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USL United Soccer League Championship

Charleston Battery's Nick Markanich Voted USL Championship Player of the Month

May 9, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL) News Release


TAMPA, Fla. - The USL Championship today announced Charleston Battery forward Nick Markanich had been voted the league's Player of the Month for April presented by Konami eFootball as the 24-year-old produced a scintillating month in which he recorded eight goals and three assists to lead the highest-scoring attack in the league to a second consecutive undefeated month.

Currently in his second season for the Battery, Markanich has become one of the top stories in the Championship this season. He began his current scoring streak in a rematch of the 2023 USL Championship Eastern Conference Final with Louisville City FC on April 9, notching a pair of goals in a 3-2 victory at Patriots Point, and then bagged a goal and assist in each of the club's next two outings against Indy Eleven and FC Tulsa.

Markanich capped his month by notching four goals and one assist in a 6-0 victory against Las Vegas Lights FC, becoming the first Battery player to record a four-goal game in the USL Championship era and only the second to notch four goals and one assist in a single game on record. After scoring the only goal in Charleston's 1-0 victory against Hartford Athletic to open May, he has scored in five consecutive games, equaling the longest scoring streak in league play by a Battery player in the Championship era, three off the all-time record.

"Nick just keeps getting better," said Battery Head Coach Ben Pirmann following the victory against Las Vegas. "As a footballer, a human being, and mentality-wise, he's becoming more and more dominant. ... The performance, he's confident. Head down, he's always working with momentum going forward."

A native of Bourbonnais, Ill., Markanich is currently the leading goalscorer in American domestic soccer with 12 goals in his first 10 league games of the season. That mark has surpassed his total across the Championship's regular season and playoffs a season ago, and has him in position to challenge the league's single-season goalscoring record of 25 goals, held currently by former Louisville City FC forward Cameron Lancaster (2018) and former Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC forward Hadji Barry (2021).

Markanich earned 72 percent of a weighted poll that included the USL Championship Technical Committee, a national panel of independent media representing every USL market and an online fan vote held at USLChampionship.com. Rhode Island FC goalkeeper Jackson Lee finished second on 15 percent after recording the first two shutouts in the side's history and posting a Goals Prevented mark of -2.05.

USL Championship Player of the Month - April 2024

Player Fan Vote Weight Media Vote Weight USL Vote Weight Total Vote

Nick Markanich (CHS) 50% 26% 90% 22% 100% 25% 72%

Jackson Lee (RI) 24% 12% 10% 2% 0% 0% 15%

Manuel Arteaga (TBR) 17% 9% 0% 0% 0% 0% 9%

Remi Cabral (PHX) 9% 5% 0% 0% 0% 0% 5%

Check out the United Soccer League Championship Statistics



United Soccer League Championship Stories from May 9, 2024


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