Blackstock Goal Lifts Battery Past Loudoun
- Forrest Wimberly
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, the visiting Charleston Battery found the game-winning goal off the foot of Langston Blackstock to claim all three points off Loudoun United in USL Championship Week 23 action.
The win keeps the Battery in second place (11W-6L-3T; 33 points) in the USL Championship Eastern Conference as they chase the Tampa Bay Rowdies down the stretch towards the 2026 playoffs.
The Battery goal came in the 64th minute after both Blackstock and Douglas Martinez had entered the match just a few minutes earlier. Martinez did the hard work in the right corner of the Loudoun penalty box to break free and serve a low, driven ball on the perfect blade of grass to the feet of the streaking Blackstock inside the Loudoun area. Blackstock timed his run to perfection and used the other Battery runners to draw the attention of the Loudoun defense before he emerged all alone at the 6-yard box to guide the ball into the nets.
“Once I saw Douglas get the ball, I knew he was going to cross it in,” said Blackstock. “I had Maalique and Miguel in front of me occupying the defenders, so I knew I was going to be behind them. So, I called Maalique to run, and he selflessly did, leaving me wide open. Douglas then played in a peach into the box, and I was able to finish it in for the goal.”
Luis Zamudio made four saves during the match to post back-to-back shutouts (5-0 win over Brooklyn) in the nets for the Battery.
“It was huge (to win on the road),” said Battery Head Coach Ben Pirmann. “I think the biggest thing was for us to get all three points. As I said, the performance wasn't necessarily the greatest. I think sometimes we feel like we have to play perfect football and we have to play to our strengths all the time.”
“To me, especially on the road against good teams that are fighting for their lives, it has to be toughness,” continued Pirmann. “It has to be doing the little details and being selfless. And that came out tonight. I know everybody wants to score, and everybody wants to have big statistics and big performances, but for me, it was more about what the team could do, what the 18 guys on the trip and the 11 players on the field could do to push to get all three points. That was very satisfying, and now we got to build on it and go again.”
The Battery continues their Eastern Conference road trip with a trip to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds set for August 15. The team returns home to The Point on August 22 as Miami FC visits at 7:30 PM.
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