Presented by MUSC Health
The Charleston Battery are set to host Hartford Athletic on Sat., April 8, in the next league match. Kickoff at Patriots Point is at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Saturday’s contest will be the ninth meeting between the two East Coast clubs. The Battery lead the all-time series with a record of 5W-3L-0D over the Athletic. Since 2021, the home team has been victorious in each match.
In the last meeting between Charleston and Hartford at Patriots Point, the Black and Yellow triumphed 3-1 over the visitors. Augi Williams bagged a brace in the night to seal the victory.
Hartford enter this weekend looking to improve upon a bumpy start in USL Championship play, possessing a 0W-2L-2D record that has them placed 10th in the Eastern Conference table. Most recently, however, Hartford defeated Lansdowne Yonkers FC, 3-0, in the U.S. Open Cup. Elvis Amoh scored all the goals for Hartford and grabbed the second hat trick in the club’s history.
Charleston will aim to build on their strong start to 2023, undefeated through four contests. The Battery return to league action after a bye week in Week 4. In their last league match, Charleston defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies, 3-0, in Week 3. The Black and Yellow advanced to the Third Round of the Open Cup last Tuesday thanks to goals from Robbie Crawford, Augi Williams, Tristan Trager and Nick Markanich in a 4-1 over Savannah Clovers FC.
There is a pair of familiar faces going against their former clubs on Saturday, as Hartford’s Matt Sheldon returns to his former home of 2022 and Charleston’s Derek Dodson takes on the team of his rookie season in 2021.
Elvis Amoh and Prince Saydee are the ones to watch for the visitors as they have been Hartford’s main attacking threats, each netting twice in USLC play.
Nick Markanich is a player to keep an eye on for the Battery. After a strong, but scoreless, start to his first Battery season, Markanich has two goals and one assist in his last 123 minutes of action across all competitions.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann will be unavailable for Saturday’s match as he serves a one-game suspension for a red card issued during the Tampa Bay match.
The Battery welcome the return of five members who were out on international duty in Week 3: AJ Paterson, Benji Ettienne, Deklan Wynne, Leland Archer and Jesse Randall. Randall is one of the Battery’s newest signings and could make his club debut on Saturday.
From the training ground
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and Nick Markanich spoke about the upcoming Hartford match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on preparations this week with a midweek Open Cup game…
We’ll have four games in 12 days, so we are managing the workload. Preparation has been good, spirits are high. I think we’re getting better every day, but we’ve got a long way to go. We just want to keep improving, keep doing the best that we can and then we’ll go again against Hartford this weekend and keep pushing on from there.
Coach Pirmann on what Hartford bring to the table…
Hartford are a very good team, they can play a variety of different shapes. Tab Ramos is one of the top coaches in the country. They want to keep the ball, they’re going to possess and they also have a really good, dynamic front four or five guys.
I think they’re going to make us suffer when they’re in possession, but we really want to make them suffer and try to play the game in their territory as much as possible. But, I think it will be a 50-50 game back and forth, up and down and hopefully, we do enough and have good enough attention to detail to get all three points.
Markanich on the mood within the locker room right now…
Everyone is ready for the game tomorrow, so we’re excited. We have to get all three points and come out with a good result. The team chemistry is great, everyone enjoys being around each other and we’re just having fun out there. All that matters is having fun on the field and performing well together.
Markanich on preparing for Hartford…
We know Hartford, they have a good team. I know they are coming here to get their first win. We just got to be ready to stick to the game plan. They’re going to come up fast and I think we’ll be ready for it.
As of posting, Handwalla Bwana is listed as out.
MATCH INFO
Charleston Battery vs. Hartford Athletic
Saturday, April 8 – 7:30 p.m. ET Kickoff
Patriots Point
HOW TO WATCH:
Only a very limited amount of tickets are still available for Saturday’s match and can be purchased via SeatGeek.com, the Battery’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
All Battery matches will also stream on ESPN+ domestically and through the league’s YouTube channel for free internationally.
