The Mariners fell to 0-4 on Tuesday, losing to Charleston 5-1 at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
Although Charleston went up 2-0 in the first ten minutes on goals by Paul Conway and Mac Cozier, the Mariners came back on an outstanding shot by forward Steve Butcher from 25 yards that could not be handled by Charleston keeper Dusty Hudock. The half ended 3-1 when the Battery's John Wilson scored with an assist from Mark Watson. Twelve minutes into the second half, Conway and Cozier matched up again when Cozier found the net. At 84 minutes, Raul Diaz Arce found Conway and Conway snuck the ball in goal at the near post. And the match ended 5-1.
But it wasn't as bad as it sounds.
Charleston, who has one of the largest if not the largest player budget in the A-League, had seven players on the bench, five of whom had two or more years of MLS experience. And in this David vs. Goliath match or to quote Bob Molinaro, columnist for the Virginian-Pilot, "Survivor vs. Who Wants to be a Millionaire", the score was lopsided, but our boys did not at any point in this match, give up.
The Mariners, as they have done in all their matches, created great chances. Near the close of the first half, Mariners midfielder Mark Rowland nearly narrowed the margin to one, beating Hudock to the ball just inside the box and nudging it toward the goal. But a Charleston defender gave chase and knocked the ball away less than a yard from the goal line. Another spectacular shot by Mark Rowland hit the crossbar which would have made it 3-3. And Tim Figureido kept it close with spectacular saves - one when he robbed Cozier on a 2-on-1 break and again when he dived feet-first and knocked the ball out of bounds just as a Charleston player was getting set to loft in another goal.
"Charleston really came to play and our young team didn't adjust well," said head coach Shawn McDonald. "Their experience showed and our inexperience showed. Hopefully we can take this match as a learning experience and come more prepared to play next time."
The Mariners are off until May 11, when they travel to Charlotte. They will be at home again on May 18 at 8 p.m. against Pittsburgh.
Match Summary Half 1 Half 2 OT 1 OT 2 Final
Hampton Roads Mariners 1 0 0 0 1
Charleston Battery 3 2 0 0 5
Scoring Summary Goal (Assist) Minute
Charleston Battery Conway (Zeba) 8, Charleston Battery Cozier (Lewis) 10, Hampton Roads Mariners Butcher 11, Charleston Battery Wilson (Watson) 22, Charleston Battery Cozier (Conway) 57, Charleston Battery Conway (Diaz Arce) 84
Team Summary
Hampton Roads Mariners
Tim Figuerdo, Ian Checcio, Jeff Dominguez, Gary Brooks (Keith Donahue 51), Glenn Benjamin (Dwayne Bergeron 65), Kevin Knott, Guillermo Henriques, Mark Rowland (Brian Fredericks 89), Sean Michael Callahan, Ricardo Villar (Cecil Lewis 66), Steve Butcher (Rich Hansen 89)
SHOTS: 10 (Butcher 2); SAVES: 8 (Figuerdo 8); FOULS: 10 (Dominguez 3); CORNER KICKS: 5; OFFSIDES: 3; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: (NONE); EJECTIONS: (NONE)
Team Summary
Charleston Battery
Dusty Hudock (Todd Hoffard 58), Andrew Lewis, Mark Watson, Linval Dixon, Terry Phelan (Ryan Trout 45), Morgan Zeba (John Jones 61), Steve Klein (Kevin Anderson 77), Justin Evans, John Wilson, Paul Conway, Mac Cozier (Raul Diaz Arce 60)
SHOTS: 19 (Cozier 8); SAVES: 5 (Hudock 5); FOULS: 15 (Wilson 3); CORNER KICKS: 8; OFFSIDES: 7; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: Wilson 81, Dixon 88; EJECTIONS: (NONE)
