The Charleston Battery hit the jackpot with a 0-2 road win over Las Vegas Lights FC in Week 26 of the USL Championship regular season at Cashman Field on Saturday. Maalique Foster led the way for the Battery with his brace, and goalkeeper John Berner posted his second consecutive clean sheet to earn Charleston a crucial three points on the road.
Charleston kicked off against Las Vegas for the final scheduled meeting in Cashman Field history and, in doing so, a pair of individual milestones were achieved. Graham Smith recorded his 200th career appearance in the USL Championship regular season, and Head Coach Ben Pirmann coached in his 200th career game across the Championship regular season and playoffs.
The hosts issued an early warning shot when Johnny Rodriguez ripped an attempt off the crossbar in the 2nd minute, but the game remained scoreless.
Charleston responded with pressure on the other end. Miguel Berry nearly had a close-range look on goal in the 14th minute, but his touch proved too heavy, and goalkeeper Charlie Lanphier claimed the ball before the strike could make an attempt. Jeremy Kelly and Laurent Kissiedou fired in shots from outside the box that went wide in the 21st and 23rd minutes, respectively.
The Battery opened the scoring in the 40th minute when Maalique Foster slid in for the goal to put the visitors up 0-1. Langston Blackstock provided the service from the left flank, and his cross avoided all the traffic inside the box to meet Foster at the far post, who was making a run toward goal. Foster evaded his marker and slid in for the finish.
Foster’s goal was his 10th of the year across all competitions, and his eighth in league play, the most on the team. Blackstock’s assist was his first of the season.
Las Vegas quickly responded by threatening on the other end. Patrick Leal nearly equalized in the 41st minute if not for a spectacular save by goalkeeper John Berner, who got a paw on the ball at the last second to deflect the header.
Smith then made a crucial block in the 45th minute to deny Oalex Anderson from inside the box.
Charleston took the 0-1 lead into halftime. Both sides recorded one shot on target each.
Play resumed in the second half with Charleston aiming to preserve their lead and carry the momentum from the first stanza.
Foster doubled down and scored his second goal of the night to put Charleston ahead, 0-2, in the 59th minute. The initial counterattack was instigated by Foster, whose intervention at midfield led to a turnover that fell to Miguel Berry. From there, Berry led the charge forward toward goal, and his hold-up play enabled Foster to catch up and make a run into the final third. Berry laid it off to Foster around the edge of the box, and Foster’s first-time strike was right on the money.
Foster’s goal brings his total to 11 in 2026, and ninth in Championship play, adding to his single-season career-best mark. Berry’s assist was his seventh of the year across all competitions.
Las Vegas, again, were eager to respond to Foster’s goal and picked up the tempo on the other end. Abraham Okyere smashed the post in the 79th minute in the hosts’ closest look of the half.
Charleston saw out the 0-2 victory from there, securing a crucial three points on the road and in their final visit to Cashman Field. With the win last Monday, the triumph also completed the rare feat of a six-point week for Charleston.
The Battery’s win advances their record to 12W-7L-3D (39pts), placing them second in the Eastern Conference table.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann marked his 200th career match in the USL Championship regular season and playoffs with a win, improving his managerial record to 109W-50L-41D.
With the brace, Maalique Foster has scored 11 goals across all competitions this year, adding to his career best for a single season. Additionally, his nine goals in league play now lead the team and place him in the top-10 of the Championship Golden Boot race.
Joey Akpunonu and Graham Smith led the game in clearances with a best and second-best total of eight and six, respectively.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and forward Maalique Foster discussed the win after the match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his immediate takeaways from the win…
I think our poor road form and road results have been on our mind, and that was a huge win. I don’t know this for a fact, but I would probably say that’s pretty easily the best attacking team we’ve played all season. They hit the post twice. John Berner made an incredible save to the left, so there were some things there where we conceded more in this game than we have in a ton of other games on the road and other games we lose.
So, I’m very proud of our team. I’m very proud of the staff. Everybody worked their socks off and kept their head down and fought. I thought we had a really good game plan. We know Devin Rensing well and Las Vegas, the way they want to play, and they’ve got a clear identity, and they do really well at it.
I’d say what we implemented worked, and we had to ride a couple of those moments to take it our way. But this is a tough trip, cross-country. They play incredibly well. They’re so well coached, and they’ve got some really key players that can hurt you. I thought we limited them to some distant shots, and I thought we created some chances for ourselves as well.
If you look at 90 seconds before we scored the second goal, we got the structure wrong. Maalique Foster’s playing right midfield. We wanted to be super narrow to defend their diamond, and he was a little bit higher and wider, and they broke us in their attacking left half-space. And Maalique just read it. He got better, that’s what this team does, they improve, and he tucked himself in. Then, he made the interception and made a tough tackle. Miguel Berry then held it up, we countered the other way, and he was able to finish again.
So, if you want to be a good attacking team, you’ve got to be very good defensively, especially against a team like Las Vegas, who’s so well coached. They’ve got so many good moving pieces in that midfield, and they can just load it up and make those attacks. We knew we’d be able to get a couple counters out of them. You have to do the defensive work first, and that’s what everybody did.
Coach Pirmann on the boost the away victory provides to the squad…
It was huge. I mean, we’ve not been good on the road. So, to come out here, as I said, is massive. We’re in second place in the Eastern Conference. We play a game on Wednesday against Hartford Athletic before a little break. So, for me, it’s a massive win.
It was a win where we got pushed back by their diamond, their movements and their strikers’ abilities. To take the three points is massive, along with taking a step forward with eight games left.
Coach Pirmann on winning on his 200th career USL match as a head coach…
Unfortunately, the 200 games as a manager are just showing that I’m getting old, and I don’t like that. But, more importantly, it’s just about the team winning, the team getting results, and the team pushing to do the best we can every time out.
So, I’m proud of the boys. I’m proud of being able to coach for 200 games. We coached against Devin Rensing tonight, and he’s previously been with me for a long time. I wouldn’t be here without a lot of really good people around, like my parents and my wife, and people like Lee Cohen and Devin and the staff that we have right now, with Ian Cameron, Rob Seaton, Robbie Crawford, and Brian Jones. They all do such a good job, and they work so hard. So the boys are incredible, I’m more just happy for them. This is all about them getting results, and they pushed, and they deserve the win.
Foster on the importance of the win on the road for the team…
It’s like the last nine games of the season, so we want to really be up there. We’re chasing Tampa Bay, so this result is really great for us tonight. I think our plan has been working for us. We just run, talk, and just do what we do best, score goals and defend our goal.
Foster on what has been going well for the attack this week…
I think we all understand each other in the attacking third, and I think our ability to score goals is really effective. So, I just do what I do best. I try to do what’s best for the team and score.
On the first goal, thinking back to the very first day I got here, the coach and I had a conversation; it was like, ‘I need to get in the box, get in the box, and I would add maybe like five more goals to my tally.’ And I did that today, and you see it pay off.
With the second goal, it was straight grinding, from the start of the play to the finish. Win my duels, and after that, I just get in the box, and it was easy from there.
Foster on the personal significance of setting a new career-high goal tally…
It’s just honor and dedication. You have an aim, and you have a goal, and you just go for it. So, that’s what I’m doing. And that’s what gives me the drive every week, to come and score goals and help the team. The team has helped me a lot. Over the years, I was the one who was taking the ball, taking it one-on-one, but now, I need them, and I just make the runs into the box and score.
Charleston’s next match will be on Wed., Sept. 2, against Hartford Athletic, as the club hosts Pups at the Pitch at Patriots Point. Fans will be welcome to bring their dogs with them to the game, and tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
LV: Lanphier, Sessock (Pope, 76’), Jones, Guillén, Antonoglou, Pinzón, Leal (Okyere, 58’), Locker (Arteaga, 58’), Probo, Rodriguez (Mines, 76’), Anderson
CHS: Berner, Houssou (Martinez, 63’), Akpunonu, Smith, Suber, Blackstock (Cabrera, 73’), Kissiedou (Allan, 83’), Ycaza, Foster (Messer, 73’), Kelly (Pakhomov, 74’), Berry
Scoring Summary
CHS – Maalique Foster, 40’ (Langston Blackstock)
CHS – Maalique Foster, 59’ (Miguel Berry)
