Charleston outlasts Hartford, 4-2
Strong performance from Juan David Torres leads Battery to victory
Olimpico or no? Either way, the Battery are rounding into form.
Despite a somewhat rotated team sheet, Charleston scored four times to win their fourth league game in a row and have now won five of their last six in the USL Championship.
Charleston moved a number of players around in the lineup. Midfielder Aaron Molloy found himself starting as a centerback, Houssou Landry shifted from right back to left back, and goalkeeper Christian Garner notched his first start in league play. But it was a nightmare start for the rotated back line.
Jordan Scarlett opened the scoring in the 5th minute, knocking the ball off his chest and just past the outstretched arms of Garner. It was the Jamacian’s first goal of the season, and gave Hartford a 1-0 early lead.
But the lead wouldn’t last long. In the 23rd minute, MD Myers was tripped in the box running onto a pass from Cal Jennings, and Jennings easily slotted home the resulting penalty kick. Jennings now has 6 goals on the year, tied for the league high.
From there, Charleston began to take hold of the match. Hartford would not register a shot until the second half, as the Battery held 70% of the possession in the first 45 minutes, and 61% for the match as a whole.
And Juan David Torres made the most of that time on the ball.
After missing just wide with his first shot of the night, Torres would find himself open just outside the box. A blazing fast left footed shot froze Hartford keeper Antony Siaha as it darted into the bottom right corner. 2-1, Charleston.
But Torres was far from finished. In the 56th minute, he perfectly placed a chipped pass to Landry who headed it down and scored. It was Landry’s first of the season and proved to be the winning goal.
Hartford pulled back into the match following Emelio Ycaza’s foul in the box against Sebastian Anderson, as Michee Ngalina beat Garner in the resulting penalty kick to make it 3-2 in the 62nd minute.
Enter Torres again. Charleston won a corner in the 64th minute, and Torres swung the ball over the keeper and towards the net. At time of writing, it has been officially ruled an own goal to Adrián Diz. But the ball was headed squarely into the net regardless of his touch. It may not have been an official olimpico, but it counted all the same.
UPDATE 5/5 11:50 am: USL has reviewed the goal and credited it to Torres. The olimpico is now official!
From there, Charleston coasted to victory. The Battery have now recorded 6 points from losing positions, a league high this season and a statistic they’ve excelled in during the Ben Pirmann era. Newly signed Rubio Rubin played his first minutes for the club and nearly scored a fifth goal, to the delight of the fans in Guatemalan blue dotting the stands.
Having dispatched Hartford, Charleston now sets its sights to Tuesday’s rivalry match with DC United in Open Cup play.