The Charleston Battery were dealt a 3-1 defeat against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in Week 24 of the USL Championship regular season at F.N.B. Stadium on Saturday. The hosts scored twice in the opening 16 minutes of the game, but Charleston looked to claw back on a goal by Douglas Martinez in the 18th minute. However, a third goal for the Hounds and an eventual red card to Martinez in the second half made it a bridge too far for the Battery.
Pittsburgh managed to open the scoring in the 2nd minute via Trevor Aman for a 1-0 lead.
Goalkeeper Luis Zamudio made a big save in the 8th minute to deny Eliot Goldthorp and prevent the hosts from doubling their lead inside less than 10 minutes of play.
The Hounds added to their lead in the 16th minute when Danny Griffin made the score 2-0.
Charleston, however, responded almost immediately when Douglas Martinez struck back in the 18th minute to cut the deficit to 2-1. Jeremy Kelly led the advance down the pitch and played the ball forward to Nathan Messer, who sent in a cross into the box. Martinez charged to the unclaimed ball from the right side and smashed it first-time off the bounce, placed perfectly inside the opposite post.
Martinez’s goal was his second of the year and Messer’s assist was his sixth of the season. It also marked the Battery’s 18th goal scored during the first half, the most in the league, as of writing.
In the 41st minute, Graham Smith made a critical sliding block to stop Aman’s shot and bid to restore the Hounds’ two-goal lead.
Pittsburgh took the 2-1 lead into the break, however, the Battery held nearly 74% possession in the first stanza.
Play resumed in the second half with the game still within Charleston’s reach. Miguel Berry entered in place of Maalique Foster for the night’s first swap.
The Battery were on the front foot to start the second half, as Emilio Ycaza and Kelly each recorded two shots in the opening 10 minutes.
Pittsburgh managed to score a third in the 61st minute via Victor Souza to go up 3-1.
Charleston were reduced to 10 men in the 81st minute when Martinez was shown his second yellow card, and subsequent red card, of the evening.
Pittsburgh saw out the 3-1 victory from there, snapping the Battery’s two-game winning streak in August in the 49th all-time meeting between the clubs.
The result moves Charleston’s record to 10W-7L-3D (33pts), placing them in second place in the Eastern Conference, as of writing.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and goalkeeper Luis Zamudio addressed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the difficulties posed by Pittsburgh from the very start…
Number one, credit to Pittsburgh, they deserved to win. They were clearly the better team, better-coached team, and outworked us in a tough environment. So, got to give them credit.
But I think it was more about us and the silly mistakes that we’ve been making for the same seven months. We conceded an incredibly soft goal. We don’t defend the direct ball, so we’re down two minutes in four years in a row, and then we start playing a little bit higher in their half.
This was about us doing our jobs. This was about us playing the game in their end, and we didn’t want to do that. We’re just not good enough at it on the road, and we don’t do it. So, we’ve got to start doing it better and fix it.
Coach Pirmann on the lessons learned from the match…
We’re fine at home, I don’t want to say we’re incredible, but we have a better identity. We play with certain bravery. I think when we go on the road, we’re entitled, we’re soft, we don’t win duels, we don’t make the right selfless movements or do things to win ugly. If we try, we’re just not active enough at it, which is probably on me.
But also, I think there’s a simplicity when we move the ball and play the ball forward. When we play the game in the opposing team’s end, we’re a lot better at it. So, we battled back and were at 2-1. We battered him in the first 15 minutes to start the second half, but we don’t make the play at midfield, and then we have to defend three corners. And two or three times in a row on the corners, we don’t make the play. So it’s as simple as that. We have to be stronger mentally and physically tougher.
Zamudio on his takeaways from the game…
I didn’t think it was a bad first half from us, but the first two goals were just letting our emotions get the best of us. Tough place to play, tough environment, but we have to handle our emotions better and just deal with it. I put my hand up for the first two goals, I feel like I could do better on both of them. But what I will say is that it was a good reaction from the boys to get the goal back and keep us in the game.
And then in the second half, we conceded that goal on the set piece to make it 3-1, and that basically killed us. But, thankfully, we play back home next week, so we just have to focus on that now.
Zamudio on the challenges the Battery faced this evening…
I think just Pittsburgh being very direct, playing on a small field. We played them twice at home, so we had the big field to our advantage. This time, they played to their strengths, and they executed better than us. And at the end of the day, they scored the chances, and we didn’t. So they just played better football than us, and that’s why they won the game.
We have to start from the back. We have to keep a clean sheet, try to not concede goals, and we’re going to have chances, especially at home. So, we just gotta lock down defensively and be focused on set pieces in every single moment and not assume calls like offside or fouls are going to happen. I think the thing we should focus mostly on is concentration, trying to stay in the game, and, as I said earlier, handling our emotions as best as we can.
The Battery’s next match will be at home against Miami FC on Sat., Aug. 22, as the club celebrates Back to School Night at Patriots Point. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
PIT: Campuzano, Kelp, Mikoy, Souza, Viera (Barnes, 62’), Bassett, Wälti, Griffin (Mertz, 74’), Goldthorp (Ahl, 74’), Dikwa (Etou, 66’), Amann (Tsukanome, 62’)
CHS: Zamudio, Messer (Houssou, 64’), Akpunonu (Cabrera, 74’), Smith, Martínez, Suber, Ycaza, Kelly, Kissiedou (Pakhomov, 64’), Foster (Berry, 46’), Swan (Hughes, 64’)
Scoring Summary
PIT – Trevor Amann, 2’ (Jackson Wälti)
PIT – Danny Griffon, 16’ (Trevor Amann)
CHS – Douglas Martinez, 18’ (Nathan Messer)
PIT – Victor Souza, 61’ (Sam Bassett)
