— WakeMed Soccer Park turned into Hogwarts and someone cast a Sunny Spell Saturday for Wizard/definitely not Harry Potter™ Night, as the rain that enveloped Cary earlier in the day gave way to a gorgeous, temperate evening for the North Carolina FC to host the Charleston Battery. With the definitely not Harry Potter™ soundtrack bombinating in the background and amid a flurry of spells and counter-charms, NCFC and Charleston battled to a 1-1 draw.

“With the run we’ve had, it’s massive that we got that point,” said NCFC midfielder Kyle Bekker. “In this league, if you can win or tie games and not lose points, you’re going to be there at the end of the season. Obviously it hurts right now, but there are a lot of positives to take away from it.”

“We had a lot of good possession but didn’t make their keeper work enough,” said NCFC manager Colin Clarke. “We fell to a sucker-punch of a bad mistake in the back. We came back and got a point out it, and it could have been three.”

A gaggle of Muggles occupied the pitch throughout the first half, save for whatever wizard inanted “Colloportus!” to keep a lock on both goals and the scoreline unadulterated. In the 27th minute, Battery midfielder Jarad van Schaik got off a left-footed angled shot across the face but wide of North Carolina FC goalkeeper Alex Tambakis, sporting his new caution tape-inspired kit. Otherwise, each side managed just one shot on goal in the opening 45.

As a simulation Quidditch match hijacked the Sahlen’s Stadium field at halftime, Battery manager Mike Anhaeuser made some halftime adjustments to curb NCFC’s build-ups. Anhaeuser said he dropped his outside midfielders deeper to serve as cover for his three Beaters, er, back line, understanding his team would have to be content looking for the counterattack.

“For the first 15-20 minutes, [NCFC] had us,” Anhaeuser said. “They moved [the ball], they caught us in our shape a little bit, worked the outsides, and had a couple of chances to put us down … We did what we needed to do at halftime to regroup. It was going to be more of a counterattack because they were pressing to try to get a goal; I would have done the same thing at home.”

The scoreless match only lasted until the 63rd minute, when Charleston slipped some unlucky dip to NCFC defender Connor Tobin, whose errant pass in the Battery’s attacking third was intercepted by Tah Brian Anunga. Anunga centered to Ataullah Guerra, whose snapshot past Tambakis gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage. It’s Guerra’s ninth goal this year, tying him for the USL lead.

“The center back tried to turn and play it in,” Anheuser said. “We did a nice job of pressuring him. We said we might get one chance, and he tried to take a risk and make the pass, and we nicked it … We pressured very well, he got caught in possession, but we made him pay.”

Pushing for the equalizer, North Carolina FC exclaimed “Wingardium Leviosa!” in the 81st minute, when second-half substitute Nelson Blanco delivered a cross off the left endline and chaser Daniel Rios redirected the quaffle past Battery keeper Joe Kuzminsky to even the scoreline 1-1.

From there, North Carolina FC cast an “Expecto Patronum” spell on Charleston, who apparently countered with some dark arts. In the final throes of seven minutes of added time, NCFC found about four looks inside the box, including two shots by Tiyi Shipalane that were blocked and rebounded off the right post, respectively.

“Can someone just put it in the back of the net, please?” Clarke said ruefully after the match. “It was tough to watch—it was like thirty seconds of madness. No one could get a handle on it, and it looked like a puck in ice hockey jumping around in front of the goal.”

“When it got to 1-1 and you’re a coach on the road, you want to say let’s take the point and get out of here,”Anheuser said. “So, I’m going to be happy with that.”

Austin da Luz of NCFC came off in the 55th minute after suffering a blow to the head to be evaluated for a possible concussion.

North Carolina FC (5-4-8, 19 pts.) remains 13th in the USL Eastern Conference standings. The Dead Whales visit Bethlehem Steel next Saturday, June 14, looking for retribution for a home loss last month in which Bethlehem scored two goals in the final ten minutes to steal a victory from NCFC.

“Obviously, we’re not in the position we want to be in the table,” Bekker said. “The last few games we’ve had, we’ve shown a lot better on the field. We know we can be in a playoff position and fighting at the end of the season. Where we are, we need to take it game-by-game, and I think that’s what we’re doing.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

NC: Tambakis, Taylor, Tobin, Guillen, Miller, da Luz (Shipalane, 55’), G. Smith, Bekker, Fortune (Blanco, 76’), Lomis (Ewolo, 90’), Rios

CHS: Kuzminsky, S. Thomas (Archer, 61’), Mueller, Hackshaw, Woodbine (Bolt, 75’), A. Kelly, Anunga, van Schaik, Rittmeyer (Wild, 89’), Higashi, Guerra

GOALS

NC: Rios, 81’ (Blanco)

CHS: Guerra, 63’ (Anunga)

CAUTIONS

NC: Guillen (90 + 4’)

CHS: Woodbine, 69’

EJECTIONS

NC: ---

CHS: ---

ATTENDANCE: 3,263