MELBOURNE, Fla. (July 11, 2016) – Coming off Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Rochester, Orlando City B (6-6-5, 23 points) continues its road trip when it visits the Charleston Battery (9-4-4, 31 points) on Wednesday, July 13. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at MUSC Health Stadium. The USL Game of the Week will be streamed live on ESPN3.
Assistant coach Rob Valentino will take over coaching duties alongside Orlando Pride assistant coach Khano Smith, who will also join the technical staff for this match, while head coach Anthony Pulis assists with the First Team game against the New York Red Bulls.
“Charleston is a good team. They’re a team that knows how to win on all occasions. They just had a good result against Louisville away. We know they have a lot of strengths going forward. They’re a team that has powerful players and a lot of pace,” Valentino said. “I think we match up well against them and we’re looking forward to having a positive result again as we did when we went there a couple weeks ago.”
The Lions will aim to continue their current positive stretch in their third encounter against the Battery. OCB is unbeaten in its previous five matches and has lost just once in the last nine. Both sides played a 0-0 draw on April 1 in Melbourne before OCB won the rematch, 2-1, on June 11 in Charleston. Michael Cox and Conor Donovan scored and Mark Ridgers made 10 save as the Lions held on for the win despite playing the entire second half with 10 men.
In its last match, OCB put forth one of its strongest defensive performances of the season to keep Rochester off the scoreboard and earn a big point on the road and the Lions’ fourth point in two games against the defending champions this season. Goalkeeper Mark Ridgers made three saves to earn his third clean sheet.
Michael Cox leads the team with six goals, while 2016 MLS SuperDraft first-round pick Hadji Barry has four goals and two assists in seven games. Ridgers is third in the USL and leads the Eastern Conference with 54 saves.
Charleston is coming off a 1-1 draw at Louisville City FC. Jon Hoffman put Louisville ahead in the 62nd minute before Christopher Tsonis equalized in the 85th.
Romario Williams leads the Battery with seven goals, while Justin Portillo has four goals and four assists in 17 games played. Alexander Tambakis, who made two saves in the 0-0 draw at Melbourne on April 1, has 29 saves in 10 games this year, while Odisnel Cooper, who made two saves in Charleston’s 2-1 loss to OCB, has 16 saves in seven games.
OCB gets an 11-day break before it returns to Titan Soccer Complex on Sunday, July 24, to host the Wilmington Hammerheads. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
