USL Rewind: Joe Cole helps Rowdies to win over Battery
- by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, Jul 25, 2017
Goals by Joe Cole and Martin Paterson subdued the Battery, which dropped a second consecutive game for the first time this season. The victory also gave the Rowdies some measure of revenge for a 3-2 home loss to Charleston in late April.
Paterson and Alex Morrel set up the chance that Cole converted in the 40th minute for a 1-0 lead that they doubled in the second half, three minutes after a shot by Georgi Hristov hit the woodwork. Marcel Schäfer played the ball into Paterson, whose shot on the turn wound up in the top corner.
Despite back-to-back losses Charleston (10-4-5, 35 points) leads the conference by three points but the fourth-place Rowdies (8-5-7, 31 pts.) are one of several teams in close pursuit.
USL 2017:
Scoreboard | Standings
Elsewhere ….
-- The two teams closest to Charleston are Charlotte and Louisville City FC. Both teams are three points back with records of 9-3-5. Four different players scored in the second half for LCFC, which rallied strongly after conceding a goal just before halftime to beat Saint Louis FC, 4-1.
-- Orange County SC is just a point out of the Western Conference playoff tier after extending its unbeaten streak to six games (three wins, three ties) by downing Rio Grande Valley SC, 4-0. It has scored the first goal in the last four games while boosting its record to 6-4-4 (22 points) to close within a point of eighth-place Seattle Sounders FC 2, which is mired in a four-game losing skid.
-- The USL scheduling has its quirks. OCSC has six games in hand over the Sounders (7-11-2), who have just 23 points from their 20 games.
USL Leading Scorers:
G PLAYER TEAM
14 Romario Williams (Charleston)
13 Dane Kelly (Reno)
12 Chandler Hoffman (Real Monarchs)
11 Djiby Fall (FC Cincinnati)
11 Jorge Herrera (Charlotte)
9 Brandon Allen (NY Red Bulls II)
9 Enzo Martinez (Charlotte)
