Both teams knew the assignment entering Wednesday night’s 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Round of 32 match at Patriots Point just across the Cooper River from downtown Charleston: Win and host Atlanta United in the Round of 16.
The Charleston Battery would take care of business in front of their home fans with a 3-2 extra time win over the South Georgia Tormenta FC. All of the scoring would come from one man: MD Myers, the club’s offseason signing who came over from NYCFC II of MLS NEXT Pro.
With that extra motivation in mind, both teams stood toe-to-toe and traded jabs in the midfield over the first 15 minutes of the match looking for an advantage. The Battery used a high-press and suffocating midfield pressure to squeeze the ball away from Tormenta higher and higher up the field. All this pressure paid off in the 22nd minute as MD Myers looked to deliver a knockout blow as he stole the ball from the Tormenta goalkeeper and went on a dribbling, slalom run around the penalty box evading both goalkeeper and defenders alike before he put the ball into the empty through a crowd for the 1-0 lead.
The goal, however, didn’t seem to impact either team’s pattern of play or urgency in the match. The visitors regained their shape after the goal allowed and counterpunched via the quick counterattack to climb their way back into the match. Tormenta’s Pedro Fonseca collected a through ball right up the middle of the field and then went on a solo run to the top of the box where he buried a shot to even the game at 1-1 in the 40th minute. Again, the goal didn’t seem to impact either team’s mindset or urgency as they seemed very committed to their game plan.
Just when it looked like the match would go to the half knotted at 1-1, it was a quick Battery combination up the left flank in first-half stoppage time that quickly circulated the ball forward before it was floated into the box where Myers rose first and rose highest to nod the ball into the near post to give the hosts a 2-1 advantage at the break.
The second half opened just like the first half with both teams trading jabs in the midfield and then after several attack-minded substitutes were made by both teams, the game really opened up. The USL Championship and Battery leading score Nick Markanich was slotted in on a breakaway 1-v-1 versus Tormenta keeper Drew Romig in the 80th minute forcing a spectacular double save to preserve the score line. The Battery had been looking to put the game away with increased pressure on the Tormenta goal and then totally against the run play the visitors broke down the right flank as Niall Watson outpaced the Battery defense to slide ball across the goal mouth where Gabriel Rodriguez turned in the low cross to level things at 2-2.
As the game went to extra time, it was the Battery who came out the strongest throwing everything forward as they delivered ball after ball into the Tormenta box looking for the knockout blow. One last cross in the final seconds of the first extra time forced a point-blank reaction save out of Romig in the 105th minute to keep the score knotted 2 to 2.
As the second half of extra time was set to expire, the Battery made one final push dumping everything they had into the attack that created a scramble inside the Tormenta goalmouth that fell neatly to Myers who made no mistake as he rifled the ball through the crowded box for the knockout blow, a hat trick and the 3-2 Battery victory.
Myers becomes just the third Battery player to score a hat trick in Open Cup play. He joins Darren Spicer, who scored three against the ACS New Stars in the opening round of 2008, and Heviel Cordoves who scored his hat trick against the Panama City Pirates in the Second Round of the 2014 tournament. Cordoves’ trio of goals was scored nearly 10 years to the day.
Charleston will now host the Alonso Division final in the Round of 16 as Atlanta United visits the Point on Tuesday, May 22 or Wednesday, May 23. The last time the Battery hosted Atlanta in the USOC was the 2019 Tropical Storm match at MUSC Stadium on Daniel Island that was not played due to poor pitch conditions. That fixture was flipped to a closed-door meeting in Kennesaw a few days later that Atlanta won before going on to win the 2019 US Open Cup title.