Battery and Republic Play to 1-1 Draw
- Forrest Wimberly
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Credit Charleston Battery
It was a 1-1 draw at Patriots Point as the lone USL Championship meeting of the season between the Eastern Conference’s Charleston Battery and the Western Conference’s Sacramento Republic played out Saturday night in the Lowcountry.
After a scoreless first half, the Republic took the lead off a spectacular bicycle kick just after the halftime break before the Battery found the equalizer from the penalty spot later in the second half to share the points.
The warm afternoon and abundant sunshine made the first half a rather pedestrian affair as both teams found some early chances but just couldn’t get control of the match. Sacramento had their first look in the 8th minute as a Battery defender scrambled to block the effort out for a corner kick. Charleston had their best look in the 11th minute on a half chance from distance as the match turned into a midfield duel for the rest of the half.
Just three minutes into the second half Sacramento would find the opening goal of the match off a long throw in. The long throw from just down the touch line from the Republic bench was flicked on at the near post into a crowded Battery penalty area. Sacramento’s Jared Timmer was first to the flick and headed the ball goalward where Forster Ajago applied the final touch with an acrobatic bicycle kick to catch the Battery defense flat-footed as the ball flew into the near-post high netting for the 1-0 lead.
The Battery stuck to their game plan of possession and increased their press to win the ball numerous times off the Sacramento defense. One such pressing moment in the 63rd minute turned the ball over deep in the Republic end where a long cross ball found Miguel Berry all alone at the back post where he shot just wide right of the far post.
Sacramento would weather the Battery's attacking storms until the 70th minute when a ball was played into the feet of Battery forward Colton Swan inside the Republic area. The recovering Republic defender clipped Swan bringing him to the ground and without hesitation the referee sent the Battery to the spot for their chance to level the match.
Battery Captain Emilio Ycaza stepped forward and wrong-footed the Sacramento keeper sending the ball to the lower left corner while the keeper dove to the lower right corner to knot things 1-1.
A flurry of pushes and shoves in the 73rd minute saw a tangle of players resulting in Sacramento’s Ajago being sent off. The sending off made a major impact on the Republic attack and the visitors went into survival mode during the final portion of the game looking to see the match to full time.
Charleston created several looks to find the game winning goal over the final minutes of play but never found the next goal to win the match with things ending 1-1 as the points shared.
“It was a very disappointing performance, but I think the first thing that should be said is Sacramento played a great game,” said Battery Head Coach Ben Pirmann. “We got thoroughly outcoached, and in the first 49 minutes, or whatever it was, we got thoroughly outworked. Then we started playing. That was really disappointing.”
“If you look at the last three weekends, we lost at Indy on a red card – OK, no problem,” continued Pirmann. “Last weekend we created a lot of chances but blew it. And then we didn't respond this week. We've got to get back to outworking opponents, because we didn't deserve to win this game tonight. We very easily could have in the last 15 minutes, up a man, and the chances, with loads and loads of chances, but we only got that because they got the red card. We only got that because of some things that we didn't earn.”
Charleston moves to 8W-5L-3T (27 points) with the result keeping them in second place in the Eastern Conference. The Battery also extend their USLC home unbeaten streak to 22 games dating back to March 2025 with their last home setback to Rhode Island FC. Sacramento moves to 5W-4L-5T (20 points) as they remain in fifth place in the Western Conference.
Charleston travels to play the Colorado Switchbacks on July 25 while Sacramento travels to play the Oakland Roots on July 25 in their next USL Championship matches.
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