Battery Turns Out the Vegas Lights 2-0
- Forrest Wimberly
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The Holy City got the better of the Sin City.
The Charleston Battery made the trip to Vegas Saturday night and posted a 2-0 result over the Las Vegas Lights in a USL Championship “After Dark” match that ended after midnight EST.
Maalique Foster scored a brace for the Battery as all three points return to the Lowcountry.
Vegas had the first chance of the match in just the 2nd minute of play as Johnny Rodriguez collected a poor Battery clearance and rattled his shot off the crossbar. Things settled into more a midfield duel over the next 30 minutes before Charleston found the opening goal of the evening.
A lengthy sequence of Battery passes circulated the ball across the field from right to left before putting Langston Blackstock deep into the left corner of the Vegas end. Blackstock engaged the Vegas defender and after a series of step-over moves ripped a ball through the Lights’ goalmouth to the back post where Foster left his feet to slide into the ball and guide the ball into the nets. Foster regained his feet, ran towards a celebrating Blackstock, and after clearing his landing zone performed his now signature backflip celly.
With the Battery up 1-0 at the half, it was Miguel Berry on a long solo dribble that created the second goal in the 59th minute. Berry drove the ball forward to the top of the box committing the Vegas backline before slipping the ball to the left and into the run of Foster. Foster timed his deep run from the midfield perfectly with the short pass from Berry and calmly side-footed the ball under the Vegas keeper for the brace. Two Foster goals and two Foster backflip celebrations completed the scoring in the 2-0 Charleston win.
John Berner played all 90 minutes in the Battery nets making three saves to post his second consecutive clean sheet (5-0 win over Miami FC).
“I think we all understand each other in the attacking third, and I think our ability to score goals is really effective,” said Maalique Foster. “So, I just do what I do best. I try to do what's best for the team and score. On the first goal, thinking back to the very first day I got here, the coach and I had a conversation; it was like, ‘I need to get in the box, get in the box, and I would add maybe like five more goals to my tally.’ And I did that today, and you see it pay off. With the second goal, it was straight grinding, from the start of the play to the finish. Win my duels, and after that, I just get in the box, and it was easy from there.”
Foster with the brace is now the team’s leading goal scorer (9 goals) as Charleston has scored a USL Championship leading 46 goals in 2026.
“It's like the last nine games of the season, so we want to really be up there,” said Battery forward Maalique Foster. “We're chasing Tampa Bay, so this result is really great for us tonight. I think our plan has been working for us. We just run, talk, and just do what we do best, score goals and defend our goal.”
The Battery remains in second place in the Eastern Conference on 39 points (12W-7L-3T) as they return home to Ralph Lundy Field at Patriots Point on September 2 as Hartford Athletic visits for a 7 PM kickoff.
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