League-leading Charleston gets no respite with surging Islanders

In the last two weeks, the Charleston Battery has beaten two teams from Major League Soccer and the defending USL First Division champions.

If the Battery was hoping for a respite tonight against the Puerto Rico Islanders — think again. The Battery will take on Puerto Rico at 7:30 at Blackbaud Stadium.

The Islanders, who are 6-5-3 this season, are one of the hottest teams in the USL First Division with a 4-1-0 mark in their five games. The Islanders are coming off impressive road wins over Montreal (1-0) on Sunday and Portland (2-0) on Thursday.

"Puerto Rico is probably playing its best soccer of the season right now," said Charleston Battery coach Mike Anhaeuser. "They've had two very impressive results on the road in their last two games, so they're playing with a lot of confidence. They're always a very dangerous team on the attack and they are very well organized defensively."

The Battery is coming off wins over the MLS' Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas in the U.S. Open Cup and a solid 1-0 victory over Seattle, the defending USL First Division champs, last Saturday night. Anhaeuser is hoping the Battery does not suffer an emotional letdown against the Islanders.

"We talked about not having a letdown (Friday) after practice,"

Anhaeuser said. "We talked about not looking past Puerto Rico and taking it one game at a time. I know it's a cliche, but we need to act like professionals. We've had three great wins in the last couple of weeks, but we can't afford to take Puerto Rico lightly because they're certainly capable of taking three points away from us.

"We've got a team that has shown a lot of character all season long. We just have the kind of players that it's not in their character to have a letdown. I don't anticipate us having a letdown. I think we'll come out strong like we have all season at home."

Two players that should be plenty rested for tonight's game against the Islanders are defender Marco Reda and midfielder Chris Corcoran. Both players missed Tuesday night's 3-1 win over FC Dallas after receiving red cards in the Battery's game against Houston the previous week.

"I watched the game with Dallas on my computer at home and that was very difficult," Corcoran said. "It was a great win for the club — I just wish I could have been out there to help out. I think Marco and I are both really eager to get back on the field."

A week ago against Seattle, Anhaeuser used a patchwork lineup to defeat the Sounders. This week, Anhaeuser said he'll probably rest some of his veteran players again.

"It seems like every game we've played in the last month has been a high intensity affair," Anhaeuser said. "We've got a couple of guys that need time to recover. Their legs might be a little heavy at this point in the season. There are a few guys that we're not going to start, but have on the bench and a couple others that might not even dress because we don't want to risk them getting an injury. We're going to need them later in the season. Fortunately we've got that kind of depth where we can play guys on our bench and not lose anything on the field."

The Islanders have a balanced attack on offense with six players netting at least two goals this season. Midfielder Josh Hansen leads the team with three. Fabrice Noel, who has been among the league leaders in goal-scoring the last two years, has just one goal in 10 games for the Islanders.

"They have a lot of offensive weapons that you have to be aware of," Anhaeuser said. "Fabrice Noel is one of the best forwards in the league and has been the last couple of years. We've got to be aware of where he is on the field. They have a lot of experience in the midfield and they've got dangerous players up front. We want to take the game to them. We can't afford to sit back and let them dictate the pace of the game. They're just too good offensively to let them do that."

Reach Andrew Miller at apmiller@postandcourier.com and check out the new Charleston Battery blog at, www.charleston.net/blogs/battery/.