The fourth-place Charleston Battery (11–4–11) head to Southern Indiana to face Louisville City FC (13–5–7) on Friday night, a side that is still reeling from a 4–1 shellacking at the feet of lowly Toronto FC II (3–18–3) at home Tuesday.

That’s right, the same Toronto team that the Battery shut out July 1 by a score of 4–0, who then relegated themselves to the new USL D3 for next season less than 48 hours later, stomped Louisville City FC at their baseball stadium.

The Battery last faced the former Orlando City affiliate in the middle of July after head coach James O’Connor, his assistant coach, and his goal keeper coach all departed for not so greener pastures at Orlando City SC, leaving a three player-coach triad to run the team.

The Battery convincingly usurped the reigning USL Champions 2–1 on that occasion, with Lou City’s lone goal coming from an unlucky own goal off Captain Taylor Mueller, whose head-to-head collision in the air with Cameron Lancaster required thirteen stitches to close up.

Unhappy with their three-player-coach setup, Lou City hired John Hackworth, the former U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team coach, to a four year contract earlier this month. Since his arrival to “the Ville”, Lou City has had a 2–1–1 overall record, drawing against Nashville SC and losing to TFC II.

With Lou City losing to TFC II, and with the Riverhounds playing a man down and drawing even with Indy Eleven Wednesday night, the Battery have a chance to move to second place on the table with a win in Southern Indiana on Friday night. Lou City is their toughest competition (by far) in the remaining eight matches of the regular season.

That said, the Battery have a better-than-good chance of repeating their second place finish of last year. And, with WKRP FC in Cincinnati being gifted a win at the whistle against the Rowdies last Saturday night, they still have to face Lou City, Nashville and the Riverhounds again, teams that have all caused issues for them this season.

Could the Battery finish in first place in the Eastern Conference? They could. Some in Charleston think they will.

Earlier this week, we reached out for insight about a huge match with playoff implications. Taylor Sorrels from The Coopers was gracious enough to make some time in his busy schedule to offer his pre-match analysis on Friday night under lights at Slugger Field.

“ Louisville City was humming right along after introducing John Hackworth as its second-ever head coach, picking up seven points in his first three matches. There was little reason to believe that total wouldn’t hit ten going into Tuesday night’s match against Toronto FC II, but the Little Reds had other plans. There are a variety of reasons why Morados lost that game: fatigue, unfamiliarity with a few key roles in the unusual formation rolled out in that match (Editors Note: a departure from their 3–4–3 to a 4–2–3–1), a hex put on Slugger Field by some mysterious gypsy passing through Louisville back in late May. Who knows? Either way, that performance caused us to re-assess our expectations going into Friday’s match against Charleston. The Battery are still pretty good. They’ve always been a stout defensive team and, despite losing a lot of their more talented players nearly every offseason, manage to nonetheless find the playoffs every October. This year has been no different. The Battery thoroughly defeated City on Daniel Island back in July. They’re on a bit of a cold streak, with just one win in their last five. Charleston do have a week’s rest behind them, however. City are playing their fourth game in fourteen days with a short bench, just one home win since May, and a new coach who’s still perhaps figuring things out. City fans are justifiably nervous about this.”

Sorrels thinks Lou City will line up differently than their accustomed 3–4–3 formation the Battery saw last month at home.

His thoughts on a possible Lou City Starting XI:

Defense: Kyle Smith (RFB), Alexis Souahy (RCB), Paco Craig (LCB), Shaun Francis (LFB) Midfield: Paolo Delpiccolo (CDM), Speedy Williams (CDM), Jose Carranza (AM), Ilija Ilic (AM), George Davis IV (AM) Forward: Luke Spencer

Final Score?

I’m hoping for a 2–0 rebound win, but am kind of expecting a 1–1 draw. How’s that for equivocation?

Predicted Battery starting XI

Kuzminsky (GK), Hacksaw, Mueller (Captain), Archer, Bolt, Candela, Kelly, Rittmeyer, Higashi, Guerra, Okonkwo.

Available subs: Cooper (GK), Thomas, Marini, Arambula, Woodbine*, Svantesson, Wild

Battery players not available*

Injuries : O’Brian Woodbine — (DOUBTFUL); Jarad van Schaik (OUT)

: — (DOUBTFUL); (OUT) Suspensions : Tah Brian Anunga (1 Match vs Lou City)

: (1 Match vs Lou City) Other: Victor Mansaray — (OUT)

Louisville City FC Key Players

Cameron Lancaster and Ilija Ilic. Lancaster and Ilic combined have scored 26 of the 50 goals Lou City has scored this season. And while Louisville was not much of a threat last month in Charleston, they are under new leadership. Lancaster, leading the USL Golden Boot race with 16 goals, will need to be contained by a Battery defense that conceded four goals in the second half to the Baby Pink Cows, their worst defensive performance since week three against the same Cows in Northern New Jersey where five goals were conceded.

Current form

Charleston: D | D | W | L | D

Louisville City FC: W | D | W | W | L

Past meetings (results are for Charleston)

The Battery are 2–5–3 all-time against Louisville (home: 2–1–2, away 0–4–1). The Battery have never defeated Louisville City at Slugger Field.

2018 (USL)

CHS (2), Lou (1) — MUSC Health Stadium[July 14, 2018]

2017 (USL)

CHS (0), Lou (1) — Slugger Field [September 2, 2017]

CHS (1), Lou (1) — MUSC Health Stadium [July 8, 2017]

CHS (4), Lou (4) — MUSC Health Stadium [June 3, 2017]

The DrewOnTarget Prediction

We have a Double Whammy of factors against the Battery: “Referee” Matt Franz is only surpassed by Kevin Broadley for the title of one of the worst officials in the USL. Broadley, who officiated the #TBRvCIN fiasco, assumes center referee duties Friday night.

The Battery have never won on the multiple, elevated surfaces of the baseball field Lou City plays on, and the uphill battle is compounded with Anunga on red card suspension.

The positives: The King of Charleston is coming off a brace performance against the Baby Pink Cows. Eleven Battery players have found the back of the net this year, eight with multiple goals. The Battery nearly shutout Lou City at home earlier this year and with gassed (four matches in fourteen days) Lou City coming off a shellacking at the feet of TFC II just 72 hours prior, the Battery have a better-than-average chance of repeating last month’s win against Lou City, finding their first win in Southern Indiana.

Final score: 2–1 Battery

Game details

What: Louisville City FC vs. Charleston Battery

Where: Slugger Field

When: Friday, August 31st, 2018; 7:30 PM.

Broadcast: MyTV Charleston

Stream: ESPN +

Regiment Watch Party: Rusty Bull Brewing Company with the debut of the 2018 Regiment Special Brew “Daily Rations” with exclusive Scarf and Beer specials…

USL Match Center

Referee: Kevin Broadley

ARs: Tom Felice, Eric Burton

Fourth: Jeffery Swartzel

Game Hashtag: #LOUvCHS

Thanks for reading! A huge shout out to Taylor Sorrels for taking time out of his busy schedule to offer his insight. Be sure to check back after the games for our recaps, read all our Battery coverage here, and as always, follow Soccer ‘n’ Sweet Tea on Twitter for all the latest Carolina soccer news.

Up the Battery!