North Carolina FC 0 – 3 Charleston Battery
CARY, NC— There was plenty riding on the line for North Carolina FC as they faced rivals Charleston Battery on Wednesday night. The winner of the match would win the Southern Derby and, more urgently, it was an opportunity for North Carolina to earn some badly needed points after a disappointing weekend. With a win they would leap-frog Charlotte into second place in Group G.
Both sides traded chances through the first 20 minutes. Midfielder Daniele Proch pestered Charleston’s defense early with two quality chances in the first 17 minutes. NCFC head coach Dave Sarachan had singled Proch out in his previous post-game remarks as a player who had earned more playing time and the Italian player was playing to keep his spot in the starting eleven.
North Carolina was holding the run of play up to the hydration break, outshooting the visitors 7-1. But the Battery came out of the break and ran right at the Dead Whales, creating a dangerous opportunity in the 34th minute that Alex Tambakis had set up to make the save.
Then in the 41st minute, North Carolina defender Connor Donovan was stripped of the ball at midfield. With NCFC’s defense pressing forward, Charleston had big numbers going into North Carolina’s end of the field. Daley shepherded the ball into the box and rifled a shot toward the bottom corner only to have Tambakis throw up the wall to block the shot. The rebounded ended up back at Daley’s feet but this time he fired the shot over the crossbar.
Sarachan was pleased with his team’s first half showing. “You know, we played against a good team, but I thought the first half…for a good 45 minutes I thought we had the upper hand.”
After a scoreless first half, Charleston—and Daley—picked up where they left off. Daley slipped the defense and was in alone on Tambakis. The Greek goalkeeper hit the deck to make the kick save.
Moments later, Dre Fortune, who came in for Proch at halftime, dribbled deep into Charleston’s end and sent a ground ball across the box on goal. Battery keeper Joe Kuzminsky went down and just got is hand on the ball to keep it out of the net and tip it away from the foot of the onrushing Akeem Ward.
The visitors opened the scoring in the game in the 56th minute. Charleston won a battle for the ball near midfield and Zeiko Lewis found Romario Piggott socially distanced from the North Carolina defense. Piggott slammed the ball past Tambakis to put the Battery up 1-0.
Charleston doubled the lead in the 69th minute after Tambakis was forced to come up huge again when A.J. Paterson was left alone in front of the goal. Tambakis parried Paterson’s shot over the end line. On the ensuing corner, the ball pinged around the NCFC penalty area before dropping at the feet of Daley, whose point-blank shot beat the North Carolina keeper.
The Battery secured the Southern Derby Cup in the 81st minute. Stavros Zarokostas took a through pass and ran at Tambakis. NCFC defender Donovan made a desperate slide tackle to disrupt Zarokostas’ shot but it deflected past Tambakis to lock the game down.
North Carolina thought they had an opportunity to pull one back late in the game when D.J. Taylor carried the ball into the Charleston box. A Battery defender went to ground to block the shot and the ball bounced off of his arm but there was no call on the play.
At the end of 90 minutes, Dave Sarachan’s club had dropped its second game in a row. Even more alarmingly for the NCFC coach, it was the second consecutive game his team had been shut out.
“[In the] first half I thought we started, actually, pretty well,” Sarachan said after the game. “We created a lot, had good energy, had moments to capitalize in the final third, and—once again this has been an Achilles heel for my group—nothing to show for it.”
Tambakis had a solid game in goal. His big saves kept his club in the game for most of the night. “I thought Tambakis made some great saves for us tonight, but our quality in front of goal is not good enough and you give a team a chance and they buried it,” said the North Carolina coach.
Final Notes
- Nazmi Albadawi made his first start for North Carolina since the league returned to play in July. Midfielder Daniele Proch saw his first start for NCFC and forward Marios Lomis got into the starting eleven for the first time since his return to the club.
- Next up for NCFC is a bus ride to Charlotte to take on the Independence on Wednesday, August 26th. They’ll be back at WakeMed Soccer Park to host Memphis 901 FC on Saturday, August 29th.
Lineups
North Carolina FC: A. Tambakis; D.J. Taylor, C. Donovan, A. Comsia, A. Ward; Pecka (G. Smith, 82’); B. Speas (M. Perez, 66’), D. Proch (D. Fortune 45’), N. Albadawi ©, H. Barry (S. Miller, 66’); M. Lomis (R. Kristo, 78’)
Charleston Battery: J. Kuzminsky; L. Gdula, A.J. Paterson (K. Nelson, 86’), L. Archer, J. van Schalk ©; A. Kelly-Rosales, Z. Lewis (S. Zarokostas, 76’), R. Crawford, R. Piggott (D. Marini, 66’); N. Daley (A. Bosua, 75’), M. Cichero (T. Adesodun, 86’)
Score:
North Carolina FC: 0
Charleston Battery: 3
Goals:
North Carolina FC: none
Charleston Battery: R. Piggott, 56’ (Z. Lewis); N. Daley, 69’ (A.J. Paterson); S. Zarokostas, 81’ (unassisted)
Discipline
North Carolina FC: Pecka YC, 73’; C. Donovan, YC 90’; D. Fortune, YC 90+6’
Charleston Battery: A. Kelly-Rosales, YC 29’
