Southern Derby Part III: Wilmington @ Charleston

On Thursday night the Wilmington Hammerheads will come to Charleston for the Battery's third match in the Southern Derby. Here's your preview:

Wilmington Hammerheads:
This Season: The Hammerheads currently sit 4th in the American Division table after two straight wins against the quickly falling Antigua Barracuda FC last week. The Hammerheads are just a point behind the Battery, and have three games in hand.
Who's Playing Big: Both Luke Mulholland and Chris Banks lead the team in goals with 5 each, and they also both have 2 assists a piece. Banks will not be available for this match after receiving a red card in his last match. The Hammerheads have had 12 different players score during this USL Pro season.
Who Needs to Step Up: The Hammerheads have given up multiple goals in 5 out of the last 6 matches, so I'll go ahead and say that new GK Kyle Polak will need to step up and keep more out of the net if the Hammerheads want to win this match.

What to Expect:
Starting XI:

Dykstra

Marples Falvey Wilson Zaher

Peverley Paterson Caskey Armstrong

Kelly Coleman

Dykstra should once again get the start in goal, as he hasn't given up a goal in the last 2 matches. And the back four should also stay the same as the last few matches.

In the midfield I give you what I think is our best four at the moment. Peverley hasn't gotten a start in a while, and the reason for that is beyond my knowledge. Paterson is obviously one of the best players on the team, if not the best. Caskey has started the last few matches, and is in good form. Not to mention the great headed goal he had against City. And finally, when Stephen Armstrong is in the game, the Battery click on all levels and fire on all cylinders. Call him a leader, call him a game- changer, I just call him the man.

Alright let me make something clear: Dane Kelly and Seedy Bah do not play well together. I have absolutely no explanation for this, but Kelly and Bah just don't seem to click together even though I feel like they should. So play Coleman up front and solve this problem.

The game will be broadcast on USL Live at 7:30 on Thursday night. Its "Thirsty Thursday" at Blackbaud Stadium, so $2 Miller Lite Drafts all night.

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com. Also follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/scsoccerblog.

Charleston-Orlando City Preview

Well the league-leading Orlando City Soccer Club is coming to Chucktown, here's you preview:

Orlando City:
This Season: City will come into this match posting a 11-2-5 and a league-leading 38 points. 11 ahead of second place Richmond. This team is a well oiled machine, and have 17 GF and 8 against, which is also is league leading. They are on a 5 game unbeaten streak in USL Pro play.
Who's Playing Big: Maxwell Griffin has a league-leading 9 goals, and also leads in points, even though he has 0 assists. The team leader in assists is Jamie Watson, who has 3 on the year and just scored a goal against Rochester last week.
Who Needs to Step Up: N/A. This team should finish first, even though Richmond has three games in hand.

What to Expect:
Starting XI:

Dykstra

Marples Falvey Wilson Zaher

Taylor Peverley Paterson Armstrong

Bah Kelly

Not to many changes to the lineup. Andrew Dykstra will again get the nod between the pipes.

Nigel Marples got the nod last week, as he has been playing well. Falvey and Wilson should take over the central defense, with Zaher out wide.

Evan Taylor didn't play in last week's match, and I really am not sure why. Taylor keeps possession well, but I feel he works better in a 4-2-3-1 and working as a defensive midfielder. Peverley, Paterson, and Armstrong should round up the midfield.

Levi Coleman has recently been coming off the bench, so I assume that Seedy Bah will once again get the starting spot up top along with Dane Kelly.

Orlando City is a quality side, and they have only two losses the whole year. The advantage that Charleston has is that Orlando City will be playing Dayton at home on Friday night, and then making the trip up to Charleston for the match on Saturday.

The match will be on USL Live at 7:30 on Saturday at Blackbaud Stadium. This is family night for the Battery, so 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, and 4 sodas for $30.

A large group of the Orlando City supporters group "The Ruckus" will be coming to Blackbaud Stadium, and will be taking up residency in section E1.

The Regiment will also be collecting money and clothes for the Andrew Pascoe family. Andrew is a big Battery and Regiment supporter who's house was loss to a fire on Wednesday morning. Everyone in the family made it out safely but they lost everything in the fire.

Please come by and put something in the jar at the tailgate. If you can't make the tailgate, The Regiment will be raffling off an autographed Battery jersey and proceeds from the raffle will also go the Pascoe family. Raffle tickets are $1 or 6 for $5 and will be available under the West Stands before the match and during half-time.
-From No Quarter

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com. Also follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/scsoccerblog.

 

 

Charleston Defeats Dayton 1-0

Last night Dayton came to town, and the Battery played the Dutch Lions in front of a crowd of 3,054 at Blackbaud Stadium.

The Battery added three points to their season total after Levi Coleman slotted home a shot on an open net off a pass from Evan Taylor which brought the keeper off his line. The 77th minute goal would prove to be enough, and the Lions would earn two red cards on their way to a 1-0 defeat.

The first red card came in the 49th minute when Maeiur VanderPluljm head-butted Colin Falvey, earning a straight red. The second came in the 89th minute when Evan Schwarz made a harsh tackle, and being the last man this gave him a straight red as well.

The game was one of the slower that the Battery have played this season, and it wasn't their best outing as well. The pace was slow, and this caused the chances to be few and far between. Charleston managed only 7 shots to Dayton's 3.

Man of the Match: Nicki Paterson
Paterson is playing the best of all the Battery players right now. You can just tell that he sees the game well, and this match was no different than the rest of his matches. Even in a sloppy match, Paterson shined through.

Honorable Mentions:
Levi Coleman: Came on as a sub in the 71st minute, and scored the only goal. There has to be something said for that.
Diego Walsh: Walsh has really brought a spark to the Battery's offense, and this match he was just so active. It seemed that every other touch was him on the ball.

Next week the Battery have another edition of everyone's favorite game show "Two Games in Two Days!" Okay bad joke. Anyway, Friday the Battery face the Wilmington Hammerheads at Wilmington, and this match will be nationally televised on Fox Soccer Channel. Then the Battery head back to Charleston for a match with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. This match will be broadcast on USL Live.

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com. Also follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/scsoccerblog.

Preview(s): Charleston-Pittsburgh and Charleston-Rochester

After gaining 4 points in 2 matches last weekend, the Battery now head north for another two game spell against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Rochester Rhinos. Here's what to expect:

Pittsburgh Riverhounds:
This Season: The Riverhounds have only earned 4 points in their first four matches. They defeated Harrisburg 1-0, lost to Richmond 2-1, and lost to Wilmington 3-1. Last Saturday the Battery and the 'Hounds played to a scoreless draw at Blackbaud Stadium.
Who's Playing Big: Forward Jason Yeisley and Midfielder Shintaro Harada have been providing the offense for Pittsburgh, though the goals have been few and far between. Yeisley has a huge physical presence, and Harada has been playing well from what I have seen.
Who Needs to Step Up: The back line has been playing mediocre at best. The performance against the Battery may look good when you look at the stats, but when you look at the chances that the Battery had, at least one goal should have been up on the scoreboard.

Rochester Rhinos:
This Season: Last week the Rhinos finally notched their first points of the season in a 3-2 victory against the Dayton Dutch Lions. This was after opening their first two matches with two 1-0 losses to Richmond and Wilmington.
Who's Playing Big: Rochester is an interesting situation, because in last week's match with Dayton their back line played poorly, and their forwards played well. While in the previous two matches, the back has played well while the forwards couldn't put a single goal on the scoreboard.
Who's Needs to Step Up: Rochester will just be looking to get some consistent play from their whole squad. If they can start to get some goals consistently, they will be fine this season, as they have gotten more quality than poor play from the back.

What to Expect:
Charleston looks to come out in the usual 4-4-2 (Keep in mind that this is the best possible Starting XI as of right now, and will probably not be the line up for both Matches):

Wiggans

Wilson Falvey Zaher Marples

Paterson Peverley Mack Armstrong

Coleman Kelly

Keith Wiggans will continue to be in goal for the Battery while Andrew Dykstra tends to that injury.

The back line has stayed consistent all year, and should stay for these matches. Last week the defense only gave up 6 shots and no goals were scored.

The Midfield will have some changes from last week. We can expect Paterson and Peverley to play, as they have been playing quality ball and should be able to build on their previous performances this year. Armstrong should be back in the line up after a week off. My one "wildcard" if you will, is JC Mack. Mack played great in last weekend's matches.

Levi Coleman and Dane Kelly are no doubt the best two candidates for the forwards. Coleman played possibly his best match of the season last week (and should have scored), and Kelly is also peaking right now, and the chemistry between him and Coleman has been wonderful in recent matches.

The match with Pittsburgh on Friday night will not be available on USL Live, but will be on 1340 in Charleston and on the Battery's website. The Rochester match will be broadcast on USL Live, and coverage will start at 7:00.

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com. Also follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/scsoccerblog.



Charleston Held by Pittsburgh for a Draw

Last night the Charleston Battery played their second match in two days against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in Charleston. The Riverhounds held the Battery for a 0-0 draw in front of 4,079 fans at Blackbaud Stadium.

Dane Kelly got the match started off quickly. In fact it only took him about 30 seconds to get a shot on goal. He came in off a good run and got into the box on the left side, but his shot was saved by Pittsburgh keeper Hunter Gilstrap.

Kelly would get another chance just minutes later. He would find Gilstrap off his line just enough to attempt to slide the ball past him. Gilstrap would make a last second kick-save to preserve the clean sheet.

The chances were back in forth, but the Battery had the majority of them, along with the possession.

In the 23rd minute, Levi Coleman stripped a Riverhound defender and had just the keeper to beat, but shot it wide. This was probably Charleston's best chance of the night.

Kelly continued to be active, and nailed a shot off the post in the 24th minute, after JC Mack crossed it in.

The Battery thought they had scored in the 36th minute when Levi Coleman slid a ball into the back of the net off a Cole Peverley pass, but he was caught off side. I don't think he was offside, and we'll have to wait for the archived game on USL Live to see.

The rest of the game was lacking of great chances, aside from a Riverhounds free kick in stoppage time of the second half, and the match would end 0-0.

Man of the Match: Dane Kelly
Kelly finally showed up and looked great for a game for once. He was making effective runs and was very active from the moment he stepped on the pitch. The combination of him and Coleman up front looks to be working great, and they have developed a great chemistry with each other that should be resulting in a huge amount of goals in the next couple of matches.

Honorable Mentions: Levi Coleman and Keith Wiggans

The Battery had 17 shots compared to just 6 by the Riverhounds, and the legitimate scoring chances for Pittsburgh were few and far between. Charleston should have won this game and the result is disappointing to say the least.

On the bright side, the pink jerseys looked great and the Kick for a Cure was a huge success.

The Battery now travel on up to face Pittsburgh at their place on Friday and then they will play at Rochester. The Pittsburgh match will be available on 1340 AM in Charleston as well on charlestonbattery.com. The match with Rochester will be broadcast on USL Live.

If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com. Also follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/scsoccerblog.

Charleston Falls to Richmond 2-1

Well they had to lose at some point.

Last night, the Charleston Battery lost their first match of the season 2-1 to the Richmond Kickers. The Battery stayed at 6 points (2-1-0) while the Kickers added three points to bring their total to 12 (4-0-0).

Here is the recap on the Battery's website.

So here is what I got out of the match (keep in mind that I only caught a bit of the game on the radio as I drove through Charleston):

• Nice to see Levi Coleman get on the board: After going scoreless in the first two matches Coleman finally scored for Charleston. He also hit the post on a header in the 5th minute. His goal came off a header in the 15th minute to give the Battery an early lead.
• Quality play from the Midfield continues: Now from what I heard from listening and reading the recap, it looks like the Midfield played solid again. The Battery are going to need to get some good play from the midfield while they wait on the forwards to get in the groove.
• No Andrew Dykstra: Andrew Dykstra injured his foot in training this week and looks to be out for around 3-4 weeks. Keith Wiggans got the start, and gave up two, but it looks like he did alright.
• Matthew Delicate held scoreless: One of the keys to a Charleston victory was to keep Matthew Delicate off the scoreboard, as he had scored in every match up to that point. He didn't score, but others stepped up for Richmond.

I think that Charleston is going to be alright. It would have been nice to get at least a point up at Richmond, but we easily could have seen the Battery lose by much more than one goal.

The biggest disappointment in this game was Charleston's failure to hold the early lead that they got off of Coleman's header. Hopefully that won't be a running theme.

Richmond Kickers:
Ronnie Pascale, Luke Vercollone, William Yomby, Henry Kalungi, Sascha Gorres, Gerson Dos Santos (Bobby Foglesong 61'), Michael Callahan (Dave Hertel 88'), Ryan Heins (Nozomi Hiroyama 46'), Edson Elcock (Shaka Bangura 88'), Stanley Nyazamba (David Bulow 46') Matthew Delicate

Goals- Bulow 63' (Callahan), Bangura 90'(Hertel)

Bookings- Nyazamba 45', Callahan 78'
Charleston Battery:
Keith Wiggans, Nigel Marples, John Wilson, Colin Falvey, Mike Zaher, Kevin Jackson (Zach Prince 61'), Cole Peverly, Evan Taylor (Alex Caskey 70'), Nicki Paterson, Dane Kelly (JC Mack 76'), Levi Coleman (Seedy Bah 56')

Goal- Coleman 15' (Peverly)

Bookings- Paterson 74', Caskey 88'
If you need to contact me, e-mail me at SCSoccerblog@gmail.com.