Battery has no problem with Kraze

Battery 3, Kraze 0

Tyrone Walker

Charleston Battery's Byron Alvarez, 9, battles Central Florida Kraze's Anthony Santiago, 14, for control of the ball in the teams' matchup in the first round of the US Open Cup at Blackbaud Stadium on Daniel Island on Tuesday.

Luke Vercollone can't remember the last time he had a multi-goal outing in a soccer game that mattered.

Vercollone scored two goals and Stephen Armstrong added another as the Charleston Battery cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Central Florida Kraze in the opening round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 1,547 at Blackbaud Stadium.

The Battery will take on the winner of the Miami FC-El Paso Patriots game in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup on June 26 at Blackbaud Stadium.

Vercollone, who has not scored a goal during the regular season, had a hat trick five years ago in a preseason game for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. Before that, he would have to go back to his club days to remember the last time he scored two goals in a game.

"It's been a while since I've had a game like this," Vercollone said. "You'd have to go back before college. It's been a while, but I had a couple of great chances tonight and fortunately they went in for me. Just to get on the scoreboard helps my confidence. Hopefully, this will open up the floodgates and I can continue to score."

Charleston, which scored twice in the first 15 minutes of the match, never let the Kraze, a team from the Premier Development League, get comfortable.

"The longer a team from a lower division stays in the game, the more confidence they get," said Charleston coach Mike Anhaeuser. "They longer they stay close the more hope they get and that's what gives a team its legs. We jumped on them early and never really let them feel like they were in the game."

Armstrong said at times the Battery played down to its competition.

"You see it all over the world in soccer, if you let a lower division team raise their game early and battle you all night, it's going to tough," Armstrong said. "I don't think we played that well. We did enough to win and advance and that's what is important, but I don't think it was a great performance for us."

Charleston wasted little time in putting the upstart Kraze in their place as Armstrong gave the Battery a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the match.

Armstrong got the ball just outside the 18-yard box and took an innocent looking shot that skidded along the ground. Central Florida keeper Allesandro Barcherrini came out and appeared to have no trouble making the save. However, at the last instant the ball took a strange bounce and slid past Barcherrini for the score.

"I'll take it," Armstrong said laughing. "I don't know anyone in any sport that wouldn't take a goal no matter how it happens. It doesn't matter what they look like. You get something like that and you take it."

The Battery pushed their advantage to 2-0 on Vercollone's goal in the 12th minute. Mike Richardson got the ball on the right side of the 18-yard box and served the ball to a wide-open Vercollone on the back post. Vercollone settled the ball and then blasted it past Barcherrini for the score.

Vercollone scored for the second time in the first half to give the Battery a 3-0 lead in the 43rd minute. Midfielder Gordon Chin got the ball on the left side, just outside the 18-yard box, and chipped it over to Vercollone, who got behind the Kraze defense again and slammed the ball past Barcherrini .

"Gordon found me in some space with a great pass," Vercollone said. "Putting the ball in the net was the easy part when you get a pass like that. I was getting forward tonight and the guys were finding me all night."

The Kraze played with a man down for the final 16 minutes of the match when midfielder Dan Faddia was issued a red card for a hard tackle on Chin.

Then with five minutes left, midfielder Abdul Berkaria left the game with an injured leg. The Kraze had already made four substitutions and could not replace Berkaria.