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The Week That Was
In another classic between the Battery and longtime rival, the Richmond Kickers, it was a back and forth exciting match that ended up a draw. Untested until the 32th minute, Alex Lee danced through a double team and found ex Houston Dynamo man Brian Ownby for a Kickers goal on their first shot on net, making it 1-0 at the half. In the second half, it was a quick turn of events. In the 47th minute, the Battery forced a corner after a long pass to Dane Kelly who threatened the defense of Richmond. On the corner, Jarad van Schaik found the head of Zach Prince for the equalizer. But the Battery weren't done. About 70 seconds later, a Richmond defender's pass was slow and allowed Ricky Garbanzo to attack the ball and as the keeper Trevor Spangenberg tried to quickly clear it, Garbanzo put his torso on the ball and it found its way in the net. Garbanzo followed that up with a courageous celebration right in front of the Kickers' supporter group, the Red Army. Those were the first two goals New England Revolution loanee Trevor Spangenberg allowed in his Kickers campaign. So with the Battery up 2-1 on the road, subbing in was Matthew Delicate, a villain to our Battery heroes for years. And as he had done in last season's playoff matchup, he scored the late substitute goal, this time with a header in the 79th minute to even the score.
Charleston-2 Richmond-2
Battery Goals: Prince 47th, Garbanzo 48th
The Good Guys- Charleston Battery (4-0-2)
The Battery were able to add a few healthy bodies back into the lineup, which helped with depth this week against Richmond. Ricky Garbanzo made his first appearance on the USL Team of the Week following his first professional goal. I spoke with Ricky a few weeks back and encouraged him if he kept putting himself in great positions and situations, a goal would come. I mean, I'm not taking full credit, but I think my powerful words helped, right? The Battery are now in 3rd position in the Eastern Conference, behind conference leading Rochester Rhinos and those darn Richmond Kickers.
The Bad Guys- Pittsburgh Riverhounds (2-2-2)
The 2014 USL affiliate of the Houston Dynamo, Pittsburgh Riverhounds have had varying results this year, as you can see in their even 2's across the board. They have had a couple very high scoring games, two with 5 goals, but have struggled with consistency offensively. One Riverhound not struggling for consistency offensively is the USL leader in points and goals Rob Vincent. Kevin Kerr also provides a punch offensively. The lack of an MLS affiliate this season has allowed for more normality and growth as a team and will serve them well moving forward this season.
The Dirty Details
Saturday May 9th, 7:30pm at Blackbaud Stadium
Watch it live HERE
The Hired Gun
As Oumar Ballo was released two weeks back, Jose "Memo" Rodriguez is still the only Dynamo loanee down in Charleston. He performed his usual mid second half substitution and provided nice pressure for the Battery in the midfield. Speaking of Ballo, he is in his second week on trial with D.C. United and we wish him all the best here at Dynamo Theory.
The Win off the Pitch
As great as they play on the pitch, our Battery men are stand up guys off of it as well. Similar to when a few of the guys visited our future star Joey Benton, Dante Marini and Ricky Garbanzo visited with Hunter Taylor as a part of a big day for the young man. He was born deaf, with one kidney, half a beating heart and missing a thymus gland. He is a three time open heart surgery survivor! Noted as arguably the funniest part of the day, Marini asked what Hunter's favorite sport was, to which Hunter replied WINNING. And to that, we say keep on winning Hunter and the Dynamo/Battery family are rooting for you!