The Charleston Battery scored early and held off a frustrated and physical Louisville City FC to take a 2–1 win Saturday in front of 2,451 at MUSC Health Stadium. Scoring earlier then they have all season, the Battery put points on the board and kept the reigning USL champions in check, defeating Louisville City for only the second time in 10 meetings.

Coach Mike Anhaeuser, who rested most of the key starters Wednesday night against Indy Eleven, made minor position changes to the lineup that saw rookie defenders Jay Bolt and Leland Archer start once again on the right side.

The Battery historically have not fared well against Louisville City, going 1–5–3 against the team coming into Saturday’s match. But with Louisville coach James O’Connor and his staff moving into MLS with Orlando City SC, the question was whether player/interim coach Luke Spencer could repeat the success against the Battery.

That answer, to delight of the Battery faithful, was no.

The Battery wasted no time Saturday night, immediately putting pressure on Louisville. In the fifth minute, the Battery drove up the right side with a give and go between O’Brian Woodbine and Gordon Wild. Woodbine sent a cross from the far right side into the King of Charleston, Ataulla Guerra. The “sauce boss” had his back heel shot blocked by Louisville goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh. The veteran Guerra remained cool as ice, recovered the blocked shot and put the ball over the keeper for his 10th goal of the year, which puts him in the lead for the USL Golden Boot.

The goal in the fifth minute eclipsed Gordon Wild’s Wednesday night goal as the earliest the Battery have scored all season. As the Battery settled in, the midfielders and back line went to work and did their best to frustrate Louisville City for the remainder of the first half. The heat map shows the Battery keeping a majority of the possession in Louisville’s half.

First half heat map

The Battery almost made it 2–0 in the 23rd minute when Guerra found Kotaro Higashi unmarked inside the box, but his shot was just wide.

The Battery kept up the pressure and earned a corner kick in the 27th minute. Wild stepped up for the set piece and sent a beautiful curved cross into the box that found Curtis, the Battery’s homegrown good luck charm whose hair has its own Twitter account. (The goal was credited to Neveal Hackshaw, as the USL does not recognize outstanding hair-dos.)

Hackshaw, with his first USL goal, secured the second win in a week for the Battery. Louisville City tried to counter and press hard into their attacking third late in the first half but could not get the ball on frame.

Louisville City regrouped during the halftime break and dominated the possession game in the second half. Each time Louisville tried to find a weakness in the Charleston defense and exploit it, the Battery found a way to thwart the attack and counter.

The physicality between both teams started to escalate during the final 20 minutes of the match. The Battery picked up two yellow cards while Louisville City also received two yellow cards late in the second half and a straight red card in second half stoppage time for Oscar Jimenez’s cleats up tackle into Patrick Okonkwo.

Second half heat map

But Louisville ruined Charleston’s clean sheet in the 87th minute. Brian Ownby sent a long cross from the right side into the box and Paco Craig used Archer to elevate, driving Archer into the turf. Referee Greg Dopka’s whistle remained silent as the ball dove into the pitch and took a high bounce. Craziness ensued.

Three Louisville City players and the Battery’s Taylor Mueller and GI Joe Kuzminsky scrambled for the ball. The follow-up header by Jimenez bounced off the cross bar. Mueller leaped up to clear the ball and made head-to-head contact with Cameron Lancaster. The contact actually drove the ball off the side of Mueller’s head and past an outstretched Kuzminsky, resulting in an own goal charged to Mueller. The head-to-head contact also resulted in Mueller receiving 13 stitches.

But the game ended 2–1 in favor of the home team and Charleston now sits alone in third place, looking down on Louisville below them.

By the numbers

The stats definitely do not favor the Battery in the win. Reminiscent to the #ATLvCHS match, Louisville City held 71.2 percent possession while completing 381 more passes than the Battery, with a 86 percent passing accuracy.

Once again, it was Neveal Hackshaw leading the Battery in passing. Rookie Angelo Kelly gets the thumbs up with his 83.3 percent PA and eight duels won.

While Louisville managed nearly two-thirds of the possession, the Battery’s defense inflicted the damaged in precisely the right times. With 21 interceptions (compared to Louisville’s five) and 22 clearances, the Battery frustrated Louisville City’s rookie coach, handing him his first professional loss. Once again, Kelly was effective on the offensive front and defensively, frustrating Louisville City all night.

Match summary

In Defense of Charleston

Angelo Kelly : The rookie, in his fifth professional start, had his best performance of season, key to the offense and defensive effort that saw the Battery defeat Lou City for only the second time in 10 matches, avenging semifinal playoff knockouts in 2015 and 2016.

: The rookie, in his fifth professional start, had his best performance of season, key to the offense and defensive effort that saw the Battery defeat Lou City for only the second time in 10 matches, avenging semifinal playoff knockouts in 2015 and 2016. Ataulla Guerra: The King of Charleston now leads the USL Golden Boot race with 10 goals. Anhaeuser summed up why Guerra is finding success this season when asked if anyone else is playing as good as he is and not being recognized in the mid-season USL awards:

“ I don’t think so. He’s probably the best forward in the league and he’s not getting the recognition with these mid-season awards and other things like that. He should be nominated for the mid season MVP. He’s got 10 goals, he’s leading the league and I’ll tell you what it’s disappointing that he’s not getting those accolades. The good thing for us is that he doesn’t care. He’s going to score. He’s doing it for our team. Tonight he tucked back in defensively and helped us close out the game. He did everything tonight and that’s what you have to do to have success against Louisville.”

Box score

Charleston Battery — 2

Louisville City FC— 1

Goals

5' — Charleston — Ataulla Guerra

27' —Charleston — Curtis, via Neveal Hackshaw (Assist: Gordon Wild)

88' —Louisville City — Taylor Mueller (own goal)

Up next

The Battery travel north to Pittsburgh July 21 for an Old Guard Shield match against the Riverhounds. With Richmond beating the Battery at home in June and Penn FC last Monday, the River City Red Army see themselves atop the standings for the Old Guard Shield.

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Up the Battery!