Battery Draw Pittsburgh in USL Cup, Earn Bonus Point in Penalty Shootout Win to Stay Atop Group 6
USL Charleston Battery

Battery Draw Pittsburgh in USL Cup, Earn Bonus Point in Penalty Shootout Win to Stay Atop Group 6

Published on June 6, 2026 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Charleston Battery News Release


CHARLESTON, SC - The Charleston Battery played Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC to a 0-0 draw, winning 4-2 in the penalty shootout, in Round 3 of the Prinx Tires USL Cup Group Stage at Patriots Point on Saturday. Charleston claimed the additional bonus point following conversions by Sean Suber, Miguel Berry, Kirill Pakhomov and Joey Akpunonu, keeping them atop the Group 6 standings. The result also preserves the Battery's undefeated streak at home in 2026.

The Round 3 cup tie kicked off amid picture-perfect early summer conditions at Patriots Point, and both sides had plenty at stake in the penultimate Group Stage match before the knockout stages.

Emilio Ycaza had a close look in the 11th minute with a half-volley from inside the box that rattled off the near post.

Charleston were forced into an early change when Langston Blackstock was unable to carry on and was replaced by Wilmer Cabrera.

On the other end, goalkeeper John Berner came up with a big save in the 28th minute to deny Eliot Goldthorp and keep the game scoreless.

The match went into the interval tied and scoreless. Charleston held the majority of possession at roughly 63%, and shots narrowly favored Pittsburgh by a margin of five to four.

Action picked back up in the second half with all still to play for.

Charleston nearly broke through in the 48th minute when Cabrera attempted to capitalize on a mistake by goalkeeper Mike Sheridan with an opportunistic shot inside the box, but the strike was blocked off the line.

The complexion of the game altered in the 81st minute when Pittsburgh were reduced to 10 men after Lasse Kelp was shown his second yellow card of the night, and subsequent red card and dismissal.

Up a man, the Battery turned up the pressure in search of a winner before the final whistle. Alec Hughes had a shot on target in the 86th minute and Joey Akpunonu saw his header go just wide of the post in the 91st minute. Jack Wayne had the final shot of regulation, a low attempt from outside the box that was blocked.

Charleston were unable to find a match-winner despite the one-man advantage and the match officially ended as a 0-0 draw, with a point awarded to both sides. By rule, the game went straight into penalties to decide the winner of an additional bonus point.

Pittsburgh went first in the shootout and both sides were two for their first two, Robbie Mertz and Jackson Walti converting for the Hounds, and Sean Suber and Miguel Berry converting for the Battery.

Berner had a clutch save in the third round of the shootout on Jorge Garcia's spot attempt, and Charleston took the lead with Kirill Pakhomov's conversion.

The fourth round proved to be the decisive one, as Aldair Flowers missed wide for Pittsburgh, and Joey Akpunonu sealed the shootout win with an authoritative conversion from the spot.

With the bonus point secured, Charleston moved to 8pts atop Group 6, but will have to wait until June 24 for the rest of the group to play their third Group Stage matches to know where they stand going into the final round.

Saturday's result also moved the Battery's record to 19W-11L-18D against Pittsburgh across 48 meetings since 1999.

Goalkeeper John Berner recorded one save in regulation and notched his second shutout of the year, with both coming in USL Cup play.

Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Joey Akpunonu addressed the media after the match, with key quotes to follow.

Coach Pirmann on his overall assessment of the night...

Fair play to Pittsburgh, they were really tough, they went for it. Thirteen minutes in, we get the injury, and we're short-handed tonight, so it threw us out of our rhythm. And then we switched shape and calmed down a little bit, but when we switched shape, we weren't brave enough to play between the lines, and we weren't brave enough to get around the edge and get balls into the box. Then, the last 15 or 20 minutes of the game, we were very good, and I think that urgency was better.

We talked about it being a playoff game in June, which you don't really ever get to feel. Pittsburgh was playing for their tournament lives and us at home. If it's going to be tough and tight like that, we have to be the team that's a little bit more attentive to details, a little bit more disciplined, not hungrier, but doing the dirty things, if that makes sense.

Our guys worked their socks off. Pittsburgh worked their socks off. It was good energy. It just wasn't a great football match until the last 20 minutes, for us. Once you go to penalties, it's a wild card. [John Berner] has been great. The shooters were great. The only negative would have been not winning it in regulation, but I don't think we quite deserved it.

Coach Pirmann on his message to the team going into the penalty shootout...

Look, the game's over, so all that mattered was the next 10 minutes. Pick your spot, be brave. Miguel, the goalie knew where he was going, and he stuck it in the corner. JB said, 'Look, I'll get you one.' He made the save, the other guy missed the post, but penalties are wild. We don't win them very often in my career, so we'll just take it. Pittsburgh won three or four last year and had another one this year, so they had a lot of experience, they had the advantage, but our guys did a good [job] in the penalties.

You never know what happens the rest of this tournament. I think the statistic is like 93-94%, if you want to win a tournament like the Champions League, the League Cup, playoffs, et cetera, at some point, you're going to have to win a penalty shootout. So, hopefully we're done with them this season, but it's a big deal. It was great practice, per se, because I don't think that point necessarily changed much, but you never know on the last night of the tournament.

Akpunonu on the overall performance in the match...

Pittsburgh is a really good team. It's always going to be a very difficult game against them. They're very good defensively, compact, so we had our struggles breaking them down a couple of times. I thought we created enough chances, especially in the first half, to win the game. Super happy with winning pens. It at least gets us two points and gives us a good chance of going through.

Akpunonu on converting the winner in the penalty shootout...

With pens, it's pretty nerve-wracking. You just have to be confident and put the ball on target and hope for the best. Our season last year ended on penalties and left a sour taste in our mouth, so I think we're happy to finally get past that hump.

We're happy to get two points because we won pens, so it's exciting. I think it gives us a good chance of going through to the later stages of the USL Cup.

Charleston hit the road for their next match, midweek against the Tampa Bay Rowdies on June 10. The Battery's next home game will be on Sat., June 13, against FC Tulsa, which will feature a post-match fireworks show. Tickets for the match are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club's exclusive digital ticketing provider.

Lineups:

CHS: Berner, Messer, Akpunonu, Smith, Martínez (Hughes, 86'), Suber, Pakhomov, Blackstock (Cabrera, 15'), Ycaza (Allan, 69'), Foster (Wayne, 69'), Berry

PIT: Sheridan, Kelp (Red card, 81'), Mikoy, Souza, Barnes, Ahl (Flowers-Gamboa, 83'), Griffin (Wälti, 72'), Mertz, Goldthorp (Garcia, 83'), Amann (Dikwa, 72'), Bassett (Viera, 54')

Penalty Shootout Summary:

PIT - Robbie Mertz, Make

CHS - Sean Suber, Make

PIT - Jackson Wälti, Make

CHS - Miguel Berry, Make

PIT - Jorge Garcia, Miss

CHS - Kirill Pakhomov, Make

PIT - Aldair Flowers-Gamboa, Miss

CHS - Joey Akpunonu, Make

Check out the Charleston Battery Statistics

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United Soccer League Championship Stories from June 6, 2026


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