PITTSBURGH – The Charleston Battery fell 2-0 on the road to Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Saturday at Highmark Stadium. The hosts managed two quick goals early on which proved to be the difference as Charleston were unable to overcome Pittsburgh’s rigid defense. Charleston will look to bounce back with two home matches left in the regular season before the playoffs begin on November 2.
The night kicked off with the Battery featuring a relatively rotated squad, with four changes to the starting lineup from the previous match, going up against a Pittsburgh side fighting for a playoff spot.
Riverhounds SC struck first in the 2nd minute via Edward Kizza after a counterattack.
Pittsburgh remained on the front foot in the early stages of the match. Goalkeeper Adam Grinwis made a diving save in the 8th minute to deny Bertin Jacquesson.
The hosts extended their lead to 2-0 in the 20th minute with a goal by Robbie Mertz with a shot that took an unfavorable deflection to get past Grinwis.
Pittsburgh continued to dictate play through the remainder of the half and took the 2-0 lead into the break. Charleston had only one shot on target in the first 45 minutes, a curler by Prince Saydee in the 32nd minute that was saved.
The Battery made a trio of changes out of the break looking to tilt the game in their favor. Jackson Conway, Nathan Dossantos and Samuel Biek entered the game at the start of the second half.
Arturo Rodriguez tested goalkeeper Eric Dick in the 59th minute but his attempt from the edge of the box was saved.
Zeke Soto entered the match off the bench in the 68th minute for his second appearance for the Battery since the 17-year-old joined the club in July. Soto provided a bit of a spark in his cameo and had a shot on target in the 85th minute.
Pittsburgh withstood Charleston’s late advances to cut into their lead and saw out the 2-0 result at Highmark Stadium.
Saturday’s match moves the Battery’s record to 17W-6L-9D (60pts).
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and midfielder Robbie Crawford discussed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the adversity faced in Pittsburgh this evening…
The biggest thing was the start of the game. We talked about the impact and the meaningfulness of this game to Pittsburgh, with their season on the line, and that we needed to play the game in their end. Whether that be the quality of duels and details, that was a very poor defensive transition and goalkeeping by us on the first goal. Then, I thought we panicked and were rushed and weren't focused on the things that mattered.
Maybe it was poor communication in the setup for me. Some players weren't available, and we had to have some preset rotations at halftime. Credit to Pittsburgh, they outplayed us significantly for the first 20 to 30 minutes and they went up 2-0. We had great possession in the second half. We had the moments to score a goal or two, but full credit to Pittsburgh, they thoroughly deserved that.
We are making too many of the same mistakes that we've been making throughout the season. That's really bad coaching. That's the number one thing that has to improve. Number two is on our attacking restarts, we're giving up transition moments, so we have to get our structure, the discipline and the transition correct.
Coach Pirmann on the squad rotation and lineup changes…
A couple of positives are Aaron Molloy going 90 minutes, that's good to get his fitness back. I thought Zeke Soto had a very strong game off the bench. Robbie Crawford and Samuel Biek stepped in and did well. Good to get Jackson Conway in and some guys back from injury as well.
It's never as bad as it seems. We've got 180 minutes left in the season. Both of the upcoming games are at home and are huge matches that we're really excited for. We'll travel home, rest up, regroup and look forward to Rhode Island.
Coach Pirmann on turning the page to Rhode Island next week…
The mentality has to be attention to detail, quality, discipline in those transition moments and restarts, and winning our individual moments. You got to find that edge to play on, where you're driving and being aggressive, but also executing and playing with comfort. We just have to keep finding the right pairings and connections as we keep building. We have to keep getting better. The biggest thing is having a growth mindset.
Crawford on the overall takeaways from the match…
Overall, like Coach Pirmann told us, it wasn't as bad as it may have seemed at times, it wasn't quite as dark as it looked. There were still some positives. We kind of limited them to many chances, even though they scored early. I thought the fight was there, just wasn't quite enough. We didn't quite have enough quality to bring them down and create the chances that we wanted to. Overall, this is a really difficult place to come to, and with the changes in the team, we knew it was going to be difficult, but no excuses. We know we can reflect and improve for next week.
Crawford on the difficulties faced by Pittsburgh…
They made it difficult for us. The start we had didn't help us, and they were just an organized team. They're physical, they know what they want to do, and they did it well. We have to give them credit, but also look at ourselves and reflect on what we can do better, even though we knew their strengths going into tonight.
Crawford on the lessons learned tonight…
We know where we're a good team at home, and we can't always rely on that. We need to have a little bit more quality on the road, and we know that's kind of let us down in our away form at times. It was definitely a lesson, and starting slowly, next week we know we can’t do that next week or in the playoffs. So, I guess that would be a big takeaway, to start a little bit stronger with a little bit more sharpness and quality.
The Battery return home on Sat., Oct. 19, to host Rhode Island FC at Patriots Point. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups:
CHS: Grinwis, Crawford, Smith (Biek, 46’), Archer, Segbers (Dossantos, 46’), Molloy, Chapman, Saydee, Ycaza (Conway, 46’), Rodríguez, Myers (Soto, 68’)
PIT: Dick, Osumanu (Cayet, 76’), Hogan, Suber, Biasi, Blackstock, Griffin, Wälti, Mertz (Rovira, 88’), Kizza (Forbes, 88’), Jacquesson (Sample, 76’)
Scoring Summary:
PIT - Edward Kizza, 2’
PIT - Robbie Mertz (Bertin Jacquesson), 20’