When any club receives their schedule for the season, they immediately look for the dates of their home matches and start figuring out the best way to get supporters to those matches. As a supporter of the Battery, I tend to look at the away matches first.

The USL has recently done a better job with teams’ travel than they did in the past, but there are still a few stretches where your club has to cram in a few matches in a very short period of time.

Charleston faces one of those stretches this week.

Last Saturday, Charleston traveled to Harrisburg where they picked up a point but lost two key starters (Forrest Lasso, accumulation, and Tah Brian Anunga, red card). Next up, they face Bethlehem for an 11am kickoff on Thursday morning in Pennsylvania without those players, and then they finish up their road trip with a visit to the defending USL Champs, NYRBII.

Three away matches in the span of 8 days is tough for any club, and in the past, trips like this have really come back to hurt the Battery.

But this season, there are higher hopes back in Charleston. This team is deep and talented. If the offense keeps firing and the defense can do a little better job of closing out games to clubs from Pennsylvania, then there is no reason Charleston shouldn’t return home still on top of the USL Eastern Conference.

Let’s take a quick look at how the season has gone so far for the Battery and their next two opponents.

Season So Far

Charleston Battery: The Battery are on fire. Yes, that flame was cooled a little with the 96th minute equalizer from Harrisburg, but you have to remember they were down 1–0 and playing with 10 men and still went up 2–1 before Harrisburg punched in a late goal to make it 2–2. Charleston is scoring a lot of goals, but the important thing to note is the fact that they are scoring efficiently. They are not taking a ridiculous number of shots and hoping a couple hit the back of the net. The majority of the chances they create are quality and either force a great save from the opposing keeper or just glance by the post. I am very hopeful this continues. I see no reason why Williams and Guerra can’t finish the season with a combined 30 goals between them. I also cannot see a situation where Portillo does not end up with double-digit assists.

Bethlehem Steel FC: As I talked about in the preview for their last match up with the Battery, BSFC is having an up and down year, and it’s hard to predict their game day squad. That is the advantage and the disadvantage of having your MLS parent club so close: at times, it brings youth and talent to the starting XI, but at other times it makes it difficult to get consistency and build any type of squad unity on the pitch. Their last 5 matches have gone loss, win, loss, win, loss: the definition of inconsistency. They are hoping the pattern continues for now, and they can hand Charleston their first loss on the road in 2017.

NYRBII: The Baby Bulls will have a target on their back for all of 2017. Every club that plays them will be looking to knock off the defending USL Champs. That can be tough, and their home form isn’t great, where they have posted three wins and 3 losses. That’s huge considering last season they only had two losses at home all season (one of which came at the hands of the Charleston Battery, of course). It will be interesting to see how NYRBII is playing at the end of the season, but right now it appears they are still looking to find some consistency as well.

Moyer’s Match Prediction(s)

vs. Bethlehem Steel FC

An 11am kickoff is not easy for anyone, so I do not see a huge advantage for Bethlehem in this match, even though they are playing at home where they tied the Battery last season. Charleston again have been to strong and will be looking to rebound from a 94th minute equalizer on Saturday. Just ask Rochester how the Battery responds to a later-game goal that takes points away from the Boys in Black and Yellow (the Battery beat them 5–0).

Final Score: Battery WIN 3–1

vs. NYRBII

This is a trickier match to predict. Generally, NYRBII is a club that you would expect to play well at home, especially with all of their young talent. However, young talent sometimes has trouble when playing a team with talent and experience, and the Battery have plenty of both. The afternoon (2pm) kickoff is always an interesting one too. It will probably take both clubs a little longer to find the game, and in the end, I see the Battery scoring late to head home with a point and hopefully holding onto the top spot in the USL Eastern Conference.

Final Score: Battery DRAW 1–1

Past Meetings (Results are for Charleston)

2017 (USL)

2–1 (Win) vs. BSFC

2016 (USL)

1–2 (Loss) vs. NYRBII

3–2 (Win) vs. NYRBII

2–1 (Win) vs. BSFC

0–0 (Draw) vs. BSFC

2015 (USL)

1–1 (Draw) vs. NYRBII

1–1 (Draw) vs. NYRBII

0–3 (Loss) vs. NYRBII

Atlanta United Sends Some Support

Atlanta United and the Battery have an affiliation agreement for the entire 2017 season. Throughout the season, Atlanta will send players looking to get some game time under their belt or to help fill out the gameday roster for Charleston when needed. With the absence of Forrst Lasso and Tah Brian Anunga and playing 3 games in 8 days, the Battery are definitely in need of some help. The question here is whether this particular group of short term loanees is be done to benefit the Battery, Atlanta or both.

Atlanta is sending 2 midfielders and a keeper. My first thought was, great, here are 3 players that are going to steal minutes from players who are playing some of the best soccer Charleston has seen in a few years. However, I am hopeful this is not the case. The USL season is long and players tend to break down due to these “multiple games in one week” schedules. Having a few fresh faces will help out Charleston in the long run.

All-in-all, Atlanta has helped the Battery a great deal this season. “Super” Romario Williams leads the league in goals. Jeffrey Otoo scored the game winner in Charleston’s 2nd round U.S. Open Cup match. Tambakis has been great when he has jumped in goal. Mikey Ambrose did a great job holding down the left fullback position in Woodbine’s absence.

With all that being said, I am going to stay positive. If the players coming in from Atlanta continue to raise the level of play in Charleston, I am all for these midseason short-term loans. I just hope this all pays off in the long-term… with a 5th club championship and a 2nd USL Cup trophy!