The Charleston Battery fell 1-2 to Louisville City FC in the season opener on Saturday at Patriots Point. The Battery fought valiantly after initially going down 0-1 with a goal by Juan David Torres to level the score. However, a contentious red card to Arturo Rodriguez in the 70th minute reduced Charleston to 10 men, and Louisville reclaimed the lead minutes later to secure the win.
Charleston will have a chance to bounce back at home next Saturday against Rhode Island FC on March 15, a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Final.
The opening night match between the top two teams of 2024 was off to a cagey start, with the visitors creating the first chances of the game. New Battery goalkeeper Luis Zamudio was called into action early to keep Louisville off the board, denying them in the 7th minute and again 10th minute.
Near the half-hour mark, Zamudio again made crucial interventions to keep the game scoreless. The shot-stopper intercepted a cross in the 28th minute and made a short-range save in the 29th minute, saving Emanuel Perez’s shot.
Charleston’s offense began to find a footing in the latter stages of the first half. Juan David Torres created a chance out of limited space in the 39th minute, firing off a shot that goalkeeper Damian Las could only parry back to the field before being cleared away.
Torres almost connected with Cal Jennings in the 44th minute with a cross dragged to the striker right in front of the mouth of goal, but Jennings was unable to connect with the ball due to Las’ intervention.
It was 0-0 at the break, with the xG (expected goals) dead even between the sides, 0.47 (CHS) to 0.49 (LOU). Charleston held nearly 70% of possession in the first half.
The match resumed for the second half with ample amounts of intensity from both sides. Zamudio came up big with another save in the 53rd minute, but Louisville managed to score off the rebound, taking a 0-1 lead via Ray Serrano.
Charleston, however, remained steadfast to level the score again and increased the pressure on the visitors’ defense, with Jennings and Torres leading the charge up top. In the 59th minute, Torres appeared to level the score, but his strike was waved for a foul just prior to the shot.
The Battery struck back in the 63rd minute when Torres threaded the needle off a free-kick. Torres won the foul from roughly five yards outside the 18-yard box when he was taken down by Louisville’s Kyle Adams. Torres then placed his free kick perfectly over everyone and just inside the far post, outside of Las’ reach.
The goal was Torres and the Battery’s first of 2025.
The complexion of the match was changed in the 70th minute when Arturo Rodriguez was shown a contentious straight red card for contact with Louisville’s Aiden McFadden. Appeals about the call from the Battery were unsuccessful. Charleston were forced to carry on with 10 men for the remainder of the night.
Louisville reclaimed the lead in the 76th minute via Adrien Perez to make the score 1-2.
Charleston pushed numbers forward and fought valiantly to tie the game again despite being down a man. However, time was not on their side, and Louisville held on for the 1-2 opening night win.
It was the first time the Battery were dealt a home opener loss since 2021, snapping a three-game undefeated run in home openers.
In total, six players made their club debuts tonight for the Battery: Luis Zamudio, Langston Blackstock, Hossou Landry, Johnny Klein, Cal Jennings and Douglas Martinez.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Leland Archer addressed the media after the match, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his immediate takeaways from the match…
It was a disappointing result. First of all, congrats to Louisville. They got the points and they deserved it. We weren’t quite good enough on the whole night to start to finish, to deserve all three points but we were playing really, really well.
When we got it to 1-1, things were ticking in our favor. We had the momentum. We’re headed downhill, and then, the red card changed everything, but we also need to look in the mirror. We made big mistakes, mainly in the second half, big, big players at the back and defensive-minded players, so that was frustrating.
The red card changed everything and the whole thing, the whole team talk was about managing emotions. And I thought we did, I thought we managed emotions. Our attitude was good, our effort was good. It’s just disappointing.
That was frustrating. It’s not a red card and it changed the game and it really shifted things. But we also made mistakes, so you know don’t think we deserve to lose.
Coach Pirmann on several new players making their club debuts tonight…
We’re always proud of players putting on the Black and Yellow jersey, whether they’ve been here forever, like a Leland Archer, new players, like you said, seven (sic) players made their debut tonight. Proud of that. The spirit was good. Our crowd was tremendous. That’s something we should be proud of as a club. Our front office did an amazing job getting this event ready. Just disappointing how it finished, because you don’t get a point or three points, and you play the game to win and you lose to a rival, and maybe some things didn’t go our way. But, we got to take some positives out of it, and we just got to get ready for next week.
Archer on the emotions on the field during the night…
It’s tough, sometimes frustrating when things don’t go your way, but I think the boys controlled their emotions to an extent. I think we can be better in some situations, I think you just got to keep going with it. I told the team to keep pushing. In soccer, you never know what could happen.
These are the kind of tough games that we want to play in, and usually it turns out to be like that when two good teams are playing against each other. We kind of just have to keep focus and not let our emotions get the best of us.
Archer on the positives to take from the first game of 2025…
I think there’s a lot of positives to take. I think once we keep our foot on the gas and not concede a goal, I think we’ll be in a good spot. I think the crowd kind of helped, that they gave us energy and kind of push those guys to make it a little easier for them. It was a brilliant turnout. I think once you keep that up all year round, I think we’ll be in a good place.
We preach every week that, once a game is done, it’s behind us, and look forward to the next game. We improved from the last game and kind of just full focus on the next game.
Charleston’s next match will be home vs. Rhode Island FC on Sat., March 15. Tickets for the rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Final are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
