Charleston Falls to the Islanders 1-0 in Final Preseason Match

Today, the Charleston Battery took on the Puerto Rico Islanders in their final preseason match of the season, at Blackbaud Stadium.

The Battery's Starting XI in the 4-4-2 was: Dykstra started in goal, with Wilson, Marples, Zaher, and Dugoni on the back, Armstrong, Jackson, Pervely, and Prince in the midfield, and Coleman and Kelly up front.

That is definitely a possible starting line up for the season opener this Saturday.

The game went into halftime with a 0-0 score line. One substitution was made in the first half, and that was Seedy Bah coming in for Levi Coleman late in the second half.

Keith Wiggans would come in for Andrew Dykstra, and Nicki Paterson would come in for Zach Prince.

Charleston's best chance would come in the 60th minute, when Dane Kelly would have a goal called back for offsides.

In the 63rd minute, Brandon Massie, unsigned Mark Wiltse, JC Mack, and Alex Caskey would come in for Dugoni, Kelly, Jackson, Wilson, and Armstrong. Evan Taylor would also come in for Peverly in the 70th minute.

In the 76th minute Matt Bouraee would score a goal for the Islanders, which would end up being the only goal of the game.

A disappointing result for the Battery, but not necessarily a bad loss. Charleston was looking to get as many players as possible, some playing time before their season opener this Saturday, when they will play host to the Charlotte Eagles. And in that sense it was successful.

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog.@gmail.com

Charleston Battery: The Week Ahead

The Charleston Battery will be very busy this week, with their preparations for the beginning of their 2011 USL Pro season.

It starts tomorrow, Tuesday, April 5th, when the Battery will host last year's USSF Division 2 Professional League Champions, the Puerto Rico Islanders, in the final preseason match of the season for the Battery.

The Battery have some history with Islanders, including a 2006 2-leg playoff series which the Battery won on a 3-2 aggregate. That included this amazing goal by Stephen Armstrong.

The game will be played at 5:30 PM at Blackbaud Stadium, and admission's free. Make sure to come out and support the Battery.

Then on Saturday, April 9th, we have Charleston's opening match of the 2011 USL Pro season, against the Charlotte Eagles. This game will also be played at Blackbaud Stadium, and kick off is set for 7:30 PM. The game will be broadcast live on usllive.com.

I'll be posting a preview of the game later this week, so watch out for that.

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog.@gmail.com