Switchbacks FC managed to take a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute via Perez.
Charleston began to find more of a footing in the game while searching for an equalizer and held 70% possession between the 60th and 75th minutes. Graham Smith was on target twice through the 65th minute to force saves from Colin Shutler, and Sean Suber nearly leveled the score in the 76th minute with a shot that was also saved.
The Battery’s pressure broke through in the 81st minute when Wilmer Cabrera made an instant impact off the bench to level the score at 1-1. Nathan Messer forced the issue with his service from the left flank to Jeremy Kelly. From there, Kelly connected with Cabrera, and Cabrera settled the ball with one touch before slotting it past Shutler’s reach and into the net.
Cabrera’s goal was his third of the year, and Kelly’s assist was his sixth across all competitions in 2026.
Charleston have scored nine goals via substitutes in the Championship this season, more than any other team. Cabrera himself has one goal and two assists off the bench in the regular season this year.
Colorado Springs managed to score a late go-ahead goal in the 95th minute via Jonas Fjeldberg to take a 2-1 lead.
The Battery were unable to respond in the final stoppage time minutes that remained, and Switchbacks FC took the 2-1 win.
Charleston’s record moves to 8W-6L-3D (27pts) following the result, placing them in second place in the Eastern Conference table, as of writing.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and midfielder Jeremy Kelly discussed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his immediate assessment from the game…
I thought the first half performance was good. The game kind of went as we anticipated, with Colorado Springs trying to be on the front foot. We had the best chance of the half with a great cross from Emilio Ycaza to Jeremy Kelly that we needed to score. Then we made some good defending moments in and around our box in that first half.
We had a change at halftime, and we got a little bit more deliberate with the way we wanted to be brave in our build-up. I thought we started to take the game to them.
The first goal against us was just an error, and I thought we responded incredibly well from it. We really started taking it to them. We got a well-deserved goal, and then it was in the balance there.
With only having the four subs, we got tired and honestly probably needed the one extra player to push it. They made the play at the end, and we didn’t. Tired legs, lack of challenge.
But between not seeing it out there at the end for at least a draw in the 95th minute, and then a horrific mistake to go down in the beginning, it’s tough to win on the road against the top team. We were probably just a player short and a couple of performances short on the night, and that’s just unfortunate.
Coach Pirmann on positives to take away from the game…
I thought we improved our organized defending, which was very important to me in our process. Then I thought after we went down a goal, we responded brilliantly, and we were on top of it. I thought the game was ours.
Alec Hughes got his first start really in two years and provided some stuff in the first half. Miguel Berry off the bench did an excellent job of giving us an outlet, giving us an ability to link other players into it, to play the game in the opponent’s half.
I think we advanced the ball a little bit better. Then when we went down a goal, Kirill Pakhomov went in, and his abilities to carry the ball and break lines were noticeable. So those things were very good. Wilmer could score goals, and he comes in off that left side and has a great finish. Well deserved for him.
Kelly on the difficulties posed by Colorado Springs…
It’s just a tough game in general; they’re a good team, they’re very good at home and it’s a tough place to play. But, I thought we handled ourselves well in the first half. Even though they probably dominated the ball a bit more than we did, we started off strong for 10 minutes and should have gotten a goal there.
Then they had more of the possession from there on out in the first half, but we kind of held out and defended in a low block.
In the second half, the game became a bit more open. A few mistakes from a few of our guys, I gave the ball away, and then a slightly sloppy goal. But we did well to fight back, and they’re a good team. They kept pressing at the end, and they scored. I think it was just a few moments of the game where we let ourselves down. So it’s a credit to them. We need to do better, but they’re a good team.
Kelly on improvements he saw during the game to build on…
Our low-block defending, I think over the past few games, has been pretty good. We’re staying compact, moving side to side, not giving up too many big chances, or not many at all. So that’s something we take away.
Over the course of the season, we’ve shown that we have that resilience in us, and we’ve come back from goals down and won, put the pressure on, and I think now the key thing for us to figure out is how we can do that from the start of the game. It’s not always easy, because it’s a game of momentum.
I think we’re working hard, so it’s not an effort problem. I think it’s just a few key moments, some big plays on both sides of the ball. So it’s not like we had a terrible, terrible performance, but it’s just a few big moments that we need to capitalize on.
Charleston return home for their next match, against Brooklyn FC, on Sat., Aug. 1. The club is recognizing the 1996 title-winning team by celebrating ‘90s Night at Patriots Point, with tickets starting at just $6 (before taxes and fees), just like in the 1996 season. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
COS: Shutler, Foster (Mahoney, 82’), Maples, Metusala, Lacroix, S. Williams, D. Williams (Creek, 57’), Tejada (Echevarria, 82’), Hanya (Masereka, 74’), Bennett, Pérez (Fjeldberg, 57’)
CHS: Zamudio, Messer, Akpunonu, Smith, Martinez (Pakhomov, 65’), Suber, Ycaza, Kelly, Kissiedou (Cabrera, 74’), Blackstock (Foster, 58’), Hughes (Berry, 46’)
Scoring Summary
COS – Adrien Pérez, 56’
CHS – Miguel Cabrera, 81’ (Jeremy Kelly)
COS – Jonas Fjeldberg, 90’+5 (Steven Echevarria)
