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The Charleston Battery extended its unbeaten streak to nine games with a 0-0 draw against North Carolina FC at WakeMed Soccer Park Saturday night.

The Battery continued its strong defensive form, earning its third straight clean sheet. Joe Kuzminsky made five saves in the match to earn his ninth shutout of the season, giving him the second-most clean sheets in the USL.

Ataulla Guerra created the Battery’s best scoring opportunity of the match midway through the first half. Jarad van Schaik found Guerra with a pass at the top of the penalty area. Guerra turned and hit a right footed shot that fizzed just wide of Alex Tambakis’ far post.

Kuzminsky’s best stop came minutes after Guerra’s near miss when he denied Kyle Bekker from close range. North Carolina FC played a long ball in to Daniel Rios at the top of the Battery’s 18-yard box. Rios nodded the ball back across to Bekker who hit a volley on frame, but Kuzminsky reacted well to keep out the effort.

Both sides came out searching for the go-ahead goal early in the second half, but neither could convert. North Carolina came closest to scoring when Steven Miller put a shot on frame from 20 yards out, but his deflected effort pinged off the crossbar and stayed out.

The two sides, who have split points in both matches this season, will meet for the third and final time on Wednesday, September 26 at MUSC Health Stadium.

The Battery will remain on the road following the draw in Cary. Charleston will head to Tampa for a midweek match with the Rowdies on August 8 before returning home to take on Atlanta United 2 on Saturday, August 11.

CHARLESTON – Joe Kuzminsky, Skylar Thomas, Taylor Mueller, Neveal Hackshaw, O’Brian Woodbine (Jay Bolt, 70), Tah Brian Anunga, Angelo Kelly, Jarad van Schaik, Kotaro Higashi, Nico Rittmeyer (Gordon Wild, 74), Ataulla Guerra (yellow card, 44; Victor Mansaray, 90+3)

Substitutes – Odisnel Cooper,  Ryan Arambula, Vincenzo Candela, Patrick Okonkwo

NORTH CAROLINA – Alex Tambakis; Aaron Guillen, Michael Harrington (Wuilito Fernandes, 63), Connor Tobin, DJ Taylor (Marios Lomis, 90); Steven Miller, Austin da Luz, Graham Smith, Kyle Bekker, Donovan Ewolo (Tiyi Shipalane, 70); Daniel Rios

Substitutes – Austin Guerrero, Peabo Doue, Dre Fortune, Marcel Kandziora

Charleston Battery midfielder Nico Rittmeyer has been named USL Player of the Week after scoring a brace in the team’s 3-0 win over longtime rival Richmond Kickers in Week 20.

Rittmeyer scored his first professional goal in the 15th minute to give the Battery an early lead over the Kickers. The second-year midfielder received a pass from O’Brian Woodbine, took a touch, and curled a right footed shot around goalkeeper Travis Worra to score his first goal in a Battery jersey.

Rittmeyer doubled his tally and the Battery’s advantage just before halftime, finishing a tap in Worra spilled to him off of a cross from Woodbine.

“I’ve been scoring in training and in scrimmages, so it was good make them count for real,” Rittmeyer said following Saturday’s match. “I bagged four in preseason so obviously I knew I had it in me. It was good to finally get my chance and put them away.”

Rittmeyer’s efforts helped the Battery to its fourth consecutive win, extending its unbeaten streak to eight games. He is the first member of the Charleston Battery to be selected as USL Player of the Week this season. Rittmeyer and the Battery will return to action this Saturday, August 4 to take on North Carolina FC at WakeMed Soccer Park.

The Charleston Battery defeated the Richmond Kickers, 3-0, at MUSC Health Stadium Saturday night to extend their unbeaten streak to eight games.

The Battery started well for the second consecutive match at home. The hosts scored in the 15th minute after a Richmond turnover in midfield. The Battery countered following the turnover, finding O’Brian Woodbine in the middle of the field 40 yards from goal. Woodbine had space to turn and play Nico Rittmeyer through on goal. Rittmeyer took a touch and calmly curled a shot around goalkeeper Travis Worra to score his first ever professional goal.

Woodbine played creator again for the Battery’s second goal just before halftime. Ataulla Guerra switched play and found the Jamaican defender out wide on the right. Woodbine drove towards the endline before playing a low cross through the six yard box. Worra got hands to the cross but parried it into Rittmeyer’s path. The second-year forward finished the tap in for his second goal of the night.

“We’re just clicking,” Rittmeyer said after the match. “Ataulla and Gordon have been great up front, but we’ve gotten goals from everywhere. That shows that if someone isn’t scoring someone else can step in, which can help take some of the pressure off those guys. Other teams are keying in on Ataulla and that’s opened things up for the rest of us.”

The Battery carried the attacking momentum over into the second half and put the game out of reach in the 51st minute. An exchange between Leland Archer and Tah Brian Anunga on the right sideline sprung Archer free heading towards the endline. With room to cross, Archer delivered a perfect ball to Guerra on the back post. Guerra nodded it in to score his league-leading 12th goal of the season and fifth in six games.

Joe Kuzminsky made five saves in the match, picking up his eighth clean sheet of the season. Kuzminsky made a double save in the 81st minute, denying Neil Hlavaty from point blank range to  preserve the team’s ninth shutout.

The win over Richmond is the Battery’s fourth straight, tying the team’s longest win streak of the season. With the win, the Battery closed the gap on first-place FC Cincinnati, who did not play Saturday night, to six points. The two teams will meet on August 18 at Nippert Stadium.

Following Saturday’s match, the Battery will head out on the road for back-to-back away games against North Carolina FC and Tampa Bay Rowdies before returning home to take on Atlanta United 2 on August 11.

CHARLESTON – Joe Kuzminsky, Leland Archer, Taylor Mueller, Neveal Hackshaw, O’Brian Woodbine, Tah Brian Anunga, Angelo Kelly, Jarad van Schaik, Gordon Wild (Victor Mansaray, 66), Nico Rittmeyer (goal, 15, 48), Ataulla Guerra (goal, 51; Patrick Okonkwo, 74)

Substitutes – Odisnel Cooper, Jay Bolt, Skylar Thomas, Ryan Arambula, Kotaro Higashi

RICHMOND – Travis Worra, Scott Thomsen, Austin Yearwood (Neil Hlavaty, 73), Conor Shanosky, Mekeil Williams, Braeden Troyer, Brian Sriver, Greg Boehme (Fred Owusu Sekyere, 55), Raul Gonzalez, Yudai Imura (Guiseppe Gentile, 55) , Luiz Fernando

Substitutes – Trevor Spangenberg, Matt Bolduc, Koby Osei-Wusu, Brandon Eaton

Keep Charleston Beautiful

Keep Charleston Beautiful is dedicated to promoting the cleanliness and beautification of the City of Charleston through education, public awareness, and community involvement. Their goals are to develop a cohesive set of outreach programs that address litter, beautification, and community involvement in the City of Charleston, to create a strong cooperative network of community, business, and government leaders to further program activities, and to insure that Keep Charleston Beautiful goals and programs are familiar to all people who work and live in the City of Charleston.

Keep Charleston Beautiful works year round with groups of any size to clean up local parks, marshes, or urban settings. Litter hurts us all by lowering property value, causing visual blight, and endangering children and wildlife. Each year over 2,000 volunteers lend their hands to help remove thousands of bags of litter from Charleston. Cleanup events average two hours and all supplies are provided to interested groups.

KCB also partners with local organizations to support cleanup events. These events include, but are not limited to, Beach Sweep River Sweep, Trident United Way’s Day of Caring, and Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup.

Keep North Charleston Beautiful

Keep North Charleston Beautiful (KNCB) is an award-winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful.  KNCB is a non-profit organization that works to enhance the beauty and image of the City of North Charleston through hands-on beautification efforts, through education, and by supporting community cleanups.  KNCB’s ultimate goal is to create a community where people want to live, work, and play.

During the summer, KNCB holds weekly garden workdays most Wednesdays. Volunteers work in the gardens around Park Circle. Workdays take place between the hours of 8am-1pm, and volunteers may attend for the full workday, or for an hour or two as their schedule permits. Due to the nature of the volunteer work, workdays will not be held on days with rain or inclement weather. Workday updates will be posted on KNCB’s Facebook page, or you may contact the KNCB office at 843-745-1073 to set up a time to volunteer.

The Charleston Battery and Richmond Kickers meet for the 60th time this Saturday at MUSC Health Stadium. The long-time rivals are both celebrating their 25th anniversary season in 2017, but have gotten off to drastically different starts.

The Battery (7-2-2) have occupied first position in the USL Eastern Conference since April 22nd, while the Kickers have spent the majority of the season at the bottom of the table. Despite going winless in their last two matches, Charleston still have a two-point lead on second place Tampa Bay with a game in hand. Richmond enter Saturday’s match in 14th place with 10 points and only two wins on the season.

Romario Williams scored his 9th and 10th goals of the season in the Battery’s 4-4 draw with Louisville City FC last weekend. Williams has now equaled his 2016 goal total with twenty games left to play. Maikel Chang scored his third goal of the year and Ricky Garbanzo scored his first in the draw, while Kotaro Higashi registered two assists.

Richmond lost, 1-0, to New York Red Bulls II their last time out. The Kickers are winless in their last seven matches, losing three and drawing four during that stretch of games, and have yet to pick up a win on the road this season. Richmond have struggled to put the pieces together in the attacking third; the Kickers have been shutout in seven of their twelve matches.

D.C. United loanee Alhaji Kamara has scored half of Richmond’s goals this season. Kamara has four goals in nine matches, three of which came in the Kickers’ 5-3 loss to Ottawa Fury FC on May 27th.

Previous Meeting

The Battery are 4-0-3 in their last seven matches against the Kickers, with their last loss to their oldest rival coming during the 2014 playoffs at City Stadium. Charleston haven’t lost to Richmond at home since since 2012. The Battery finished with two wins and a draw in their three meetings with the Kickers last season. Romario Williams, Maikel Chang, Heviel Cordoves, Taylor Mueller, and Justin Portillo all registered goals against Richmond last season.   

Charleston Battery defender Taylor Mueller has been named to the USL Team of the Week for Week 19.  

Mueller led the Battery defense to their eighth clean sheet of the season Saturday night, defeating the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 1-0 at Highmark Stadium. The veteran center back won three tackles and made nine clearances as the Battery collected their third win in a row over an opponent in the top four of the Eastern Conference.

In addition to Mueller, Joe Kuzminsky was named to the bench for the Week 19 Team. Kuzminsky made four saves, including denying Neco Brett from the penalty spot, to earn his seventh shutout of the season. Both Mueller and Kuzminsky were vital in Saturday’s victory which moved Charleston into second place.

The Battery returns to MUSC Health Stadium this Saturday, July 28 to take on the Richmond Kickers. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.  

Joe Kuzminsky made four saves and earned his seventh clean sheet of the season Saturday night as the Charleston Battery defeated the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 1-0, at Highmark Stadium. The win moves the Battery into second place in the USL Eastern Conference and extends their unbeaten streak to seven games.

The Riverhounds started brightly, controlling the game in the first half as the Battery struggled to keep possession on the narrow artificial surface. Pittsburgh pressed high up the field and created several dangerous scoring opportunities throughout the first 45 minutes.

Just after striking a shot off the crossbar, Christiano Francois forced Kuzminsky into his first save of the night in the 26th minute. Francois collected a pass from Thomas Vancaeyezeele, moved the ball out from under his feet, and turned it on frame from 12 yards out, forcing Kuzminsky down to his left. The 6-4 goalkeeper got down quickly and touched the ball onto the post to keep the game scoreless.

The Battery came out of the halftime break with more of an attacking presence, but just as they began to find their rhythm, the referee awarded a penalty kick to Pittsburgh. Leland Archer was whistled for a handball in the 53rd minute after blocking a cross in the corner of the 18-yard box.

Neco Brett stepped up and stuck the penalty down the middle. Kuzminsky committed to his left, but reached back with his leg to deny Brett his ninth goal of the season and keep the score level at zero.

Kuzminsky was called into action again in the 78th minute after O’Brian Woodbine was dispossessed in the Battery’s defensive third. Raymond Lee stripped Woodbine and drove at the back three. Lee slipped a pass through to Brett who hit a first time shot towards the back post. Kuzminsky reacted quickly to get strong left hand to Brett’s point-blank shot and preserve the shutout.

As the two teams looked to be heading towards another 0-0 draw, the Battery scored against the run of play. Nico Rittmeyer chased down a loose ball in the 88th minute, just keeping it in play on the endline. Angelo Kelly picked up Rittmeyer’s pass and served a driven cross towards Ataulla Guerra at the back post. Guerra nodded the ball in to score his league-leading 11th goal of the season and seal three points for the Battery. The goal was the first scored against the Riverhounds in over 550 minutes of play and the second scored at Highmark Stadium all season.

The 1-0 victory extends the Battery’s winning streak to three games and gives them a one point lead over Pittsburgh in the table. The Battery will return home next Saturday, July 28 to take on the Richmond Kickers at MUSC Health Stadium.

CHARLESTON – Joe Kuzminsky, Leland Archer, Taylor Mueller, Neveal Hackshaw, Jay Bolt, Tah Brian Anunga, Angelo Kelly, O’Brian Woodbine (Vincenzo Candela, 80), Gordon Wild (Victor Mansaray, 70), Kotaro Higashi (Nico Rittmeyer, 64), Ataulla Guerra (yellow card, 83; goal 88)

Substitutes – Odisnel Cooper, Ryan Arambula, Ian Svantesson, Patrick Okonkwo

PITTSBURGH – Dan Lynd, Jordan Dover, Raymond Lee, Tobi Adewole, Joseph Greenspan, Hugh Roberts, Christiano Francois, Thomas Vancaeyezeele (yellow card, 90), Kenardo Forbes, Kevin Kerr (Kay Banjo, 82), Neco Brett (Romeo Parkes, 82)

Substitutes – Michael Kirk, Noah Franke, Andrew Lubhan, Todd Pratzner, Mouhamed Dabo

Two of the USL’s top scorers meet this Saturday at MUSC Health Stadium when the Charleston Battery (5-3-6) takes on the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (6-1-6) for the first time this season.

The third-place Riverhounds and seventh-place Battery are set up similarly: veteran head coaches, strong defensive record, and prolific goal scorers leading the lines. Pittsburgh’s Neco Brett is tied for the league lead in goals with eight, while Charleston’s Ataulla Guerra is one behind him with seven. Both Brett and Guerra have had a direct hand in more than 50% of their teams’ goals scored this season.

Brett found the back of the net twice in the Riverhounds’ 3-0 win over New York Red Bulls II last Saturday at Highmark Stadium in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh earned their league-leading eighth shutout on their way to their sixth win of the season in the match against New York. With a strong defense in front of them, Pittsburgh Head Coach Bob Lilley has rotated goalkeepers Dan Lynd and Kyle Morton throughout the season, much like Mike Anhaeuser has done with Joe Kuzminsky and Odisnel Cooper.

Kuzminsky got the start in the Battery’s 1-1 draw with Charlotte last Saturday. The second-year goalkeeper gave up his first goal in the run of play this season to Charlotte’s Mutaya Mwape in the 79th minute. Mwape’s goal cancelled out Kotaro Higashi’s first-half goal. Guerra created the scoring chance, beating two defenders at the top of the box and playing Higashi through on goal. Higashi calmly tucked the ball away to score his first USL goal of his career.

Mwape’s late equalizer kept the Battery from their first USL win since May 12. Charleston has only lost once during the winless streak, picking up four draws along the way. They’ll be tasked with breaking the winless streak this Saturday against a Pittsburgh team that has only lost once this season.

The Riverhounds’ sole defeat came on May 30 to Nashville SC at home. They’re 2-0-3 on the road in 2018, while the Battery is 4-1-2 at home. Pittsburgh handed the Battery their only home loss in 2017 and will be looking to secure three points again at MUSC Health Stadium Saturday night.

Guerra, Gordon Wild, and the rest of the Battery attack will need to be firing on all cylinders in order to break Pittsburgh down and earn three points this weekend. The Riverhounds have the best defensive record in the league with only seven goals conceded in 13 games.

Despite the distance between the two sides in the table, only three points separate the Battery from the Riverhounds. A win on Saturday would move Charleston into a tie with Pittsburgh near the top of the table.

Following Saturday’s match, the Battery will hit the road again for back-to-back away games against Toronto FC II and North Carolina FC. Pittsburgh will remain on the road after their visit to Charleston; they’ll head to Slugger FIeld  to take on defending USL Champions Louisville City FC.

The Charleston Battery will host Augie Night on August 11 to honor Head Coach Mike Anhaeuser and celebrate his 25 years with the Club.

The celebration will include a Mike Anhaeuser bobblehead giveaway, a red wine special in the Three Lions Pub, beer specials on the concourse, and a jersey presentation at half time of the Battery’s match vs. Atlanta United II. All former Charleston Battery players will be invited to the match as special guests of the Club to help in honoring Coach Anhaeuser.

Anhaeuser joined the Battery as a player one year after the Club’s inception in 1993. He played from 1994-1998, making over 100 appearances and winning the 1996 league championship. Anhaeuser ranks tenth all-time in appearances (115) and third all-time in assists (17) for the Battery.  As a player, Anheuser worked a day job in research and development for Blackbaud and coached youth soccer in the Lowcountry.

After retiring from playing in 1999, Anhaeuser moved into an assistant coaching role under Alan Dicks and Chris Ramsey. Ramsey and Anhaeuser led the Battery to the 2003 A-League Championship, defeating the Minnesota Thunder in the Final at then Blackbaud Stadium.

Anhaeuser took over the head coaching role after Ramsey’s departure in 2004. In his second year as head coach, Anhaeuser was named USL-1 Coach of the Year after taking the Battery to the semifinals of the league playoffs and the third round of the U.S. Open Cup. Anhaeuser also won USL Coach of the Year in 2010.

The Battery reached the U.S. Open Cup Final under Anhaeuser in 2008, defeating two Major League Soccer teams along the way. That year, Anhaeuser was given the general manager role and has overseen all soccer operations since. As head coach, Anhaeuser has beaten six MLS teams in the Open Cup and is the last lower division manager to reach the Final.

After leading the Battery to league championships in 2010 and 2012, Anhaeuser was inducted to the USL Hall of Fame. Anhaeuser has managed more than 430 matches for the Battery, making the playoffs in 11 of his 13 seasons as head coach.

“We’re looking forward to celebrating Mike next month,” said Charleston Battery Chairman Eric Bowman. “To reach the 25-year mark with any company is a huge accomplishment, but to do it in professional sports with the same club is extremely rare. Mike has had unrivaled success in this league and has played a huge role in making our Club what it is today. His impact in Charleston reaches far beyond the Battery; he’s always made it a priority to give back to the community and he instills that in everyone around him. The Battery and the community are very lucky to have him.”  

At the halfway point of his 14th season as head coach, Anhaeuser has the Battery in third place in the USL Eastern Conference. They’ll head to Pennsylvania this weekend to take on the second-place Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

Augie Night will begin when gates open at 5:30 PM on August 11. General Admission tickets are $13 in advance and at the gates to represent the #13 jersey Anhaeuser wore as a player. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at https://www.www.charlestonbattery.com or by calling 843-971-GOAL.