By: Battery Media
The Charleston Battery earned a 2-1 victory over FC Tulsa in front of an electric Hispanic Heritage Night crowd at Patriots Point on Saturday. Fidel Barajas, 17, scored two goals in the first half, the first brace of his professional career. A late goal for Tulsa would not be enough to stop Charleston from completing the season sweep over the Oklahoma club. Five games undefeated now, the Battery move up to second in the Eastern Conference standings with the win.
Under a cool and pleasant evening sky at Patriots Point, the Battery brought the heat early just as they did a week ago. Fidel Barajas gave Charleston a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute with a sublime left-footed strike to the far post. Barajas played the ball up the right flank after Tulsa failed to defend Daniel Kuzemka's long pass over the top. From there, Barajas lined up his shot and hit a low curler that megged one defender and wove through others en route to banking off the far post and going in.
The goal was the third of Barajas' professional career.
Charleston continued to be up-tempo and control the pace of play. Goalkeeper Daniel Kuzemka, making his first league start of the season and celebrating his 25th birthday, had a relatively calm first half and was not required to make a save on Tulsa's two off-target shots.
In the waning moments of the first half, the Battery's pressure began to break Tulsa once more. Barajas again did the damage to the visitors with a goal as brilliant as his first one. The Mexican youth international collected a deflection inside the box near the byline and whipped in a left-footed curler from the tight angle into the top far corner of the net.
The 17-year-old Barajas recorded the first brace of his professional career with his fourth goal of the season.
The Battery took the 2-0 lead into halftime. Charleston also held the advantage in shots on target, possession, passes in the opposition’s half and successful dribbles.
Play resumed with Charleston continuing to take the game to Tulsa. The visitors, however, also came out of the break inspired and began to create more threats to the Battery's defense.
Tristan Trager denied a dangerous chance inside the six-yard box and cleared a free ball that Tulsa could have easily poked into the net in the 50th minute.
Kuzemka was called into action and made two saves through the 70-minute mark. Tulsa thought they pulled a goal back via Collin Fernandez in the 76th minute, but the flag was raised for offside. The visitors did manage to score in the 83rd minute when Eric Bird put one in the net. Charleston nearly responded with a goal on the ensuing possession but Augi Williams' shot inside the box was saved.
The Battery would hold on to secure the 2-1 victory, despite Tulsa throwing everything forward to preserve their playoff chances. Charleston ascended to second place in the Eastern Conference standings and improved their record to 16W-7L-8D (56 pts).
The victory extended the Battery's undefeated run to five matches and completed the regular season sweep over Tulsa.
