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USL Charleston Battery

Battery Beat Loudoun in Regular Season Finale with Torres, Rodriguez Goals

October 26, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Charleston Battery News Release


CHARLESTON, SC - The Charleston Battery won 2-1 over Loudoun United FC in the regular season finale on Saturday at Patriots Point. After a scoreless first half, goals in the second half by Juan David Torres and Arturo Rodriguez powered Charleston past Loudoun. The Battery's win is their 18th of the year, setting a new club record for most wins in a season in their USL Championship era.

The focus for Charleston now shifts to the playoffs, where they will host Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on November 2 at Patriots Point. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club's exclusive digital ticketing provider.

Charleston dictated the early stages of the match, providing pressure and possession against Loudoun. MD Myers recorded the first shot on target of the night in the 4th minute, a header that was saved by goalkeeper Hugo Fauroux.

The Battery tested Fauroux more as the half wore on. Juan David Torres nearly broke through with a pair of shots on target from outside the box in the 20th and 25th minutes. Both attempts required strong saves from Fauroux.

Loudoun started to find a footing at the half-hour point, however, and forced goalkeeper Adam Grinwis into action. Grinwis made a sliding stop in the 29th minute to deny Riley Bidois. He then made a pair of saves in the 31st and 32nd minutes to keep Loudoun off the board.

Neither side recorded a shot on target after Grinwis' saves at the half-hour mark. The match went into halftime tied at 0-0. Charleston held 58% possession in the first half.

The Battery came out of the break hot, looking to score the first goal of the night.

Torres was the man to break the deadlock with a strong slicing strike in the 51st minute from just outside the box. The play began with a dropped-ball by the official which Torres then carried to the edge of the box. Torres then hit a perfect slicing shot that curved back inside the near post.

The goal was Torres' seventh of the season.

Charleston's initial lead was short-lived as Loudoun managed to equalize in the 61st minute via Kwame Auah. It came moments after Auah was denied by a Robbie Crawford sliding block. Despite conceding, the Battery determined to restore their lead.

Arturo Rodriguez was the man of the moment after entering the game at the hour mark. Rodriguez had an instant impact off the bench and scored in the 68th minute off of Torres' corner kick to restore the Battery's lead at 2-1. Rodriguez received the ball in the box and gathered himself with a perfect strike inside the 6-yard box.

Rodriguez's strike was his third goal of the year.

The temperature of the match began to tick up in the dying moments, amplified by Loudoun's desperation to keep their playoff hopes alive. Chris Allan, deputizing at left-back, made a crucial diving block in the 71st minute to deny Florian Valot.

Charleston withstood Loudoun's attempts to get back into the game and effectively neutralized their attack after Allan's block, the visitors did not register a shot for the remainder of the night.

The Battery sealed the 2-1 victory to close out the regular season and complete the season sweep of the Loudoun. It also extends the Battery's unbeaten run against Loudoun to 10 games.

Charleston's win advances their record to 18W-6L-10D (64pts), setting a new club record for most wins in the regular season in the Battery's USL Championship era, surpassing the previous record set just last year.

Nick Markanich officially claimed the 2024 USL Championship Golden Boot as the close of business on Saturday, with his 28 goals leading the league by a wide margin. His tally of 28 also makes him the top goalscorer across all domestic professional leagues in America.

Looking ahead, the Battery will be the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, playing host to Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on November 2 at Patriots Point. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club's exclusive digital ticketing provider.

Head Coach Ben Pirmann, midfielder Jay Chapman and goalkeeper Adam Grinwis addressed the media after the victory, with key quotes to follow.

Coach Pirmann on finishing the regular season with a win...

That game is going to be our most difficult game of the year. We're excited to be at home, we love playing in front of our supporters, tonight was a celebration about that.

I'm so proud of the group. They fought for a record tonight, but they fought for [the supporters] and that's what this is about. Football is in my opinion is a great equalizer all over the world, and our club, our community, our supporters, they are the best, they're fantastic. They love playing for them and they pushed us over the line tonight. We were able to set a record and go in on a high note. Hopefully next weekend they can push us, because we're going to need it.

Coach Pirmann on his takeaways from tonight's match...

Fair credit to Grinwis, he made the saves tonight because we were not great. Ryan [Martin] had his guys going, they were in all-out attack mode and we struggled, to be honest. They very easily could have, probably should have, been winning at halftime. We did score a nice goal, Juan David with the great individual effort. We did have some chances ourselves, but we were second best. Proud of Arturo, classy finish. He's been an animal. Fair credit to Loudoun, they played a great game. We'll take all three points and go from there.

Chapman on wrapping up the regular season with a victory...

It's huge. We've had second [in the standings] secured for a while. In the past three games, we've played teams that are on the wire and have been playing for their season. They've been really challenging games, two wins in the past six, we've been disappointed with that. Haven't had terrible performances, but just haven't gotten the results. Super, super happy to finish the season with the win and break that record for the team.

This is a club that has high expectations, went to the final last year and came back this season with a sour taste in their mouths, wanting to right the wrong. You can see by the body of work this season that we're hungry, hungry to win a championship for this city.

Chapman on his mindset going into the playoffs...

When I came here mid-season, all that was said was, 'Hey, look, come here, let's win a championship.' So, that's the mindset from this group. Everyone's bought in from top to bottom. We're going to enter November 2 with a whole new intensity and hopefully bring a championship to South Carolina.

Grinwis on his assessment of the night and regular season campaign...

This is a historic club and we're lucky to be a part of it and have our little piece of history within it. It's a great team and we're really grateful to be together. It's been an awesome season. We've just gelled together as it's progressed and we're ready for the playoffs.

[Loudoun] were good. They needed a win, and they wanted it. We had to manage that pressure for the first half and then they ended up getting one [goal]. Overall, I felt like the boys held strong and we did our job.

Grinwis on leveraging tonight's momentum in preparation for the postseason...

Going into the playoffs, we wanted to be in good form. We wanted to be treating every game here as if it was going to be November 2. Here we go into the next game, and I think we're ready to go.

[The win] was massive. We've been training hard. We've been preparing for this moment for the last few weeks, almost for the last month. The playoffs are why we're here. It's why players, like myself, why everybody is here. It's for those games and we can't wait to get started.

The Battery return home to kick off their run in the USL Championship Playoffs on Sat., Nov. 2, against Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club's exclusive digital ticketing provider.

Lineups:

CHS: Grinwis, Segbers (Biek, 46'), Smith (Crawford, 46'), Dossantos, Allan, Ycaza, Molloy (Rodriguez, 60'), Chapman, Markanich (Conway, 64'), Myers (Soto, 83'), Torres (Saydee, 77')

LDN: Fauroux, Erlandson, Hughes, Leerman, Awuah (Nagy, 84'), Skundrich (Ryan, 66'), McCabe, Tingey (Dambrot, 85'), Legget (Williamson, 85'), Bidois (Aboukoura, 73'), Valot

Scoring Summary:

CHS - Juan David Torres, 51'

LDN - Kwame Auah (Riley Bidois), 61'

CHS - Arturo Rodriguez, 68'

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