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Through a hard-fought 90 minutes, the Charleston Battery secured another point in a 1-1 draw with The Miami FC Saturday night. It marked the seventh consecutive match without a loss for the Battery. While Charleston were looking for 3 points with a win in their second bout against the Miami side, a late deflecting goal in the 85th minute by Miami meant Charleston would have to settle for the draw.

Whether it was the south Florida heat or Miami’s home-field advantage on artificial turf, the Battery were under pressure early as the Miami side got out to a good start on at home. The hosts nearly took the lead early when, in the 19th minute, a low cross from Janos Loebe got past the Battery back line and punched in by forward, and former Battery attacker, Romario Williams. Charleston got lucky as Loebe was flagged offsides just before making his cross and the goal was called back.

The Battery defense put up a formidable performance through the first 45 minutes, but a relentless Miami attack continued to threaten in the box. And the Battery kept Miami off the board in the first half with stellar play by Joe Kuzminsky between the posts. The Charleston keeper made a key block and recovery just a minute after the called-back goal off a blazing shot from the top of the box by Miami’s Sebastian Velasquez. And with 10 minutes to go in the half, he made a key stop coming out to block a ball at Williams’ feet to prevent the shot. “He was under pressure but got the punches and managed the crosses,” Coach Mike Anhaeuser assessed of Kuzminsky’s performance. “Obviously he did very well controlling things in the back, but give them credit for really getting the ball in the box and putting us under pressure.”

Without many chances created by the Battery through the first half, they readjusted and came out strong for the second. Two minutes into the half, Charleston created their most threatening attack of the night point as Logan Gdula played up and passed it from deep on the right side to Zeiko Lewis who, being jammed up by two Miami defenders, dished it to Angelo Kelly. Avoiding a tackle, Kelly relayed to Stavros Zarokostas who, from 30 yards out, rocketed a curling shot to the top shelf just out of reach of Miami keeper Mark Pais. It marks Stavros’ third goal for the season and his second off the bench after subbing in early for Romario Piggot who went down with an injury in the 15th minute.  “We knew we had to attack. We had to get the ball and get it live,” Coach commented on the second half. “They put us under pressure and we were able to break it down and get past that pressure with a couple counter attacks. I think it was more the guys getting used to the surface and I thought they did a great job adjusting and coming out in the second half to make it more of a game and not just defending for 90 minutes.”

Down one, the Miami squad nearly equalized 10 minutes later after a shot by Velasquez from the top of the penalty area deflected off the right post to a rebounding Williams near the goal line who kicked it up, off the crossbar, rebounding to Vincent Bezecourt whose last ditch effort went over the goal.

The Battery nearly added some padding in the 67th minute after a free kick by Robbie Crawford from the right side connected with AJ Paterson for a beautiful header that unfortunately found the cross bar and bounced over the goal. Not letting up, Miami earned an equalizer in the final five minutes as Mo Thiaw crossed up center to Tomas Granitto who took a shot that was redirected into the net by Miguel Gonzalez, never giving Kuzminsky a chance to make the save.

With the single point from the draw, the Battery continued to lock in their hold on playoff contention and now sit 3 points behind first-place Tampa Bay Rowdies. The boys will be watching Tampa Bay’s Sunday night matchup against Philadelphia Union II and prepare to face their Group H rivals back home on Friday, September 11, at Patriots Point.

After an exciting close to the month of August that saw the Battery sweeping a pair of victories against The Miami FC and an undefeated Tampa Bay Rowdies, right back Logan Gdula was named to the USL Championship Team of the Week.

Gdula played the full 90′ in both matches for Week 10 completing 77 of 92 passes, registering 18 recoveries and providing 4 clearances across the two home matches. But what surely caught the eye of this week’s judging panel is the increase in Gdula’s attack up the side that led to his first goal with the Battery in Wednesday’s 3-1 drubbing of Miami FC. In the 29th minute, a corner kick by Robbie Crawford was headed back out at the goal line to find AJ Paterson at the top of the box. Paterson punched it back into the fray to Gdula who spun and sailed his shot towards the goal to bounce in off the crossbar.

This is Gdula’s second Team of the Week nod after his stout defense against Atlanta United 2 that earned him a spot on the league’s Week 5 honors. As Coach Mike Anhaeuser continues to push his outside backs further up on the attack, Gdula could see himself becoming more of a regular in the league-wide conversation.

Week 10 USL Team of the Week:

GK – Colin Miler (LDN)
D – Dillon Serna (SKC)
D – Logan Gdula (CHS)
D – Ryan James (PIT)
M – Blake Smith (SA)
M – Bryam Rebellon (ELP)
M – Jaden Servania (BHM)
F – Augustine Williams (LA)
F – Billy Forbes (ATX)
F – Corey Hertzog (RNO)

Player of the Week: Ryan James (PIT)

Bench: Ford Parker (BHM), Jordan Dover (PIT), Sean Totsch (LOU), Neco Brett (BHM) Christian Volesky (COS), Kairou Amoustapha (LDN), Blake Frischknecht (LV)

After three straight matches of aggressive attack, it was the defensive unit’s time to shine as the Battery defeated Tampa Bay Rowdies 1-0 Saturday night. Charleston became the first team to defeat Tampa Bay this season after a first-half goal by Stavros Zarokostas that proved the difference for the Battery’s fourth win in a row to go undefeated for the month of August.

Following the opening minutes, both teams stopped play in the 7th to come together at the center circle as a demonstration, joining the wider movement in sports to bring attention to the fight against social injustice and promote equality, diversity and inclusivity.

Through the first half, the Battery looked like an entirely different team than Tampa Bay saw at Al Lang Stadium on July 31, the last time the two teams met. The Black and Yellow nearly took the lead in the 17th when Angelo Kelly cut inside and sent a low shot just wide of the left post. Kelly struck again five minutes later as he floated it from midfield ahead of the Tampa Bay defense to Stavros Zarokostas who, after a quick cut, powered a curling shot to the right corner of the net and ricocheted off the post into the net for his second goal on the season.

Minutes before halftime, Stavros nearly struck again, creating an opportunity after his blocked shot found Kelly redirecting the rebound back to forward Zeiko Lewis who took another shot just wide of the left post. Settling for Zarokostas’ lone goal, the Battery entered the intermission resolved to defend the lead.

Tampa Bay came out strong in the second half with early pressure off a corner that a screened Battery keeper Joe Kuzminsky was able to save off a header from Tampa Bay’s Juan Tejada. And the Rowdies found an open middle, making multiple crosses back and forth in the 54th minute, but the Tampa Bay captain Sebastian Guenzatti shot off the cross to the left-outside of Kuzminsky’s net.

As the minutes waned in the second half, the Rowdies continued to apply pressure seeking the equalizer including a strike from Yann Ekra from 25 yards out that sailed over the crossbar. After Zarokostas stepped out in the 88th with a muscle cramp, the Battery looked to hold the lead bringing in Kyle Nelson as a fifth defender into five minutes of stoppage time. The reinforced backline found every opportunity to cleanly clear the ball down to the Rowdies side and eat up the clock and bring Tampa Bay’s undefeated streak to an end.

Now just one point behind Tampa Bay at the top of Group H, the Battery hit the road next week to take on Miami FC on September 5th before returning to Patriots Point for a third bout against the Tampa Bay side. 

The Charleston Battery changed their tune Saturday night at Patriots Point Soccer Complex putting up a first half fight like none other this season in 3-1 victory over The Miami FC Wednesday night. The victory secured 3 important points as the Batter set their sights on first place in Group H. A victory Saturday against Tampa Bay would pull the Battery within 1 point of the group leader.

For the third game in a row, the Battery put up 3 goals in 90 minutes. This marks the first time in the USL Championship era that any Battery squad has put up 9 goals across 3 games. The scoring has been spread across the roster with Wednesday’s goals coming from 3 different player, and the 9 goals coming from 7 different Battery players.

For the first time in their new stadium at Patriots Point, the Battery welcomed fans for the match with approximately 150 season ticket holders in attendance. “It feels really good to be home and have some support from our family and friends. It feels really different and makes you work harder,” midfield and Wednesday’s Man of the Match Romario Piggot noted.

The Battery shook off what was becoming a common theme with slow starts out of the gate for the first 45’ and did not need to rely on a strong second half to make up for it. This time around, Charleston came on strong with 11 shots in the first half and commanding 58% of the possession for the first 45’. With 2 goals before the intermission, the Battery exhibited the passing accuracy, control and physicality Coach Mike Anhaeuser expected when he crafted his roster for the season.

First Half:
 

With fans finally back in the stands, the Battery put on a first half performance well worth the wait for supporters. They got things going early when, in the 7th minute, Zeiko Lewis placed a beautiful cross on the other side of Miami keeper Bryant Gammiero, but a sliding Mauro Cichero just missed the ball that otherwise would have been punched in. Romario Piggot had his first of four shots in the 26th minute with a powerful shot to the right corner, but a beautiful diving save by Gammiero meant Piggot would have to wait his turn. Just minutes later, the scoring started. Off a Robbie Crawford corner kick that was headed off by a Miami defender, AJ Paterson took a shot from the top of the box that was deflected at the feet of the Miami defense, but bounced to Logan Gdula who rocketed it just over the left corner of Gammiero for his first goal of the season. Six minutes later, an attacking Angelo Kelly attempted to pass up to forward Arthur Bosua, but deflected off the back of a Miami defender right to Piggot. Dribbling around the Miami defense in the box, Piggot found a clearing and kicked it low through a fray of players on both sides screening Gammiero and rolled in just out of reach of the diving Gammiero. The Battery hit the locker room at intermission with the lead for just the second time this season.

On the teams first half performance, Coach Mike Anhaeuser noted, “We wanted to come out, it’s something we talked about and we came out great. We really kept them under pressure. They were trying to pressure us, we worked it out very well. And we were able to get 2 goals, might have been able to get 3 there.”
 

Second Half:
 

The Miami started putting pressure on the Battery early in the second half, looking to make up ground. Successive shots in the 49th and 50th minutes by Miami forward (and former Battery favorite) Romario Williams that required spectacular saves by Battery netminder Joe Kuzminsky. Minutes later Miami recovered in their zone after push by the Battery and charged down the field in the 53rd minute. Crossing from the left outside the box, the ball found Miami forward Miguel Gonzalez just past AJ Paterson who hit the ground and past Kuzminsky for Miami’s lone goal. With new substitution rules in the shortened season, Coach Mike Anhaeuser brought on the reinforcements. As veteran forward Dante Marini subbed in for Mauro, he found the back of the net off a deflection in the 63rd minute complete with his signature ‘windmill’ celebration. One last, beautiful save by Kuzminsky at 79’ and the Battery were close to home. Through an uncommon 7 minutes of stoppage time, Miami made a last ditch effort putting pressure on Charleston through stoppage time without a result.

In his overall assessment, Coach said, “You gotta take one game at a time. I wasn’t worried about Tampa Bay, we play them on Saturday. We needed to take care of tonight. We’ve got some guys that can step in and do the job. Great performance tonight. Now we’ve got to dig deep, recover and get ready for Tampa Bay on Saturday.”

With fans returning to matches, Coach added, “The fans were unbelievable. It wasn’t that many, but you heard them. You heard them on the end. You heard him when we scored and you heard them with the referee. It just adds that little bit of atmosphere. It might have only been a few, but it felt like a lot more than there was.”

The Battery quickly regroup to take on a historic rival in Tampa Bay Rowdies while beginning to look at the possibility of taking the top spot in Group H.

Charleston Battery sustained their scoring momentum Wednesday night with a 3-0 shutout over North Carolina FC to capture their third consecutive Southern Derby cup and add more padding in their own Group H standings.

The win against NCFC gives Charleston 3 points in the standings and, for bragging rights, their third consecutive Southern Derby cup.

Defensive veteran Jarad van Schaik made his 150th regular-season appearance tonight for the Battery, one of just 4 players in the USL Championship to achieve that feat. In his historic start, Jarad had a solid performance with 2 tackles, 1 interception and 2 key blocks for the evening.

Romario Piggot, the team leader in shots, finally found the back of the net for his first goal on the year in the 52nd minute. That goal was assisted by Zeiko Lewis whose attack up front continues to be a constant threat and creates opportunities for his teammates.

The Battery came out off the starting whistle looking to make trouble up front, but found themselves pretty evenly matched by a North Carolina side that came prepared for the Charleston attack. With a steady back and forth, the Battery created some opportunities early including a shot at 20’ by Zeiko Lewis and quick rebuttal at 21’ by AJ Paterson, but both found the fray of NCFC defenders and got deflected off.

A recurring theme, but the Battery found solid footing into the second half as they took full control of the hardware-worthy match. In the 56th minute, Lewis set up Piggot for the first score on the evening. That was quickly follow by an amazing series of passes of a corner kick from Robbie Crawford that saw Leland Archer clear it from the fray to Crawford, making a clean pass to Paterson who headed it to a charging Nicque Daley to punch it in for his first score on the year. Not done yet, Stavros Zarokostas subbed in late and finalized the evening with a clean shot past the Carolina keeper.

On winning the Southern Derby cup, Coach Mike Anhaeuser noted, “Anytime you have an opportunity to win a cup, you have to take that chance and take the bull by the horns to get the W. I’ll tell you, the guys stepped up and did a fantastic job, beat a very good team tonight. And we’re taking back the Southern Derby cup and keeping it for one more year.”

The Battery return home with the hardware and have a week before facing The Miami FC at home next Wednesday for the first of four matches as part of the Group H battles. 

It yet another second-half comeback, the Charleston Battery knocked off Atlanta United 2 on Saturday night 3-2 in their first game back at Patriots Point in 23 days. While some early defensive mistakes by the Charleston side put Atlanta up by 2, the Battery kept in the fight for a full 90 minutes with goals in the 57th, 59th and 91st minutes. The 3 points from the win place Charleston firmly in second place for Group H and in playoff contention.

Fighting till the end has become a common theme for this Charleston team of late. Saturday was the third game in a row that the Battery had to come from behind. After two road draws last week, they finally sealed the deal with the victory back at home against Atlanta.

Zeiko Lewis continued his team-leading (4) scoring campaign with registering the brace for the evening. His equalizing goal in the 59th minute turned the tables as the Battery held a steady attack and wore down the young Atlanta team through the second half.

Mauro Cichero continued to find his footing with two goals in two matches against Atlanta. The 2020 signing showed his versatility as Coach moved him further forward in the box for the second half with promising results notching the first goal for the Black and Yellow on Saturday and helping shift the momentum to Charleston’s favor. He has now scored in both his first and second professional starts for his career.

The Battery had their work cut out for them early in the first half as Atlanta’s constant forward threat, Macky Diop, continued to menace the Battery backline. A pass across the top of the box to Diop through a fray of Battery defenders was punched low to the right side of the goal past Battery netminder Phil Breno. However, the Battery showed their continuing development as a singular unit, controlling the ball for more minutes than any previous half played thus far (58% possession) and showing flashes of attacking brilliance as Romario Piggot knocked one in, but was unfortunately called back due to an offsides violation. As in previous matches, some key defensive lapses were taken advantage of by the Atlanta side. Coach Mike Anhaeuser stressed making big plays off of the corner kick this time around, but the Battery only had 4 first-half corners that all failed to convert. The boys headed to the locker room at the half down 1-0.

Much like the first half, the start of the second did not go the Battery’s way as Atlanta converted a corner kick in the 51st minute to go ahead by 2. Breno had a brilliant block but couldn’t get it out of a packed box as Atlanta’s Efrain Morales knocked it in on the rebound. The tides began to shift minutes later as both Cichero scored and Lewis equalized, within two minutes of each other. Mauro made the most of a pass up the middle by Romario Piggot, switching feet past a solo Atlanta defender, and curved one past Atlanta keeper Ben Lungaard.  Not to be outdone, two minutes later Zeiko fielded a midfield pass from Angelo Kelly to make a quick settle and spin to then tuck it past Lundgaard to the back of the net. A header off the corner kick by sub Arthur Bosua at 89′ nearly sealed the deal as Lundgaard came out from the net, but hit the outside of the net. Then, it was all Cichero and Lewis in stoppage time for the go ahead goal with a little help from the defenders. After a throw in from defender Kyle Nelson, Cichero sailed it from midfield over two Atlanta defenders to a perfectly placed AJ Paterson who settled it with the chest and then knocked it over to Lewis on the right side to tap it in just past Lundgaard with. “I made my run, Mauro crossed it and I just had to make sure I put it on target from AJ’s pass” Lewis commented.

Looking back on the comeback win, Coach Mike Anahaeuser noted, “We really put ourselves in a hole. But we had the time, we knew if we had enough chances, the wind was with us. It shows what this group does. We made some adjustments and tried to get on them and press a little bit. Almost went with 2 forwards and the first one Mauro got really turned the tides. You could see them getting tired, put [Atlanta] under pressure and looks like the game really caught up with them. To comeback from 2 down at home, we just need to make sure we start better next game because we came out a little flat.”

Thinking about how the team has come together so far, he added, “Up front you’re starting to see a couple guys with their combination play working and have confidence to do that. That caused two of our goals tonight. If we can do that earlier and more often, we’re going to be very potent.”

The Battery travel to face North Carolina FC on Wednesday. With the padding in Group H provided by Saturday’s win, the Battery have a dual focus for Wednesday’s match: continue adding points to the standings as well as bring back a Southern Derby trophy with Wednesday’s matchup being a one-and-done iteration of the annual rivalry.

The Battery hit the pitch again on Friday, facing Atlanta United 2 in their first Group H challenge for the reformatted 2020 Season. It will be the second of four matches between Charleston and Atlanta as the Battery look to shake off Sunday’s home-opening loss against Birmingham Legion FC and strengthen their hold on second place in the Group H standings.

Charleston’s 3 points so far on the season came at the hands of Atlanta when the teams first met to open the year on March 8. In that first fixture, both teams got to a quick start with Dante Marini just missing a brilliant pass by Zeiko Lewis in the opening minute that would have easily been tapped by the keeper. And Atlanta responded minutes later as Amir Bashti split through the Battery’s backline to Jack Gurr, whose shot went just wide of the left post. Both teams held things even into the second half and Charleston sealed the deal as Lewis forced a penalty in the 62nd minute and converted on the PK to go ahead 1-0. They held the advantage for the rest of the game.

While the Battery look to come back after Sunday’s tough loss, Atlanta United 2 head to Charleston with 3 matches on the season, already having fallen to Tampa Bay on July 11 and securing 1 point after taking Memphis 901 FC through 90 minutes to a 2-2 draw last Saturday. With that 1 point on the board, Atlanta sits 2 points behind Charleston in Group H and 6 points behind Tampa Bay Rowdies. The Battery are looking to secure 3 points and pull within one of Tampa Bay before the Rowdies take on Birmingham this Saturday.

Ones to Watch This Week

JACKSON CONWAY

Conway has brought some life to the Atlanta side, opening scoring in consecutive matches leading into Friday. The 18 year-old forward followed an early scoring chance in Saturday’s matchup against Memphis with a solid footing to put Atlanta up early. The Atlanta United Academy vet has played 149 minutes since returning to play and looks to be a formidable piece in Atlanta’s plans against the Battery this week.

ZEIKO LEWIS

Highlighted as the player to watch in the Battery’s first bout against Atlanta last March, Zeiko remains the one to watch in this week’s rematch as the sole owner of Charleston’s 2 goals on the season. Appearing in the full 90 minutes on Sunday against Birmingham, Lewis confirmed how key an asset he is up the middle taking a corner pass on the fly from Deshawon Nembhard in the 29th minute and bouncing it past the keeper to level with Legion in the first half. His additional 4 duels won and 25 passes with 68% accuracy through the full time look bright as he’ll cause trouble for the Atlanta defence atop the box.

From the Training Ground

With the shortened week, the boys had an off day on Monday before getting back to the pitch and game planning for Friday’s matchup at home. 

“Atlanta’s a different team,” Coach Mike Anhaeuser commented on the matchup and short training week. “They like the pass, they like to play it out of the back. They’re just a little different in the way they play. We played them in March, they’re not going to change that much. But they have a couple new young faces, you never know with an MLS 2 team. You have to be prepared for that. The big thing for us is what we do, we have to build on what we did well and if we can perform on those things and keep doing them, we’re going to have a lot of success.”

As of posting, Arthur Bosua, Dante Marini and Rennico Clarke are questionable for Friday with Jesus Ibarra and Mauro Cichero both sitting this one out.

match info

Charleston Battery vs. Atlanta United 2
Friday, July 24 – 8:00 PM EST Kickoff
Ralph Lundy Field @ Patriots Point Soccer Complex

HOW TO WATCH:

All Battery matches will be streaming on the ESPN+ platform. Friday’s match will be live HERE.