Saturday, April 14, 2012
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- In the Charleston Battery’s 20th home opener, the Richmond Kickers rallied from a halftime deficit to take a 2-1 victory on Saturday night at Blackbaud Stadium. In front of a crowd of 4,729, Sascha Goerres was credited with the game-winner in the 90th minute when his long-range strike deflected past Battery goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra.
“I think overall we played well, we probably deserved three points and we should have at least gotten a point out of that game,” said Battery Head Coach Mike Anhaeuser. “I give Richmond credit, they took advantage of a bad bounce and got the three points.”
The Battery had the better of the early going, and opened the scoring in the 19th minute when Ryan Richter picked out Nicki Paterson with a square pass from the right at the top of the penalty area. Paterson blasted a first-time shot past Richmond goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale into the far left corner of the net. The game opened up following that, with Jason Yeisley heading wide for the Kickers and Paterson nearly adding a second after good work by Jose Cuevas set him up 12 yards from goal, only for Paterson to shoot wide.
Neither side was able to create much early in the second half, but the Kickers got back on even terms in the 65th minute after they were awarded a penalty after a foul in the penalty area. Stanley Nyazamba evened the score with a low shot into the left corner of the net for his second goal of the game.
While both teams had chances to retake the lead, the Kickers grabbed a dramatic victory in the final minute as the ball came to Goerres 35 yards from goal. The left back moved forward and fired, his shot deflecting before it reached Dykstra and looping over the Battery goalkeeper into the right corner of the net.
The Battery’s next game is Tuesday, April 17th when they head to Charlotte to battle the Eagles at 7 p.m. at Winthrop University. Richmond returns home to City Stadium next Saturday as the Kickers host Orlando City at 7 p.m.