Switchbacks Score Late Goal to Sink Battery
- Forrest Wimberly
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
Second-Half Stoppage Time Goal Lifts Switchbacks 2-1 over Battery
It was a late, late goal deep in second-half stoppage time that lifted the Colorado Springs Switchbacks over the visiting Charleston Battery 2-1 Saturday night in the Rockies. The Battery who plays at 10 feet elevation just a short distance from the Atlantic Ocean made the trip to the highest stadium in the US Soccer Pyramid playing at the Switchback’s Weidner Field (6035 feet elevation) in Colorado Springs.
In a match that featured the two highest-scoring teams in the USL Championship, it was a defensive struggle for the entire match that saw both teams unable to find a clear advantage until the late goal from the hosts grabbed all three points right at the final whistle.
Charleston had a golden chance to open the scoring in just the 8th minute as Emilio Ycaza drove a ball into the Switchback’s goal mouth where Jeremy Kelly just couldn’t guide the ball down below the bar to take the lead.
Colorado weathered this early pressure and then really put their stamp on the match controlling the tempo of play and running off several quality scoring chances over the next 30 minutes of play. A clever backheel put a Switchback’s runner in deep forcing a scrambling Battery defender to block a shot out for a corner kick in the 21st minute. A pair of long-range shots in the 26th and 27th minutes forced keeper saves from Luis Zamudio in the Battery nets to keep things scoreless. Colorado held a 7-1 advantage in shots in the first half as the traffic was all one-way directed at the Battery goal for most of the half.
Scoreless at the half, Colorado found the opening goal in the 56th minute after a long-range shot handcuffed Zamudio rebounding off the Battery keeper to the streaking Adrien Perez who collected the ball, dribbled around the scrambling defense, and put the ball into the empty net for the 1-0 lead.
Charleston made several substitutions after the goal was allowed and one of these changes produced the game-tying goal in the 81st minute. Wilmer Cabrera joined the match in the 73rd minute and leveled the match just minutes later finishing a play kept alive by Battery captain Ycaza. A driven cross from the left flank found Ycaza at the top of the box where he collected the ball and slipped a short pass to Cabrera who drove the ball through the crowded Switchback’s goalmouth into the nets to tie things at 1-1.
The final minutes of the 90 expired and second half stoppage time crept into the final minutes as both teams looked content with the results. Then with about 90 seconds to play in stoppage time, a hopeful ball was served in from the left flank all the way to the back post where Jonas Fjellberg had lost his mark and ran all alone inside the area. Fjellberg headed the cross down to the near post where the ball somehow snuck between the post and Zumudio in the narrowest of gaps to put the hosts ahead 2-1.
The final seconds didn’t produce any further drama, and the Battery dropped their lone meeting versus the Switchbacks of the 2026 USLC season.
“I thought the first half performance was good,” said Battery Head Coach Ben Pirmann. “The game kind of went as we anticipated, with Colorado Springs trying to be on the front foot. We had the best chance of the half with a great cross from Emilio Ycaza to Jeremy Kelly that we needed to score. Then we made some good defending moments in and around our box in that first half.”
“We had a change at halftime, and we got a little bit more deliberate with the way we wanted to be brave in our build-up. I thought we started to take the game to them,” continued Pirmann. “The first goal against us was just an error, and I thought we responded incredibly well from it. We really started taking it to them. We got a well-deserved goal, and then it was in the balance there. With only having the four subs, we got tired and honestly probably needed the one extra player to push it. They made the play at the end, and we didn't. Tired legs, lack of challenge. But between not seeing it out there at the end for at least a draw in the 96th minute, and then a horrific mistake to go down in the beginning, it's tough to win on the road against the top team. We were probably just a player short and a couple of performances short on the night, and that's just unfortunate.”
One player missing was Battery leading scorer Colton Swan who was on duty with the US Men’s U-20 team in Mexico at the Concacaf U-20 Championships versus Haiti. Swan made a late appearance in the 83rd minute as the US U-20 team ran out a 3-0 win over Haiti.
“I thought we improved our organized defending, which was very important to me in our process,” said Pirmann. “Then I thought after we went down a goal, we responded brilliantly, and we were on top of it. I thought the game was ours.”
The Battery record moves to 8W-6L-3T on 27 points to keep them in second place in the USLC Eastern Conference. Colorado moves into third place in the Western Conference with a 7W-5L-4T record on 25 points. Charleston hosts Brooklyn FC on August 1 while Colorado Springs travels to New Mexico United on August 1 in their next matches.
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