The Charleston Battery rallied late for a 1-2 victory over Miami FC at FIU Stadium on Saturday. After a pair of quick goals between both sides early in the first half, MD Myers scored the match-winning goal in the 82nd minute to secure all three points for the Battery. Charleston’s triumph marked their first-ever victory at FIU Stadium and snapped a seven-match winless run against Miami. The win also extended the Battery’s undefeated start to the season to four matches, going 2W-0L-2D in that span.
Play between the two East Coast sides at FIU Stadium was off to a fast start. Miami managed to score in the 9th minute via Allen Gavilanes after catching goalkeeper Adam Grinwis outside the 18-yard box to take an early 1-0 lead.
However, Nick Markanich provided an immediate response in the 11th minute to level the score at 1-1, his third goal of 2024. Markanich headed home Arturo Rodriguez’s cross perfectly to beat goalkeeper Daniel Gagliardi.
The goal was Markanich’s third in as many games and the assist was Rodriguez’s second of the year, and his third goal involvement in as many matches (one goal, two assists).
Charleston continued to apply pressure against Miami as Markanich, MD Myers and Diego Gutierrez recorded shots on target or blocked attempts in the latter portion of the first half. The match went into halftime tied at 1-1 – Charleston out-shot Miami 14-to-two and held upward of 64% of possession.
The intensity of the first half continued after the break and into the second half. Gutierrez came up big on defense in the 56th to deny Miami’s counterattack with a tackle against Luisinho. Juan David Torres came off the bench and almost forced an own goal in the 65th minute, but Gagliardi made a crucial stop against the ricochet off Daltyn Knutson at the last moment.
Charleston took the lead late in the 82nd minute when MD Myers pounced on a deflected save to give the Battery a 1-2 lead. Torres fired in the initial shot from the top of the box and Myers was at the right place at the right time to send the rebound to the back of the net.
The goal was Myers’ first with the Battery and proved to be the match-winner. Myers’ tally also comes one week after he notched his first assist with the club.
The Battery’s defense held off a late surge by Miami for an equalizer and secured the three points in the 1-2 victory.
The win snapped a seven-match run without a victory against Miami and was also the Battery’s first win all-time at FIU Stadium.
Charleston’s victory in South Florida improves their record to 2W-0L-2D (8 pts), placing them third in the Eastern Conference standings.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and forward MD Myers discussed the victory after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the importance of an immediate response after conceding…
The early goal against us unsettled us, so the response was key. Great quick restart by Aaron Molloy, great ball in by Arturo Rodriguez, and then Nick Markanich has been on fire. It helped reestablish the evenness of the game, but then it would tilt back in our favor. Sticking to our process and what we do well, which is moving the ball, breaking lines, and then counter-pressing when we lose it. So, that early response from Arturo and Nick was key to getting us back into it.
Coach Pirmann on his biggest takeaways from tonight’s performance…
We’ve been on the road three times. All three games have been extremely in our favor in terms of possession, shots, and chances, but have been difficult games. The biggest takeaway from the three road matches is that we’ve got 14 more of these away games, 30 more total, where teams will fight and claw and do everything they can to negate our movements, to take away our space. They will try to do whatever they can to get results, whether that’s in the counterattack, drawing fouls, using energy and momentum from being at home. We know in seven days we’ll have to do the same thing in Rhode Island.
Myers on the play that led to his match-winning goal…
I’m always just trying to get in front of the goal and anticipate a mistake by the goalkeeper, a ball that might find its way into the middle of the box. I saw Juan David getting ready to strike the ball, I knew he was gonna get a shot off and just wanted to put myself in a good position. The ball happened to bounce out and I just pounced on it right when it came out.
You can see it in practice and games, Juan has a great shot. So, if it’s not going in, it’s probably going to be a rebound or off the post or something like that. It’s always good to position yourself in the right spot, in case he doesn’t put it in the back of the net, I hope that I’m in the right spot to put it away.
Myers on how meaningful it was to score his first Battery goal…
It’s huge. It can always be a little bit of a struggle to get off the mark or open the account with that first goal, but I’ll take it any way it comes to me. A rebound like that, at the end of the game, hopefully I can just build off of it in the coming games and keep scoring goals so we can keep getting good results.
Myers on the significance of the comeback victory…
Anytime you get points on the road is huge. We went a goal down early, but we never gave up. We had that fight from the beginning. Got a goal right after we gave up the goal, Nick had a great header. We had that belief the whole time and just trusted our style of play, how we’ve been playing as of late and trusted that the goal would come. Being able to get the three points on the road, especially with a couple of road games coming up, it’s huge for confidence and makes travel easier.
Charleston are away again next weekend on Sat., April 6, for their first-ever match against Rhode Island FC. The Battery return to Patriots Point the following Tuesday to host Louisville City FC on April 9 in their only midweek home game of the season. This match will air on CBS Sports Network, the first of four nationally broadcast games for Charleston. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups
CHS: Grinwis, Dossantos, Palma, Segbers, Allan (Ycaza, 60’), Molloy, Gutierrez (Torres, 60’), Rodriguez (Crawford, 73’), Markanich (Archer, 86’), Myers (LaCava, 86’)
MIA: D. Gagliardi, Cardona, Biek, Knutson, Mitrano, Botta (Freitas, 67’), Booth, Gavilanes, Genzano (Mines, 78’), Mejia (da Silva, 45’), Vang (M. Gagliardi, 45’)
Scoring Summary:
MIA: Gavilanes, 9’ (Genzano)
CHS: Markanich, 11’ (Rodriguez)
CHS: Myers, 82’
