Saturday, April 27, 2013
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The Charleston Battery defeated the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 2-0 on Saturday night at Blackbaud Stadium in front of 3,262 fans. Midfielder Mike Azira made his presence known, scoring the only two goals in the game and his first two goals of the USL PRO regular season.
With the win, the Battery improve to 2-1-0 and a share of the seventh position in the USL PRO standings with six points. Despite some tough play this season, the Riverhounds, (0-4-1), still have yet to win a game.
“It was a real defensive battle out there tonight with a lot of physical play and we were pretty lucky to come away with a 2-0 victory,” said Battery coach Mike Anhaeuser.
Azira was in the right place at the right time to record his first goal of the season as he headed in the goal off a deflected John Wilson cross into the penalty area in the 24th minute. In the 61st minute, Azira did it again; this time it was former College of Charleston standout Zach Prince that assisted the goal with a burst of speed to the outside and a clever drop pass to Azira who blasted it past the Riverhounds keeper.
The Battery weathered a couple of Riverhounds' opportunities and Battery goalkeeper Odisnel Cooper recorded his second shutout of the season, showing off his excellent reflexes and great awareness between the pipes late on to deny Pittsburgh an avenue back into the game.
Up next, the Charleston Battery head to Pennsylvania to take on the Harrisburg City Islanders and then it is off to Ohio to challenge the Dayton Dutch Lions. Both games start at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live at uslnation.com and on the air on 1450 AM WQNT.