Charleston Reporter

It has been a tough go of late for the Charleston Battery professional men's soccer team, which dropped back-to-back matches, first succumbing to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds' pressure in a 2-1 loss, followed by a 2-0 shutout at the hands of the Hartford Athletic in recent USL Championship action. 

Russell Cicerone's tally in the in 79th minute proved to be the difference for the victorious Riverhounds, who also got a goal from Todd Wharton in the 27th minute. 

Nicque Daley had Charleston's lone tally in the 65th minute, according to a Battery press release.

“It was another one of those games where we got behind and we did really well to get back in," Battery coach Michael Anhaeuser said after the game. "A nice goal by Nicque to get us level at 1-1 and I thought we were really playing well and handling the game. Then they just caught us, they got a simple ball in and played it across. We tried to throw everything forward, but defensively, [Pittsburgh] was very strong and solid.”

Pittsburgh opened the game aggressively, but the Battery withstood the pressure until Wharton broke through for a 1-0 lead. 

On Tuesday, Hartford got two goals from Walmer Martinez in a clean sheet to claim all three match points, according to a Battery press release.

“It was a tough one because I thought we played really well in the first half, the guys came out and we defended, we moved, we pressured them,” Anhaeuser said. “We picked the ball up in some good spots, but [Hartford] got the one-time and they crossed it, the ball hit the bar, it bounces back out and they score.”

Charleston will close out regular season play 7 p.m. Saturday at home against Miami FC.