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USL Charleston Battery

Battery Fall 3-1 at Louisville

August 22, 2015 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Charleston Battery News Release


Charleston Battery vs. Louisville City FC
Charleston Battery vs. Louisville City FC
(Charleston Battery, Credit: Louisville City FC)

LOUISVILLE -- MVP candidate Matt Fondy's header late in the first-half changed the calculus of a closely played match, and the Coopers extracted a price in the second half, beating the Charleston Battery 3-1 in front of a packed house at Louisville Slugger Field Saturday night.

With Mike Anhaeuser's third-place team leaning hard to the attack in search of an equalizer, Louisville Coach James O'Connor's second-place side worked the counterattack with cold efficiency, eventually breaking the Battery in the 74th minute. After blocking a shot by midfielder Sebastien Thuriere, the Coopers swarmed forward down the left side. Battery goalkeeper Odisnel Cooper came off his line to save midfielder Aohdan Quinn's first shot, but the rebound fell perfectly to the feet of midfielder Magnus Rasmussen for his 8th goal of the season.

By the time the hosts tricked the Battery in the 83rd minute with a quickly taken free kick that put isolated Fondy on a single trailing defender, Anaheuser was already down to just three defenders as he rolled the dice for the improbable result.

Late sub Maikel Chang would pull back a goal in the 85th, firing from just above the left side of the area to beat goalkeeper Scott Goodwin to the upper 90 at the back post, but the climb would be too steep.

For the Battery (9-6-9), now winless in their last six, it was their second consecutive loss. Louisville (13-4-6) kept pace with first-place Rochester, which won again. With both Richmond and New York winning their Saturday night matches, Charleston fell into a three-way tie for third place in the USL East.

Unlike the disappointing late loss at St. Louis on Thursday, this one turned on a single moment of brilliance. Using a lineup that featured Thuriere at d-mid and central midfielder Memo Rodriguez in a less-attacking version of Anhaeuser's usual No. 10 role, the Battery midfield and back line combined to keep Louisville's potent attack bottled up for 44 minutes.

That often left forward Dane Kelly isolated at the top of the formation. Yet the team's leading scorer repeatedly found space and lanes above the penalty area, coming close several times and forcing Goodwin into saves in the 34th and 45th minutes.

But when Goodwin initiated the quick restart after saving Kelly's second first-half shot-on-goal, fullback Bryan Burke -- a former Orlando City player who suffered at broken leg at MUSC Health Stadium in 2013 -- saw his first fleeting glimpse of daylight. His cross into Cooper's six-yard box descended toward the 6-1 Fondy's head like a laser-guided artillery shell, and there was no stopping the resulting goal.

Needing points to shore up its playoff position, the Battery chased the game in the second half, leaving the usual opportunities for a team with the flowing quality of Louisville, which entered the match with 45 goals to its credit. Fondy's brace bumped him up to 19, putting him level with Tulsa ace Danni Konig for the league lead.

After training at MUSC Health Stadium this week, the Battery head to Richmond on Saturday for a game with enormous playoff implications. CUTLINE: Battery fullback Emmanuel Adjetey duels Louisville forward Kadeem Dacres in the first half. Louisville City FC photo.

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Charleston Battery vs. Louisville City FC
Charleston Battery vs. Louisville City FC
(Louisville City FC)		   



United Soccer League Championship Stories from August 22, 2015


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