North Carolina FC 1 – 1 Charleston Battery
Cary, NC—It may not be a finish that ends up featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter, but it was another wild stoppage-time finish that saw North Carolina FC and their southern rival Charleston Battery split the points.
North Carolina FC midfielder Tommy McCabe’s (26) wonder strike beats Charleston Battery goalkeeper Joe Kuzminski to level the match at death.
The first Southern Derby match of NCFC head coach Dave Sarachan’s tenure saw his club struggle against Charleston’s high press through most of the first half. Charleston won many individual battles for the ball and disrupted North Carolina’s attempts to create plays through midfield.
“It wasn’t our best night of soccer,” Sarachan reflected in his post-match comments. “We didn’t start the game with enough urgency. We almost looked tentative and I’m not sure why.”
Steven Miller had the game’s first dangerous chance in the 13thminute when he carried the ball down the sideline and got around the Battery defense but his shot landed in the top netting.
The Battery’s high press nearly paid off for them in the 27thminute. when NCFC won a free kick just outside of their own penalty area. North Carolina tried a quick restart, but the play backfired on team captain Austin da Luz when his teammates weren’t looking for the pass and it was intercepted by Charleston’s Zieko Lewis. He took a shot that beat NCFC goalkeeper Alex Tambakis but hit the goalpost and bounced out to defender Aaron Guillen, who sent the ball out of danger.
In the game’s 35thminute, NCFC forward Donovan Ewolo got his head on a chip pass from da Luz, but his header sailed just wide of the goal. The teams went into halftime deadlocked at 0-0.
“We came out and I thought we played fantastic,” Charleston head coach Mike Anhaeuser said of his team’s play. “(We) moved the ball, kept possession, and really made sure that we didn’t let them get into a rhythm, and we did a nice job for the whole first half.”
North Carolina settled themselves a bit, but both sides struggled to find their rhythm early in the second half. NCFC had a few sniffs around Charleston’s goal but goalkeeper Joe Kuzminksky wasn’t really called on to make many saves.
Charleston took the lead in the 70thminute out of a buildup out of the back, Lewis got NCFC defender Sam Brotherton to commit himself, before slipping the ball into the path of Ian Svantesson, who buried the shot cleanly on Tambakis.
For the first time in the 2019 campaign, North Carolina FC found themselves playing from behind. Sarachan started making substitutions to take advantage of the Battery’s tiring defense. Manny Perez, NCFC’s youth academy standout, playing for the club on loan from Scotland’s Celtic FC, made an almost immediate impact on the game after coming in in the 67thminute.
“When you’re a reserve, and you come into a game—especially when you’re losing—you have one job to do and that’s to be a handful and be a nuisance,” said Sarachan. “Manny knew what his job was, and he was a handful and he was a nuisance. He got serves in and caused them some issues.”
With Perez and Yamikani Chester stretching out the Battery defense, Robert Kristo came in for Marios Lomis in the 79thminute, giving the Dead Whales a big target with fresh legs up front.
With the game winding down, Perez brought the ball down the right side and beat Charleston defender Jay Bolt to the inside. He sent the ball toward the net and Kuzminsky just got a hand on it, knocking the ball off of the crossbar into the feet of NCFC’s Kristo but there just wasn’t space for him to settle the ball for a shot.
Still, Sarachan appreciated the energetic turn the game was taking. “It took seventy minutes and them (Charleston) to get a goal for us to really kick it into another gear,” he mused.
North Carolina FC captain Austin da Luz (7) battles Charleston Battery midfielder Romario Piggott (8) for the ball.
As the clock drained into stoppage time, North Carolina was pushing everyone forward in a desperate attempt to get the equalizer while the Charleston supporters were starting to celebrate a Southern Derby win.
In this rivalry, though, nothing is certain until the final whistle. Charleston gave away a series of set plays starting with a hard tackle by Bolt on Perez that gave the Dead Whales a free kick from about 25 yards out. NCFC forward Ben Speas’ free kick found Perez, but his header went just over the net. As the 91stminute ticked into the 92ndminute, Charleston gave away a corner kick and committed a handball just outside the top of their 18-yard box.
Speas sent the free kick into traffic in front of Kuzminsky and it looked like we might be in for another round of pinball chaos in the dying moments of stoppage. Leland Archer attempted to head the ball out of danger for the Battery but Tommy McCabe tracked that ball right to his shoelaces and ripped a volley around the crowd in front of the goal and past Kuzminsky who could do nothing about it.
Moments later, the final whistle came and Charleston, who thought they were about to walk out of Sahlen’s Stadium with three points, grudgingly ended up sharing the points with the Dead Whales.
Final Notes
- Most of the lineup that Dave Sarachan played against Liga MX club Necaxa consisted of his reserves, who showed well against the Mexican side. When Manny Perez and Robert Kristo entered the game late, they made an immediate impact. Perez gave the tired Battery defense all kinds of problems that led to several set plays late in the match. Kristo nearly scored the equalizer but his header just missed.
- When asked after the match if he had ever scored a goal like that in a similar scenario, McCabe quipped, “Yeah, in practice!” He explained that, with the series of set pieces they had late in the match, his job was to keep the play alive.
- Though he and his team were disappointed to not take all three points, Charleston coach Mike Anhaeuser appreciates the show the clubs put on. “Every game here, we have finishes that are just fantastic. Getting one point here, against a very good team, is nice, but we’re going to feel like we lost two points.”
- With the draw, North Carolina remains unbeaten so far in the 2019 campaign and find themselves in third place in the Eastern Conference.
- Next up for North Carolina FC is the expansion side Memphis 901 FC on Saturday, April 6th.
Lineups
North Carolina: A. Tambakis; A. Guillen, S. Brotherton, A. Comsia, DJ Taylor; D. Ewolo (M. Perez 67’), T. McCabe, S. Miller (Y. Chester 79’); A. da Luz ©, B. Speas; M. Lomis (R. Kristo 79’)
Charleston:J. Kuzminsky; J. Bolt, L. Archer, O. Woodbine, T. Mueller ©; N. Rittmeyer, J. Van Schaik, V. Candela, R. Piggott; Z. Lewis (A. Kelly 84’), I. Svantesson
Goals:
North Carolina: T. McCabe (Unassisted 90+3’)
Charleston: I. Svantesson (Z. Lewis 70’)
Discipline:
North Carolina: A. da Luz (YC 45+1’), S. Brotherton (YC 78’)
Charleston: V. Candela (YC 81’), J. Bolt (YC 90)’
Attendance: 3,584
Photo Gallery: North Carolina FC v Charleston Battery, Saturday, March 30 2019
North Carolina FC
USL Championship
