DC edges Battery in Carolina Challenge Cup
Hammerheads fall to Columbus
CHARLESTON, SC -- The Charleston Battery lost to DC United by a score of 2-1 tonight at Blackbaud Stadium, in front of a crowd of 4,350. The game was the first match of the 2004 Carolina Challenge Cup. Midfielder, Bobby Convey scored the winner for United in the 83rd minute, with a superb free-kick from just outside the box. In the other Carolina Challenge Cup match played tonight, the Columbus Crew defeated the Wilmington Hammerheads 2-0.
DC had the first chance of the game in the 6th minute. Midfielder, Ben Olsen swung in a cross from the right-hand touchline. Forward Roland Cerritos met the cross well but his header flashed wide of the target.
In the 15th minute Battery forward Greg Simmonds broke free midway inside the United half. He carried the ball forward but his shot from 25-yards out missed high and to the right.
Just before half time DC midfielder Brian Carroll came close but his right-footed drive was saved by Battery goalkeeper, Dusty Hudock.
Freddy Adu entered the game at half time, lifting the crowd who had been anticipating his arrival. He had an immediate impact scoring the opening goal in the 56th minute. Midfielder, Dema Kovalenko broke down the left touchline and passed the ball sharply across the box. Adu controlled the ball with his first touch then slotted home left-footed past a diving Hudock.
The Battery equalized in the 75th minute. Chris Goos swept a corner into the middle. Defender, Mark Watson headed the ball down and Paul Conway reacted first to the loose ball, drilling it into the goal.
In the 82nd minute Charleston substitute, Andreas Bechmann fouled Adu at the edge of the area. The referee dismissed Bechmann for the challenge and to add insult to injury, Convey converted the free-kick to score the winning goal.
The Carolina Challenge Cup continues Wednesday at Blackbaud Stadium as the Battery welcomes Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew; kickoff is set for 7:30 PM.
Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Assistant Referees: Robert Fereday, Nathan Clement
Attendance: 4,350
Weather: Warm
Blackbaud Player of the Game: Paul Conway
Scoring Summary:
DC United Adu (Kovalenko) 56
Charleston Battery Conway (Watson) 75
DC United Convey 83
Charleston Battery: Dusty Hudock, Henrik Jensen (Jason Kutney 73), Mark Watson, Nigel Henry (Michael Green 45), Nick Downing, Chris Goos (Bryan Hoy 79), Steve Klein, Kevin Jackson (Andreas Bechmann 76), Ted Chronopoulos (Andrew Rosenband 71), Paul Conway (Chris Bagley 76), Greg Simmonds (Aleksey Korol 69)
SHOTS: 7 (Simmonds 3); SAVES: 4 (Hudock 4); FOULS: 13 (Klein 3); CORNER
KICKS: 2; OFFSIDES: 0; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: Simmonds 29, Jensen 51, Watson 58, Hudock 82; EJECTIONS: Bechmann 82
DC United: Doug Warren, Mike Petke, Ryan Nelsen, Bryan Namoff (Brandon Prideaux 55), Ben Olsen (David Stokes 85), Brian Carroll, Dema Kovalenko, Bobby Connvey, Joshua Gros, Jaime Moreno (Sergei Skachenko 64), Ronald Cerritos (Freddy Adu 45)
Players Not Used - Nick Rimando, Junuz Coralic, Kevin Ara, Alecko Eskandarian
SHOTS: 12 (Carroll 2); SAVES: 3 (Warren 3); FOULS: 16 (Connvey 4); CORNER KICKS: 5; OFFSIDES: 3; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: Kovalenko 16, Olsen 67; EJECTIONS: (NONE)
WILMINGTON, NC -- The Columbus Crew opened Carolina Challenge Cup play on Saturday night with a 2-0 win over the 2003 Third Division champion Wilmington Hammerheads at Legion Stadium in Wilmington, NC.
Goals by Chad Marshall and Frankie Hejduk paced the Crew to the win, which puts them atop the Challenge Cup table after one game. The Crew is tied on points with D.C. United, who defeated the A-League Charleston Battery 2-1 at Blackbaud Stadium, but sit in first place with a superior goal differential.
"Wilmington gave us a good fight," said Crew head coach Greg Andrulis. "They're a very organized team and they worked hard. This game was good for us."
Columbus jumped on top just two minutes in, with rookie center back Chad Marshall getting his head onto a Ross Paule corner kick for his first goal in a Crew uniform.
Hedjuk scored his second goal of the preseason in the 86th minute, taking advantage of a Simon Elliott free kick that was not cleared out of the box to double the advantage.
Andrulis was happy with his team's effort, especially after the past week. Columbus was only able to train outside once last week, on Monday, because of the snow that hit the area on Tuesday morning. To top that off, the team arrived in Charleston yesterday, but their luggage had been lost. They were unable to train because of this mistake. The luggage was delievered on Saturday morning, before the team headed for Wilmington.
"We looked like we spent the week indoors in Columbus, to be perfectly honest," Andrulis said. "The effort was outstanding and they played very hard. We just weren't as fluid as we were a week ago, but we didn't expect them to be. I knew it would take some time to get our rhythm back."
He singled out his defense as a strong point again in this match. The lineup looked very much like the one that defeated Barcelona Reserves two weeks ago, but Steven Herdsman was forced out midway through the second half after being kicked. Andrulis was not concerned about a serious injury and said that rookie Chris Wingert performed well in relief.
Jeff Cunningham (recovery day), Edson Buddle (Achilles flareup), and Kyle Martino (brother's wedding)were all unavailable for this game.
"(Edson) needs to back off of the pounding so the inflammation can come down," Andrulis said. "Jeff is just a little tight from the work this week, and we wanted to let his body recover a bit."
With Cunningham and Buddle out, Andrulis chose to pair newcomers David Testo and Devin Barclay up top.
"They're two opposite types of players. Testo a post up guy who loves to hold the ball and turn people and Barclay's a runner. They made for a good one-two combination for us. They were dangerous and both of them had a few good chances."
The Crew next face the Charleston Battery at Blackbaud on Wednesday night at 7:30pm. MatchNight.com will carry the action live on MatchNight Stream 1 with Dwight Burgess handling the play-by-play duties.
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