2008 Jul 5

Charleston Battery  1 - 0  Seattle Sounders
Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, SC

Charleston: Dusty Hudock; Tim Velten, Nelson Akwari, Marco Reda, Chris Corcoran; Darren Spicer, Osvaldo Alonso, Mike Richardson (Stephen Armstrong 81'), Ian Fuller (Dominic Cianciarulo 70'); Lazo Alavanja (Aaron King 74'), Randi Patterson (Lester More 83'). Substitutes not used: Keith Wiggans, Kevin Nylen, Louie Rolko.

Seattle: Chris Eylander; Taylor Graham (Michael Rodríguez 74'), Danny Jackson, Noah Merl (Nik Besagno 66'), Zach Scott; John Fishbaugher (Kevin Sakuda 52'), Youssouf Kante, Kenji Treschuk, Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar; Andre Schmid (Jason Cascio 52'), Sebastian Le Toux. Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon.

Goals:
10' CHA: Alavanja (Akwari)

Additional match reports: Battery, Charleston Post and Courier.

Match report from the Sounders:

The league leading Charleston Battery increased their lead in the USL-1 with a 1-0 victory over the Sounders on Saturday night. The loss was their first in over a month since they lost to the Carolina RailHawks on May 28.

In addition to being league leaders, the Battery have also advanced to the Quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. They travel to Dallas to play FC Dallas on July 8. The Sounders have also advanced to the Quarterfinals and play the Kansas City Wizards on Tuesday, July 8 at 7:00 pm at Qwest Field.

The Sounders were under constant pressure from the Battery attack all game. Zach Scott had an early scoring chance in the 10th minute but his header hit the post; it would turn out to be one of the best chances of the game for Seattle.

Charleston got on the board early with a phenomenal strike from 25 yards from midfielder Lazo Alavanja. The Sounders had been conceding space in the midfield and sitting back, which opened up the shot from distance from Alavanja.

The half wore on with the Sounders creating few chances and Charleston went into the half with a one goal advantage.

Charleston came out in the second half looking for the killing goal.

Striker Randi Patterson created many problems for the Seattle backline, running well off the ball and attacking the Seattle defenders.

The Sounders subbed in Jason Cascio and Kevin Sakuda mid-way through the half for extra firepower, but Seattle never really got a clear opportunity and the Sounders fell 1-0.

Statistics:
        Charleston   Seattle
Shots:       13         6
Saves:        3         5
Corners:      5         2
Fouls:        4        11
Offsides:     4         4

Misconduct:
20' CHA: Alavanja cautioned
27' SEA: Treschuk cautioned
40' SEA: Merl cautioned
60' SEA: Kante cautioned

Referees: Jeff Gontarek; Roni Canales, Brad Bieber

Attendance: 3,371