BY KEITH NAMM
of The Post and Courier staff
The Battery and Atlanta Silverbacks will have to wait until Monday night to get in their key A-League Central Conference soccer clash.
Saturday night's scheduled matchup on Daniel Island was postponed after the power went out at Blackbaud Stadium in the midst of a string of thunderstorms.
The match is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday.
It marks only the second time in the club's nine-year history that a match has been postponed, and the first time in the three seasons the Battery has played at Blackbaud. Team officials recalled the other time was in the mid-1990s at Stoney Field, when a flooded field was the culprit.
This time, the stadium went dark about 20 minutes before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The decision to shift the match to Monday night came a little before 8 p.m.
"The power was not expected to be back on until 9 or 10 p.m., and we didn't want people to stay in the dark," Battery president Nigel Cooper said.
Battery coach Alan Dicks scheduled a practice for 9 this morning. He said the Silverbacks, who will be staying in town, planned to train in the afternoon.
The postponement also scuttled a live Internet video digicast, part of the league's Saturday Night Soccer series.
The third-place Silverbacks (12-8-1, 55 points) came here after Friday night's 3-2 home triumph over Indiana moved them to within four points of second-place Charleston (13-6-1, 59 points).
Just three weeks, and six matches, remain in the Battery's regular season. The club now will have three matches in six days, including Friday night at the Vancouver Whitecaps and next Sunday night at the Portland Timbers.
"We're trying to get the game played because everybody's running out of time," Dicks said. "We're traveling to the West Coast on Thursday."
Team officials said ticket stubs from Saturday will be good for admission on Monday.
