The Charleston Battery advanced past South Georgia Tormenta FC in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 with a 3-2 victory after extra time on Wednesday at Patriots Point. MD Myers scored a hat trick on the night, including the match-winner in the 121st minute. The Battery will now host MLS side Atlanta United in the Round of 16 on May 21-22.
It was a cagey start to the match as neither side was able to make meaningful progress into the attacking third. The first shot of the night didn’t come until the 18th minute, an off-target attempt by Sebastian Vivas.
The Battery opened the scoring a few minutes later when MD Myers bullied Drew Romig off the ball inside his own box. From there, Myers played keep-away with two separate stutter steps before slotting the ball home. The goal was Myers’ first in Open Cup play and seventh on the year.
Tormenta drew level in the 40th minute when Pedro Fonseca capped off a counterattack on the opposite end.
However, the Battery were uninterested in letting their lead slip before the break and applied heavy pressure to the Tormenta defense. Myers would score his second of the night at the 45’+3 mark, a pinpoint header following Josh Drack’s cross. The brace brings Myers’ goal count to eight on the year and the assist was Drack’s first of 2024.
The Battery took the 2-1 into the break and held roughly 67% of possession in the opening half.
Minimal progress in attack for either club was had in the opening stages of the second half. Only two shots on target were recorded through the 80th minute, by the Battery’s Myers (69’) and Jake LaCava (73’).
Tormenta managed to pull level in the 83rd minute with a goal by Gabriel Rodriguez to make the score 2-2.
Charleston and Tormenta ended the 90 minutes tied at 2-2, sending the match into two periods of 15 minutes in extra time to decide the winner.
The first period of extra time came and went without a goal being scored. The best chance came in the 105th minute with a shot from the middle of box that was saved by Romig.
The match looked to be heading toward penalties after neither side found a way through after 120 minutes and Tormenta dropped back to preserve the 2-2 score.
With only one minute of stoppage time, Myers would pull off the latest edition of Open Cup magic. The Battery sent numbers forward in search of a late winner. Robbie Crawford fired in a stinging shot from distance that Romig could only parry away. Nick Markanich was there to collect it while Romig was off his line and played a clever ball back to Myers, and Myers drilled in the winner in the 121st minute.
Myers marked his Open Cup debut with a hat trick. It was his first three-goal performance with the Battery and the second of his professional career.
Charleston secured the 3-2 victory after extra time over Tormenta to advance past the Round of 32. It’s Charleston’s sixth consecutive victory across all competitions, extending their undefeated streak to 11 games.
The Battery have punched their ticket to the Round of 16 of the Open Cup for the first time since the 2013 edition of the tournament.
Charleston will host MLS side Atlanta United on May 21-22 at Patriots Point. The official date and kickoff time will be announced by the U.S. Soccer Federation on May 9.
Battery assistant coach Devin Rensing and forward MD Myers discussed the victory after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Rensing on his immediate takeaways from tonight’s match…
Big shoutout has to go to our fans for sticking through it the whole time. Tormenta are a good team, they’re well coached, but our guys kept fighting all the way through. In these Cup games, that’s what it comes down to. Someone had to make a play. MD made three of them and it was a gutsy performance. All the credit goes to our guys all the way, one through 18.
Coach Rensing on what he’s seen from Myers since the forward’s first day…
[Myers] puts the ball in the back of the net. He’s a goalscorer, sometimes you can’t teach that. He has that natural ability. When the game is on the line, you want the ball to fall to his feet and he puts himself in good positions and when he gets those opportunities, he puts them away.
Coach Rensing on continuing the Open Cup run at home against Atlanta…
[Hosting Atlanta United] will be exciting. They’re a great team, but we’ll be ready for it. Whenever you play a team in a level above you, you’re always a little bit more excited about it. But, to play on our home field, we’re gonna be ready and we’re gonna be really excited for it.
When I get back in that locker room, I’m going to give the guys a big thank you. Coach Ben wasn’t able to make it, he was sick. The guys rallied behind me and I really, really appreciate that. They’re a great group and it’s just a big congratulations to them.
Myers on his goal in the last minute of stoppage time…
I know the whole team was tired. I was very tired out there, but we didn’t want to go to PKs. Anything can happen in PKs, so we just wanted to finish it. I got the opportunity, pounced on it and the rest was history.
[The Open Cup debut] was really exciting. I’ve been watching the Open Cup for years, so it was my first time being able to participate in it. I was very excited for it and I wanted to have a good performance, I think I’m proud of what I put out there tonight.
Myers on the importance of reclaiming the lead right before halftime…
It hurt to give up the lead and make it 1-1. So we wanted to go into halftime with some confidence, up a goal. I was trying to put the balls in the box like we did at the end of the game and just got my head on the end of it and it was in the back of the net.
Myers on the current 11-game undefeated run…
We’re confident but we never get too high and never get too low. We maintain that confidence while staying humble and keep working every single day for performance on the weekend. Lastly, we have got a lot of fight in this team. I think we can do anything this season, whether it be in the Open Cup or in the Championship, so just keep watching. I think we’re going to make some special things happen this year.
The Battery continue their run in the U.S. Open Cup hosting Atlanta United in the Round of 16 on May 21-22 (TBD) at Patriots Point. Their next home league match is Friday, May 24, against El Paso Locomotive FC. Tickets for both home games are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups:
CHS: Kuzemka, Crawford, Archer, Smith, Drack (Dossantos, 111’), Molloy, Allan (Conway, 106’), Torres (Ycaza, 61’), Gutierrez (Markanich, 62’), LaCava (Segbers, 77’), Myers
TOR: Romig, Dengler, Kilwien (Ramos, 67’), Stretch, Khoury, Doyle (Steedman, 68’), D’Almeida, Akoto (Watson, 79’), Spengler (Wehner, 96’), Vivas (Rodriguez, 61’), Fonseca (Tunbridge, 61’)
Scoring Summary:
CHS – MD Myers, 21’
TRM – Pedro Fonesca (Philip Spengler), 40’
CHS – MD Myers (Josh Drack), 45 +3’
TRM – Gabriel Rodriguez (Niall Watson), 83’
CHS – MD Myers (Nick Markanich), 120 +1’
