Charleston Battery defeats Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 1-0 - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports

The Charleston Battery defeated the Pittsburgh Riverhounds by a score of one goal to none Friday night at Blackbaud Stadium in front of 3,269.  Nicki Paterson scored the game winner in the 10th minute when he headed home a free-kick from midfielder Jose Cuevas.  The win lifts the Battery (3-1-0) into a tie for first place with Orlando City in the USL PRO standings.

"We had chances to put pressure on them," said Battery Head Coach Mike Anhaeuser "the first half was fantastic, we created put them under pressure and just missed a couple chances to put the game away and that's the difference, we kept them in the game."

The Battery opened the scoring in the 10^th minute when they were awarded a free kick 30 yards out on the left side.  Jose Cuevas found Paterson who was there at the near-post to head it home and put Charleston up 1-0.

The Battery had several more good chances in the first half and could have added to their lead but were denied by some excellent goalkeeping by Pittsburgh's Hunter Gilstrap.

After the break and particularly in the latter stages Pittsburgh started challenging Battery goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra.  In the 75^th minute Pittsburgh had their best chance of the night when the Riverhounds Rich Costanzo fired a shot in the box.  Dykstra held strong making a kick save to keep Charleston in the lead.

"We attacked all night and we didn't let up.  Sending numbers forward, we kept it exciting with three or four counters in the last ten minutes," said Anhaeuser "Andrew Dykstra made a couple great saves there at the end holding the ball and with a couple punches.  We got our first three points here at home and that's all we want to worry about."

The Charleston Battery's next game is Friday, May 4^th as they take on the Antigua Barracudas at Blackbaud Stadium; gates open at 6:00 PM with kick off set for 7:30 PM.

Scoring Summary         Goal (Assist)                Minute
Charleston Battery           Paterson (Cuevas)        9

Charleston Battery: Andrew Dykstra, Taylor Mueller, Colin Falvey, Kyle Hoffer, John Wilson, Ryan Richter, Jose Cuevas (Prince), Amadou Sanyang (Boyd), Tony Donatelli, Nicki Paterson, Salieu Bundu (Kelly)

SHOTS: 13; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 14; CORNER KICKS: 3; OFFSIDES: 2; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: Kelly; EJECTIONS: NONE

Pittsburgh Riverhounds: Gilstrand, Katic (Shaffer), Flunder, Rolko Calvano, Costanzo, Green, Lundberg (Leon), C'debBaca (Kassel), Seth (Deighton), Nunez

SHOTS: 6; SAVES: 4; FOULS: 10; CORNER KICKS: 7; OFFSIDES: 1; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: Lundberg; EJECTIONS: NONE