USL CHAMPIONSHIP: Charleston Battery win seventh straight league match, snap DCFC’s nine-game home unbeaten streak
- Dan Stickradt
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
Battery's Jennings nets brace as Charleston rallies to remain atop of the Eastern Conference
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – The Charleston Battery continued their streak while at the same time snapped another.
The Battery added to their red-hot start in the USL Championship with a commanding 3-1 road win over Detroit City FC on Saturday at Keyworth Stadium.
After conceding an early goal, Charleston stormed back with a brace from Cal Jennings and a second-half strike from Juan David Torres to secure their seventh straight victory — their longest winning streak in their USL Championship era.
The win keeps Eastern Conference-leading Charleston atop the league standings with 24 points (8-2-0) and snapped Detroit City FC’s nine-game home unbeaten streak.
“It wasn't a great start, but we responded immediately,” offered Battery coach Ben Primann, a Michigan native and a former coach for DCFC. “Great cross from Juan David, great finish from Cal. From start to finish, it was a top team performance. Incredible second goal, great third goal. We shut it down after that. Keyworth is a tough place to play — huge credit to the boys."
Detroit City opened the scoring just two minutes in, when Jay Chapman found the net off a cornerkick. But Charleston didn’t flinch.
Just three minutes later, Jennings leveled the score with his 10th goal of the season, heading home a pinpoint cross from Torres in the fifth minute.
It was Jennings’ ninth straight match with a goal involvement – tying the USL Championship record with at least one goal or one assist in nine consecutive games. Torres notched his fifth assist of the season, tying for the league lead.
Detroit City nearly retook the lead a minute later, but Darren Smith’s goal was waved off for offside.
After a tense midfield battle, the Battery seized control just before halftime. In the 44th minute, Jennings finished off a sweeping team move that began deep in Charleston’s half and touched nearly every player. Chris Allan released Torres down the flank, who found MD Myers, and the forward slipped it to Jennings to make it 2-1.
The goal gave Jennings his league-leading 11th of the season and Myers his second assist.
At halftime, the Charleston Battery led 2-1 with shots on target even at two apiece.
Charleston came out of the break full throttle. Torres delivered again in the 52nd minute with a composed first-time strike from the top of the box. Arturo Rodríguez, while being fouled, fed Torres, who curled the ball to the far post past Carlos Herrera.
Torres’ fourth goal of the season capped a statement performance, and Rodríguez earned his second assist of the campaign.
From there, Charleston’s defense locked down the match. Detroit failed to register a single shot on target for the rest of the game. The Battery’s back line, anchored by Joey Akpunonu (nine clearances) and Michael Edwards (seven clearances), kept the hosts quiet.
“It’s a difficult pitch with a team that presses hard, but we kept going,” added Pirmann. “The second goal was us playing with courage and confidence. Every single guy was an animal today. Proud of the football taking over after that.”
Nathan Dossantos turned in a standout shift with four tackles won, three interceptions, eight duels won (tied for match-high), and four clearances. Aaron Molloy added a game-high six interceptions, plus 10 recoveries.
The Battery have now scored at least three goals in five straight league matches, boasting a league-best +14 goal differential. They’ve also recovered a league-high nine points from losing positions this season.
Jennings leads the USL Golden Boot race with 11 goals.
BOX SCORES-LINEUP:
CHB – Zamudio, Akpunonu, Edwards, Dossantos, Houssou, Molloy, Allan (Segbers, 75’), Torres (Ycaza, 88’), Rodríguez (Martínez, 63’), Myers (Blackstock, 88’), Jennings (Rubín, 75’)
DET – Herrera, Wiedt, Amoo-Mensah, Villanueva (Yamazaki, 62’), Bryant (Carroll, 62’), Gasso, Chapman, Morris, Williams (Diouf, 74’), Cedeno (Rutz, 62’), Smith
SCORING SUMMARY:
DET: Jay Chapman, 2’ (Ben Morris)
CHB: Cal Jennings, 5’ (Juan David Torres)
CHB: Cal Jennings, 44’ (MD Myers)
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