CHARLESTON – The Battery will take on league-leading Louisville City FC in a top-of-the-table clash Saturday night at MUSC Health Stadium. Louisville is currently three points ahead of the second-place Battery, meaning Charleston can catch City with a win Saturday.
Charleston is coming off a 1-0 win on the road over rival Wilmington, while Louisville tied Richmond 0-0 last time out. The Battery have won three straight league games and LouCity have recorded four straight shutouts, setting the stage for Saturday’s match.
Louisville finished in second in the Eastern Conference in 2015, two points ahead of Charleston. The home side won every game in the teams’ three meetings last season. Louisville beat the Battery 3-1 at Slugger Field in late August and then again in Eastern Conference Semi Finals to end Charleston’s playoff run.
Matt Fondy, now with the Jacksonville Armada, scored four goals in Louisville’s two wins over Charleston last season. Justin Portillo and former Battery forward Dane Kelly scored for Charleston in its 2-0 win over City at MUSC Health Stadium in September. Center back Shawn Ferguson was monumental in that match and earned USL Player of the Week after marking Fondy out of the game and leading Charleston to the shutout.
The two teams have been separated by small margins over the past few years. With a share of first-place on the line, Saturday’s match will be another tightly contested contest.
SCOUTING LOUISVILLE CITY FC:
Louisville City FC has the second-most wins (6) in the entire USL through the first third of the season, trailing only Western Conference side Vancouver Whitecaps 2. The team is unbeaten in its last nine games in all competitions with its last loss coming in week 2 of the USL season to NYRB II at Slugger Field.
LouCity is one of the best attacking teams in the Eastern Conference, scoring a conference-high 17 goals while giving up nine. Jon Chandler Hoffman has paced the team offensively, scoring seven goals in the opening ten games. Hoffman bagged a hat-trick in Louisville’s 3-2 win over FC Cincinnati in week 4. The former first-round MLS draft-pick is third in scoring in the league and first in the Eastern Conference.
Like Charleston, Louisville’s attack is well-rounded and multidimensional. Ten different players have scored for LouCity this season. Hoffman and Cameron Lancaster are the only two players on the roster with multiple goals. Naill McCabe leads the team in assists with three.
Goalkeepers Joseph Goodwin and Gregory Ranjitsingh have split time between the posts this year. Ranjitsingh came on in relief of Goodwin in LouCity’s draw with Pittsburgh on April 27th and has started every game since. The Canadian goalkeeper has only given up one goal in his five appearances and hasn’t been scored on since the game against Pittsburgh. Goodwin announced Thursday that he was leaving the team to attend Harvard Medical School, making Ranjitsingh the likely starter for Saturday.
Much like the Battery, Louisville City FC likes to get the ball wide and attack down the wings. The game could come down to which outside backs can get forward more and contribute to the attack. Kyle Smith and Tyler Newnam have started the majority of LouCity’s games at outside back.
BATTERY POV:
With Louisville’s outside backs bombing forward, the league-leaders are susceptible to counterattacks. Some speedy combination of Romario Williams, Ricky Garbanzo, Heviel Cordoves, and Chris Tsonis up top and Maikel Chang, Justin Portillo, and Zach Prince’s passing ability from midfield makes Charleston extremely dangerous on counters. If the movement from the forwards is good, the Battery can expose Louisville’s back four as it has done to other teams.
Williams leads the team in scoring and will be looking to add to his six goals after his three-game scoring streak ended in Wilmington last week. Prince, Chang, and Portillo lead the team in assists with three, which has them tied with a host of players for the second-highest total in the league.
Portillo and Chang’s free kick delivery has been immense for the Battery throughout the season. Charleston has scored four set piece goals in its previous four games, including Tsonis’ first goal for the club in the team’s USOC match versus The Villages SC on May 18th.
Cordoves played for the first time in six weeks versus Wilmington on May 21st, entering the match as a substitute in the second half. Ataulla Guerra also returned from injury against the Hammerheads, starting the match and playing 86 solid minutes.
Taylor Mueller missed back-to-back games last week and O’Brian Woodbine missed the match against the Hammerheads, but both were full participants this week in training. For the first time this season, all of Coach Anhaeuser’s outfield players are available for selection. Goalkeeper Kevin Corby is still rehabbing a foot injury and will be sidelined for a few more weeks. Forrest Lasso played well in Mueller’s absence, making Anhaeuser’s decision difficult.
Odisnel Cooper has started Charleston’s previous three league games, earning shutouts in the last two against Toronto FC II and Wilmington. The Cuban goalkeeper commanded his penalty area well against the Hammerheads, punching away dangerous crosses, and made two big saves against TFC II to preserve the Battery’s lead. Alex Tambakis started the midweek USOC game last week.
If you look at Charleston and Louisville’s results over the past couple of weeks, it looks like the two teams are meeting at the perfect time. The Battery has found its attacking rhythm, scoring ten goals in its last five games and creating tons of chances in the attacking third, while Louisville has recorded four shutouts in its last four league games. The match has a touch of “immovable object versus unstoppable force” to it, and with a share of first place and the respective unbeaten streaks on the line, both teams will be pushing hard for a result.
