Battery Travel to Connecticut for Saturday Showdown
September 30, 2022 – United Soccer League Championship (USL) – Charleston Battery News Release
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Charleston Battery head to Connecticut this weekend to face Hartford Athletic on Saturday, October 1. Kickoff at Trinity Health Stadium is set for 7 p.m. ET.
The Battery bested the Athletic in the first meeting back in July when they won 3-1 at Patriots Point. Augi Williams bagged a brace and Enock Kwakwa scored his first Battery goal during the evening. Kwakwa’s goal was important as it came three minutes after Hartford scored an equalizer. The Battery will look to buck the trend of the last two years in the fixture with Hartford, where the home team has won the previous five matches.
HFDvCHS Match Notes
Hartford return home after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Loudoun United FC at Segra Field. After a scoreless first half, Loudoun tallied three in the second half to secure the victory. Tyler Freeman notched a brace for the hosts. Newly-appointed head coach Tab Ramos will look to get his team back on track to start the new month.
Charleston will aim to bounce back after a similar turn of events at home when they fell 0-3 to Rio Grande Valley FC Toros. After a scoreless first half, RGV tallied three in the second half to secure the victory. Christian Pinzon notched a brace for the visitors. The Black and Yellow will look to repeat their performance from July against Hartford to close out the season strong.
The Battery will receive a big boost to the squad this weekend as Romario Piggott, Leland Archer, DZ Harmon and Mauro Cichero are all available for selection again. Additionally, Augi Williams and Fidel Barajas will rejoin the club for the match after competing for Sierra Leone and Mexico, respectively.
Geobel Perez is poised to reach the half-century mark of Battery appearances on Saturday. He currently sits at 49 matches played since first arriving in 2021.
Charleston will face off against a trio of familiar faces on Hartford in Andre Lewis, Ariel Martinez and Logan Gdula. Lewis spent part of the 2014 season with Charleston, Martinez was with the Battery in 2015 after defecting from Cuba and Gdula played for the Black and Yellow from 2020 to 2021.
Trinity Health Stadium, formerly Dillon Stadium, was first opened in 1935. The stadium has hosted numerous sports but also several music acts – including The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, The Doors and Santana, among others, during the 1960s and 1970s.
FROM THE TRAINING GROUND
The Battery returned to training this week as they begin preparations for the first match of October.
Head Coach Conor Casey and midfielder Enock Kwakwa discussed the upcoming match before leaving for Connecticut, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Casey on preparations this week…
It’s been a good week of training, we have four or five guys back available this week. They trained last week, but it’s good to have them fully integrated this week and Augi back in from his international trip. We’ve got a lot of options and we’re going to need every man come Saturday night.
Coach Casey on what to expect from Hartford in round two against them…
They’re a different team from July, but we had a very good performance against them here at home. With Tab Ramos taking over, they’re defensively secure and sit more in kind of a 4-5-1 and, with the ball, they’re very good. His team moves the ball well, they’re possession oriented and we’re going to have to do a good job of getting pressure on them early to break up some of those ideas.
Coach Casey on making the most of the remaining three games…
The last two games haven’t been our best. Last match, I thought we played well except for a 20-minute spell where, unfortunately, we conceded a couple of goals, but on the whole the last few months heaven better. We want to get back to winning ways and we want to finish the season with positivity and good performances.
Kwakwa on the mindset within the locker room this week ahead of Hartford…
The mindset within the locker room has been off and on, but we motivate each other to get ready for the next game and every game is important to us. We know we are giving everything and I would say our mindset is we’re really prepared. The coaches have prepared us for this Hartford game.
Kwakwa on what to expect from Hartford this weekend…
They are a team who are organized and they wait to attack, they have some good players in the team. They can play the counter attack against you. But, we beat them here in our home game when we needed that point and it will be great to go there and get those points again.
Kwakwa on putting on a strong performance for the fans back home as Hurricane Ian passes through the Lowcountry…
With this hurricane coming the past few days, I pray everybody stays safe and hopefully everybody will be fine. It’s not a good thing that’s expected but, hopefully. everybody stays safe and it goes away. Even though we represent the club, we’re nothing without the fans, we want to get a win in Hartford for them.
As of posting, Joe Schmidt and Joe Kuzminsky are out. Romario Piggott, Leland Archer, DZ Harmon and Mauro Cichero are all back and available for selection again.
MATCH INFO
Hartford Athletic vs. Charleston Battery
Saturday, October 1 – 7:00 p.m. ET Kickoff
Trinity Health Stadium
HOW TO WATCH:
All Battery matches will stream on ESPN+ domestically and through the league’s YouTube channel for free internationally.
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