Charleston, SC -The Charleston Battery get back to A-League regular season business on Saturday night when they take on the Hampton Roads Mariners at Blackbaud Stadium at 7:30pm. It will be a battle for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Mariners currently lead the competitive Atlantic Division with a 7-2-1 record (29 points) with the Battery in third position with a 5-3-2 record good for 25 points. Charleston is one of four Atlantic Division teams with an undefeated home record (4-0-1) this season, along with Hampton Roads (6-0), Richmond (6-0) and Pittsburgh (4-0-1). No Atlantic Division team has a winning record on the road so far this season, and the Mariners (1-2 on the road) will be playing their first back-to-back away games of the year.
With the exit from the US Open Cup at the hands of three-time MLS Champions DC United, the Battery will have revenge on their minds for the game against Hampton Roads on Saturday. The Mariners are 2-0 this season versus the Battery, after taking two home wins over Charleston. The Battery played both road games at Virginia Beach after playing tight games the night before, and will be eager to get back on track in the exciting race for the A-League Atlantic Division Championship. Charleston will be looking to stretch their undefeated home record with an impressive display against the Mariners.
The first 500 fans through the gates on Saturday night will receive the new 2000 Battery team poster signed by Battery players. Kick off is at 7:30pm and the gates will open at 6:30pm. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 971-GOAL or at Lloyds Sports in Mt.Pleasant. Tickets are also available online at www.etix.com or at Blackbaud Stadium on game day in the West Stand ticket window from 12:00 noon until game time.
Battery Team News: The Battery are undefeated at Blackbaud Stadium (4-0-1) in the A-League 2000 regular season play and are starting with the kind of form that could propel them to the top of the A-League. However, Charleston will be without the services of midfielder Dean Sewell who was called up by the Jamaican National Team for a Brazil tour warm up for the upcoming 2002 World Cup qualifying tournament. Sewell was a regular member of the 1998 Jamaican National Team known as the "Reggae Boyz" that went to the World Cup finals in France, but he must earn his spot on the current national team roster under a new head coach. Also possibly unavailable is Bulgarian striker, Velko Iotov, who suffers ligament damage in a badly sprained right ankle. Iotov was a highly touted off-season acquisition, but has failed to hit the form that was expected of him due to a torn hamstring suffered at the start of the season. He was starting to show his class after returning from the hamstring injury on June 3 in the road loss versus the Hampton Roads Mariners at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex when he set up Paul Conway for an early second minute strike and terrorized the Mariners defense all night. On a positive note,1999 leading goal scorer Paul Conway has moved up the A-League leading scorers chart with his three-goal hat trick versus Pittsburgh last Friday. He now has six goals in nine games this season and sits tied for fourth in the league for goals scored and tied for eighth in total points with 12. Conway had a spectacular run of goals in the second half of the 1999 A-League season. Second year midfielder Scott Thelen has been released by the club it was announced today. Thelen started the first two games of the season but has fell out of the reckoning for playing time since the squad has been at full strength.
Side Notes: Two Atlantic Division teams advanced to the third round of the US Open Cup tournament on Wednesday night with home wins. The Hampton Roads Mariners defeated USL D3 opponents Northern Virginia Royals 3-2 at the VA Beach Sportsplex behind a 3 goal second half come back and will face the Columbus Crew in the third round. The Richmond Kickers pulled off a major upset with an emphatic 3-0 victory over 1999 Open Cup finalists Colorado Rapids (MLS) in Richmond. The Kickers move on to face the San Jose Earthquakes in the third round.
