The Charleston Battery rallied for a thrilled 5-2 victory over North Carolina FC on Friday at Patriots Point. After trailing 0-2 at halftime, Charleston stormed back to score five goals in the second half to secure their first victory since May 15. MD Myers bagged his second hat trick of the year and was joined by Nick Markanich and Jackson Conway on the scoresheet.
The Battery claimed their 10th Southern Derby title with the result, a crucial victory as the club officially hit the halfway point of the year.
North Carolina looked to start the match on the front foot and recorded five shots through the opening 16 minutes, but only one was on target, which was saved by goalkeeper Adam Grinwis.
Charleston began to grow into the game as the half wore on but a counterattack off their corner kick led to a goal on the other end. Evan Conway managed to score the opening goal in the 27th minute to give NCFC a 0-1 lead.
Tempers began to flare in the rivalry game and North Carolina were shown three yellow cards in the final 15 minutes of the half. The visitors doubled their lead right before halftime via Shaft Brewer to take a 0-2 lead into the break.
Play resumed and the complexion of the game was almost immediately altered when NCFC’s Ezra Armstrong was sent off for a second yellow card after a reckless challenge against Mark Segbers. The collision resulted in both players going to ground for minutes before Armstrong saw red.
Charleston wasted little time to seize the opportunity with a one-man advantage and ramped up the pressure on NCFC. This paid off in the 58th minute when MD Myers pulled one back to make the score 1-2, assisted by Chris Allan. The goal was the Battery’s first of the month and first since May 24.
A noteworthy moment came in the 75th minute when Prince Saydee made his official Battery debut, coming off the bench in place of Emilio Ycaza. Saydee joined Charleston from Rhode Island FC earlier in the matchweek.
The Battery’s pressure was relentless and the hosts leveled the score in the 80th minute when Nick Markanich found the back of the net. Nathan Dossantos made a quick impact off the bench and found Markanich with a pass inside the box. Markanich’s initial strike was blocked but his follow-up beat Jake McGuire at the near post.
Markanich raised his goal tally to 13, the most in the USL Championship.
Charleston weren’t done there and would use all 10 minutes of stoppage time to put the game bed.
Myers rose to the occasion again and took a through ball from Arturo Rodriguez the distance to give the Battery the 3-2 lead in the 92nd minute.
Jackson Conway, who entered the game at halftime, combined with Myers put his stamp on the game with a goal in the 94th minute. The goal was Conway’s third of the year, all of which have come at Patriots Point.
With the match all but done, the Battery were awarded a penalty in the 97th minute, won by Myers for a foul drawn in the box. Myers stepped up to take the spot attempt a minute later and buried it for the hat trick. It was Myers’ 12th goal of the year across all competitions.
Myers turned the performance of the night with three goals and one assist. It was Myers’ second hat trick of the year after achieving the feat in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in May.
Charleston secured the 5-2 victory and snapped both their winless and goalless streaks.
Friday’s comeback marked the first time the Battery won after trailing at halftime at home in the league since August 2020. The comeback win also means the Battery have 12 points from losing position in the league this year, more than any other team.
It was also the first time the Battery had recorded five goals in a second half in the Championship era, and only the 18th time a side had done so in the league’s history
The Battery are placed firmly in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 9W-2L-6D (33pts) record.
Allan and Rodriguez’s assists in the match bring their total to three each, tied for the most on the team.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and forward MD Myers addressed the media after the victory, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on his takeaways from the victory…
Summary of the game, we were pathetic in the first half. Terrible coaching, terrible performance, terrible attitude. [North Carolina] deserved the red card, but that obviously changed [the game]. We were on top of them. But, it’s good to score goals, it’s good to score five goals. It’s good to make our fans excited, that’s what you do this for.
Give our boys credit in the second half, head down, they worked their tails off, played selflessly and just kept going. It’s great to see the reward for all the work.
Coach Pirmann on taking advantage of North Carolina’s red card…
It doesn’t matter, man down, even 11-v-11, whatever it is, in football, it’s difficult to score, so to bang in five is exceptional. MD, Jackson, and Nick were very good and aggressive. That’s what we’ve been talking about lately, every game is a new game. You don’t have to worry about what’s happened before. Win, lose or draw, you have to be focused on the next task.
I thought we were a little bit shy in the first half and there’s no excuse for that. It was the opposite of one of our best weeks of training that we’ve had all season and then [North Carolina] got the goal on the counter.
For us to be so assertive and aggressive in the second half was top. The selflessness and moving the ball, their creativity, now we’re getting a little bit back to full strength. Prince [Saydee] did a good job when he came in. We just got to keep pushing, keep going. A week from now is going to be very difficult.
Coach Pirmann on the team finding the back of the net again tonight…
I don’t view it as relief, I look at it as we were poor in the first half, how do we correct that? We were exceptional in the second half. We have got to be honest. They were down to man, but to be fair, that second half performance was a different level. We haven’t seen that a few weeks.
I think even just psychologically, to see MD and Nick hit the back of the neck because they’ve been playing so hard. But on top of that, we have to have a growth mindset. We have to get a lot better right now for next Friday. We’re halfway through the year. We’re in a really good spot. We have an unbelievable defensive team, we just got to keep getting better. Proud of the boys in the second half.
Myers on coming back from 0-2 in the second half…
It is huge. Down 0-2 at the half, it feels like a lot of things have not been going our way, but [North Caorlina] get that red card to start the half, we see an opportunity and we pounce on it. Scored five goals so, back to winning ways. It feels great.I do not know if there is relief. We have had a lot of unlucky breaks the last couple of games and we keep working every day in practice. We had a really good week and we trusted it was going to come.
It is hot out here, we are tired, down 0-2. When we hear the crowd cheering us on, it gives us energy, it brings life to us. They are the 12th man, they are huge.
Myers on snapping the recent goalless streak….
I am always hungry for goals, the whole team is. So we got to get that first one and feel that relief. Then we just had that confidence to keep going and then the confidence just builds up after that. It is amazing. It hurts everybody on the team when we are not scoring. So, to go out and put five on the board is huge. It is going to give us a lot of confidence for the upcoming games.
Charleston return home next Friday to take on Birmingham Legion FC on July 5, a match that will be nationally televised on ESPN2. Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups:
CHS: Grinwis, Segbers (Crawford, 82’), Archer, Smith, Drack (Dossantos, 75’), Molloy, Allan (Rodriguez, 82’), Markanich, Ycaza (Saydee, 75’), Torres (Conway, 46’), Myers
NC: McGuire, Batista, Washington, Craig, Armstrong, Martin (Da Costa, 84’), Maldonado, Brewer, Perez (Servania, 84’), Conway, Anderson (Mentzingen, 52’)
Scoring Summary:
NC – Evan Conway (Oalex Anderson), 27’
NC – Shaft Brewer (Evan Conway), 45 +6’
CHS – MD Myers (Chris Allan), 58’
CHS – Nick Markanich, 80’
CHS – MD Myers (Arturo Rodriguez), 90 +2’
CHS – Jackson Conway (MD Myers), 90 +4’
CHS – MD Myers, 90 +8’
