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USL Charleston Battery

Markanich's Brace Lifts Charleston Past Birmingham 2-0

July 5, 2024 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Charleston Battery News Release


CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Charleston Battery triumphed 2-0 over Birmingham Legion FC on Friday at Patriots Point in a match that was nationally televised on ESPN2. It might've been the day after Independence Day, but Nick Markanich provided plenty of fireworks with a brace that powered Charleston past visitors. The Battery were relentless in their second consecutive victory and 10th shutout of the regular season.

The Battery completed a clean sweep over Birmingham in the regular season series and now have won five consecutive matches over Legion FC dating back to 2023.

Charleston started the night on the front foot and appeared eager to pick up where they left off from the previous week's five-goal performance. The Battery recorded five shots in the opening 11 minutes of action, but Chris Allan's strike off the post in the 5th minute was the closest to going in.

Goalkeeper Adam Grinwis was tested for the first time in the 17th minute for a save on Tabort Preston's shot. The game began to settle more as the half wore on.

The key moment of the first half occurred when Emilio Ycaza was taken down in the box following a well-worked counterattack in the 40th minute. Nick Markanich stepped up to the spot and converted the opening goal in the 43rd minute.

It was Markanich's 14th goal of the season and added to his league-leading total.

Charleston took the 1-0 lead over Birmingham into the break after holding the lion's share of possession (59%) and shots (12 to five).

The Battery came out of the interval eager to double their lead in front of the home crowd. MD Myers came close to doing that in the 57th minute when his valiant effort into the box came up just short with a shot off the post.

Markanich scored Charleston's second goal in the 70th minute to make the score 2-0. Arturo Rodriguez made an instant impact off the bench and delivered a perfect cross to Markanich inside the box. From there, Markanich's header found the top corner of the net.

The goal was Markanich's 15th goal and third multi-goal game of the season. Rodriguez's assist was his fourth of the year, the most on the team.

Charleston continued to assert their will on the game in the waning moments of the match, holding roughly 67% of possession in the second half. Birmingham recorded only two shots on target in the second stanza, both easy saves for Grinwis.

The Battery saw out the 2-0 victory for their second consecutive win and a clean sweep over Birmingham in the regular season series. It's also Charleston's fifth consecutive victory over Birmingham across the regular season and playoffs.

Charleston's record advances to 10W-2L-6D (36pts), placing them in second in the Eastern Conference, just two points outside of first, as of writing.

The clean sheet was the Battery's 10th of the regular season, the most in the Championship, and the seventh for Grinwis, second-most in the Championship.

Head Coach Ben Pirmann and forward Nick Markanich addressed the media after the victory, with key quotes to follow.

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

I thought we played an excellent game. Candidly, we were on top of them. Enzo [Martinez] had a really good chance in the first half, but other than that, it was really one-way traffic. That's a good team, really well-coached. They were the number one team in the league on the road, so to handle them like we did, shows a lot of improvement.

We had a really good game plan from the assistant coaches, Devin [Rensing] and [Time Daniels] did an incredible job. The performance from the boys was selfless, vertical runs, keeping the ball. We were on top of them. I was proud of that. Good performance after the second half last week for sure.

I think the only negative, outside of Enzo's chance, was probably not scoring a couple more. But that's football. That happens. Selfless performance, courageous. We love playing here, we love representing this club. We'll rest up and get ready to go on a tough trip away to Hartford.

Coach Pirmann on the home support on display...

Our fans are incredible. Last week we had 4,000 fans and fireworks and we scored five goals. We love playing in front of La Barra and The Regiment. Our supporters for 30-plus years have been doing it. We just try to give back to them as much as possible. We feel it, we go with them. We miss a shot, they feel that and they want to push us on to the next one. The other team comes down in their territory, they're going to shout at him.I love our supporters. Love this club, this community. For us to be able to do this each week here, it's an honor and a privilege. We want to be able to put performances out to reward them.

Markanich on the Battery dictating play throughout the match...

We are a very good team in possession overall, I think we are top of the league with possession. Having possession gives us more chances in the final third. That's what we did there, we created a lot of chances today and I'm happy to get two goals but I thought we'd get a couple more goals from a couple of other guys.

Markanich on gaining momentum with back-to-back wins...

It's awesome. I know we had a little bit of a slump in scoring goals last month. We scored five last game, two this game. We're on a good roll right now. We just go to keep it up and keep scoring. Everyone is just in good spirits right now. We don't put our heads down. We just keep going. We believe in ourselves.

Charleston's next match will be away vs. Hartford Athletic on Fri., July 12. The Battery return home on Fri., July 12 to host Miami FC at Patriots Point. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club's exclusive digital ticketing provider.

Lineups: CHS: Grinwis, Segbers, Archer, Smith, Dossantos (Crawford, 90 +1'), Molloy, Allan, Ycaza (Rodriguez, 66'), Markanich (Gutierrez, 90'), Torres (Drack, 79'), Myers (Conway, 79')

BHM: Hibbert (Jack, 74'), Hamouda (Pinho, 78'), Kavita, Crognale, Dodson, Rufe (Nwegbo, 58'), Hernandez-Foster, Preston, Pasher, Martinez, Kassim (Perez, 46')

Scoring Summary:

CHS - Nick Markanich, 43'

CHS - Nick Markanich (Arturo Rodriguez), 70'

Check out the Charleston Battery Statistics

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