No miracle goal: Battery settles for draw

This time there would be no miracle goal for the Charleston Battery.

Lamar Neagle scored for the second straight game, but the Battery squandered too many scoring chances as Charleston settled for a 1-1 draw with Harrisburg on Friday night before a crowd of 3,324 at Blackbaud Stadium.

With the draw, the Battery is 6-1-3 (21 points) and remained in first place in the USL Second Division. Harrisburg is in last place in USL-2 with a 1-4-3 (6 points) record.

A week ago against Real Maryland, Neagle scored two second half goals, including one in the final seconds of stoppage time, to erase a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw with the Monarchs.

Despite two quality scoring chances in the final five minutes of the match, the Battery failed to get the equalizer Friday night.

"I don't know what the final statistics were, but Harrisburg had maybe one or two scoring chances and they got a goal," said Charleston coach Mike Anhaeuser. "We had a ton of quality scoring chances, but we just couldn't seem to make that last pass or get that final touch and put the ball away.

"We got plenty of free kicks, plenty of corner kicks and got the ball into the box, but couldn't seem to put the ball in the back of the net. We were just not very good in the final third of the field."

The Battery controlled the ball for large chunks of the game, especially in the first half when they generated seven corner kicks.

"We very easily could have scored two or three goals," Anhaeuser said. "(Harrisburg) was defending with all their might, they packed it in, but we created some chances. Again, we were not as technical as we needed to be around the goal."

It was another soft goal that ruined an otherwise solid defensive performance for the Battery defense.

The Islanders took a 1-0 lead on Sainey Touray's goal in the 42nd minute. After a sloppy turnover deep in Battery territory, Jason Pelletier served the ball to Tourey, who pivoted at the top of the 18-yard box, and beat Charleston keeper Tim Melia for the score.

"We let in a similar goal against Maryland early in that game," said Charleston defender Mike Zaher. "We went over that during our film sessions this week for exactly that purpose and we did the same thing again here tonight. Obviously, that error wasn't corrected. We've got to tighten up defensively."

The Battery pulled even on Neagle's goal in the 57th minute. Striker Tom Heinemann got the ball just outside the 18-yard box and sent a ball to the back post. Harrisburg keeper Danny Cepero made a nice diving save, but failed control the ball. Zaher found the loose ball and tried to knock it in, but Harrisburg defender Geoff Bloes kicked the ball off the line. But Neagle was right there for the rebound and slammed it home for his team-leading sixth goal of the season.

"Lamar just seems to be in the right place at the right time," Anhaeuser said. "We got that early goal and had plenty time to get the go ahead goal."

Ian Fuller nearly had the game-winner in the 88th minute when Amaury Nunes slid the ball to the former Clemson All-American just inside the 18-yard box. Fuller settled the ball and had plenty of open net to shoot at, but his left-footed shot sailed over the goal post.

"If that would have been on his right foot, Ian would have buried it," Anhaeuser said. "I know he probably wants that shot back."

The Battery will have a quick turnover before their next game. The team left almost immediately after the game for their six-hour bus ride to Richmond. The Battery will take on the second place Kickers tonight beginning at 7 p.m.

"We don't have a whole lot of time to think about this one," Anhaeuser said. "We've got to put this one behind us and get ready for Richmond."

Headers

--Midfielders Kevin Jackson (ankle) and Jon Gruenewald (groin) were out of the lineup with injuries.

--After starting the season 5-0-1, the Battery is 1-2-2 in their last five games.