Not a good night for the Riverhawks. Coming up against the 1st place Battery proved to be to much of a challenge for the Cincinnati Riverhawks.
At the start of the match the play was going end to end with a slight edge going to the Battery. The speed of the battery was giving them the edge over the Hawks. When the Riverhawks would get a breakaway the progress would end to soon due to the speed of the Battery back line. However, the Riverhawks were soon awarded a penalty in the 19th minute when the Battery keeper Hudock pulled down a Riverhawk in the box. Marcel Matis promptly stepped up and put the ball into the back of the net giving the Riverhawks the lead at 1-0. An inspired Riverhawk team having the 1 goal lead picked up the pace and were taking the game to the Battery making several good plays. In the 36th minute the Riverhawks had their hopes dimmed to keep the Battery scoreless when a penalty was awarded to the Battery for a foul in the box. Conway took the kick and missed it giving the Riverhawks a fresh breath of air. During the last 10 minutes of the 1st half both sides started playing good attacking soccer playing end to end.
The Riverhawks came out in the 2nd half appearing to just try to nurse the lead. Not much attacking was happening for the Riverhawks and the Battery promptly took advantage of that. In the 57th minute the Battery cleared to a Riverhawks corner kick and fed the ball to Brian Piesner. Piesner got the ball to Iotav and he took one step then shot the ball from just inside of the 18 yard line.
The ball slid in past the keeper thus tieing the game up at 1-1. More end to end soccer ensued with the game becoming a bit more physical. In the 72nd minute Cooks pulled down a Riverhawk just outside the area giving him his 2nd yellow card of the match. With the Battery down to 10 players you would think that they would play more conservatively and not be as physical but it was not to be. In the very next minute Conway laid a vicious elbow right into Rick Roettker’s face giving the referee no option but to issue a straight red card. Now you would think the Battery would be in dire straits. The Riverhawks seemed to be to complacent with the 2 man advantage and were trying to create the perfect goal. When the Riverhawks still could not find a goal the Battery picked up their play and it seemed that the Battery had all 11 back on the pitch.
When going forward the Riverhawks would seem to only send 2-3 players forward and the defense would be to slow in moving up giving the Battery ample time to form an attack. At the end of the 2nd half a questionable call was made against the Battery giving the Riverhawks a penalty. A diving Battery player was deemed to have committed a hand ball in the box. After some arguments subsided Labastida missed the penalty with the ball ricocheting off the upright. Time did run out after the miss forcing the game to extra time.
In the first extra time period the Riverhawks and Battery were playing end to end. Both teams feeling stressed from the playing time that they had already put in saw the players making mistakes. The first extra time period came to a close.
The 2nd overtime period started and the Battery came out smoking. Cincinnati was trying to hold on for the draw but it was not to be when Ball scored in the 107th minute giving the Battery the victory.
Final Score. Cincinnati 1 Charleston 2
LINEUPS
Cincinnati – 1-Estrada; 4-Descombes; 21-Mercik; 20-Pickup; 5-Roettker; 15-Burlew (7-Lowey); 8-Roberts; 11-Rockey (10-Labastida; 2-Schaeffer); 32-Mucino; 23-Alcero; 9-Matis
Charleston – 1-Hudock; 25-Wilson; 6-Baptiste; 20-Phillips (12-Trout; 17-Warham); 13-Ball; 5-Rantala (19-Cooks; 15-Webster); 4-Piesner; 9-Iotov; 10-Conway (11-Cozier); 14-Akin
STATS Cincinnati Charleston
1st half 2nd half OT Total 1st half 2nd half OT Total
Shots on goal 9 7 2 18 11 8 4 23
Saves 4 3 1 8 5 2 1 8
Corners 5 2 1 8 3 3 2 8
Fouls 6 8 2 16 10 4 0 14
Offsides 1 5 1 7 4 3 1 8
Cautions and Ejections
Charleston – Hudock, Yellow, 18
Charleston – Ball, Yellow, 19
Charleston – Cooks, Yellow, 66
Charleston – Cooks, Yellow-Red, 72
Charleston – Conway, Red, 73
Cincinnati – Lowey, Yellow, 90
Goals
Cincinnati 19 – Matis
Charleston 57 – Iotov
Charleston 107 – Ball
Man of the match: Gilbert Jean-Baptiste
Attendance: 1100
