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USL-1 Charleston Battery

Battery Defeats El Paso in US Open Cup Second Round

June 26, 2007 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Charleston Battery News Release


CHARLESTON, SC-The Charleston Battery moved into the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a win over the PDL El Paso Patriots. But just barely. It took the Battery 74 minutes to find the goal after outplaying the visiting side for most of the night. In fact the only stat that wasn't heavily weighted in the Battery's favor was the number of goals. But defender Anthony Catalano's strike late in the second half off a Lazo Alavanja free kick was all the Battery needed to advance into the next round of the knock out tournament.

The Battery will take on current MLS Champs, the Houston Dynamo in the next round; the game will be played at Blackbaud Stadium on Tuesday, July 10.

The Battery's first chance came off a Mike Richardson corner kick. An unmarked Tim Karalexis slammed a header that rattled the post. The ball bounced straight back into play, but nothing could be done with it.

Four minutes later, Byron Alvarez had a clear shot at goal after Lazo Alavanja sprung Richardson on the left flank. Richardson's centering ball found Alvarez at the top of the penalty area, but his poor first touch made it difficult to get a clean shot off.

Seven minutes later it was Richardson rattling the woodwork after he found his way inside and fired off a cracking side volley off an Armstrong cross.

Four minutes after that, Armstrong forced Patriots goalkeeper Jorge Muniz to save brilliantly with a stinging 35-yard left-footed blast. Munez saved well again in the 33rd minute, putting an Aaron King shot from 12 yards out over the crossbar.

By the end of the first half, the Battery was controlling every aspect of the game except the score-line. That continued into the second half, as a series of good saves from Munez, and several near-misses by the Battery, including a volley from Karalexis that just missed high, and blistering shots from Armstrong on two different occasions that missed by inches.

Finally, with ten players inside the penalty area on Alavanja's free kick, the Battery finally got the goal they had been looking for. Alavanja swung the ball in from the right flank, finding a lightly marked Catalano, whose sliding volley from inside the six-yard box flew past a statuesque Muniz.

The goal forced El Paso to have to chase the game, and spread the game out some, reducing the number of Battery chances, and even creating a single chance in added time for El Paso, which should have tied the game.

With only seconds on the referee's watch, a weary Victor Omar Mora found himself one-on-one with Battery goalkeeper Dusty Hudock after centerback Brandon Curran slipped and fell to the ground. With Hudock closing in Mora's shot dribbled just wide of the goal, giving the Battery the win, and a third round birth.

The Battery is in action at home again on Saturday June 30 when they face 2006 USL Division One champions the Vancouver Whitecaps. Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m.

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USL First Division Stories from June 26, 2007


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