United Soccer Leagues (USL)

The Houston Dynamo won the 2006 Carolina Challenge Cup Saturday night at Blackbaud Stadium in front 4,032 with a 3-0 victory versus the New York Red Bulls. In the second game of the evening the Charleston Battery spoiled DC’s hopes for the trophy with a 1-1 tie.

Houston’s first goal was scored by forward Brian Ching in the 29th minute. Brian Mullan crossed from the right side and Ching re-directed the ball past veteran goalkeeper Tony Meola into the left side of the goal.

The second goal came in the 70th minute after New York failed to fully clear a corner. Craig Waibel slipped a pass to fellow defender Ryan Cochrane who blasted home from six-yards out.

DC needed to match Houston’s three goal win to claim a share of the trophy but in the end were fortunate to share the points with the Battery.

United started brightly and were ahead inside 20 minutes after Jaime Moreno was felled in the box by Ugo Okoye. Moreno sent Battery goalkeeper Keith Wiggins the wrong way from the spot, chipping the ball straight down the middle into the goal.

Charleston replied in the 67th minute as midfielder Jeff Matteo slipped a neat pass through to Ben Hollingsworth in the box. Hollingsworth latched onto the pass and finished neatly past DC goalkeeper Troy Perkins.

The Battery almost scored a winner in the 88th minute when substitute midfielder Armando Romero lifted a cross in from the left side. Hollingsworth met the pass but his shot looped over the bar.

CHARLESTON, SC -- Ben Hollingsworth (video) beat Tony Meola to give the host Charleston Battery a 1-0 victory over Red Bull New York while Houston Dynamo (video) and DC United (video) played to a 1-1 stalemate, leaving three teams vying for the Cup title Saturday. DC and Houston are tied at four points and the Battery, with three points, can win it with a victory over DC and a Dynamo loss.

New York Red Bulls coach Mo Johnston classified his team's uninspired 1-0 preseason loss to the USL Division One Charleston Battery in the Carolina Challenge Cup with one word: "Unacceptable."

Battery forward Ben Hollingsworth put the home side on the scoresheet in the 14th minute after running through the Red Bulls' three-man back line and side-footing the ball past a closing Tony Meola. Meola did manage to get a piece of the ball with his right foot, but it wasn't enough to push the it wide.

Johnston came into the game hoping for positive results from his three-man back line experiment. Things didn't turn out the way he had hoped.

But it wasn't only the defense that let the Red Bulls down. The absence of any continuity in the New York midfield resulted with both Youri Djorkeaff and running mate Eddie Gaven having to drop deep into the midfield to collect the ball, which made the bunkering tactic the Battery employed for most of the match almost unnecessary until the final 20 minutes of the match.

"We gave up an easy goal and then we couldn't respond," Johnson said. "It's a problem we are going to have to address before the season begins."

With less than a half hour remaining, and the urgency to equalize building, New York did begin to put some pressure on the Battery. But with all 11 players behind the ball, Charleston withstood the Red Bulls half-hearted effort at equalizing.

In the 62nd minute Amado Guevara nearly equalized off a superbly taken free kick from just right of the goal, 22 yards out. He looped the ball over the outside of the Battery wall, but a diving Battery goalkeeper Kieth Wiggins made a spectacular save, diving to his left and tipping the ball to safety.

Ten minutes later Djorkeaff got on the end of a well-driven cross from Seth Stammler from just inside the right touchline, slamming the ball into the roof of the net. However, the Battery's offside trap left the Frenchman clearly offside, negating the goal.

The loss is New York's second in consecutive outings versus Charleston at Blackbaud. In 2004 the Battery knocked the Red Bulls out of the fourth round of the US Open Cup by the same 1-0 score.

Houston opened the scoring in the 28th minute when the ball was whipped into the box from a corner-kick which United failed to clear properly. Forward Alejandro Moreno reacted first and slotted home a low shot from six-yards out.

Three minutes later DC United leveled the score after Jaime Moreno was brought down in the box by Houston goalkeeper Zach Wells. Moreno took the ensuing penalty himself, sending Wells the wrong way to tie the game.

Sometimes, the beautiful thing about preseason games is that the rules don't always apply. A scrap between DC United and Houston Dynamo in Wednesday's second game in the Carolina Challenge Cup saw Houston's Dwayne De Rosario and Ricardo Clark both sent off with a little more than 10 minutes to play in the first half.

With no players from DC having been sent off and the score level at 1-1, Houston would have been in for a long night at a two-man disadvantage. But it being preseason and all, both teams agreed to play the second half at full strength before they settled for a 1-1 draw.

"Playing 11 on 11 was the most important thing for us tonight," said United head coach Peter Nowak of the halftime decision between the coaches. "We both know how important it is to give the guys minutes. We're still in preseason. There was no advantage to playing two players up."

"There was a foul and both teams came in to protect their players. Those things happen," said John Wilson, who received a caution in the incident . "I don't think there are any hard feelings."

The second half saw a good number of substitutions by both sides, which detracted from the flow of the game and slowed the pace. It did, however, give both coaches a look at several players who had not yet seen any time in the tournament.

"We still need to find a rhythm," said Nowak. "Hopefully in the game on Saturday we can find a good rhythm that we can take into the season."

Houston faces the New York Red Bulls on Saturday to close the tournament at 6 pm, followed by DC and tournament hosts Charleston Battery. DC and Houston share the lead in the round-robin tournament with one win and one draw each, but Charleston can win the Cup with a win and a Houston loss.

CHARLESTON, SC -- Ronald Cerritos (video >>) and Jaime Moreno (video >>) scored the only goals of the night as the Houston Dynamo and DC United picked up 1-0 victories over the Charleston Battery and Red Bull New York on the first night of the Carolina Challenge Cup at Blackbaud Stadium.

Defending Carolina Challenge Cup champion Houston Dynamo took the first step toward a second title Saturday night defeating tournament host USL First Division Charleston Battery. Ronald Cerritos' 74th minute free kick was all it took in the scrappy affair that saw the Battery bunker in for much of the match.

"They sat in pretty much in their own half, so they made it difficult to break them down," said Dynamo coach Dominick Kinnear. "We started getting some balls in over the top. That finally opened some things up for us in the second half."

The Battery, the only non-MLS club participating in the annual preseason tournament, had only six days to prepare for the opening match of the third annual tournament. Houston, DC United and Red Bull New York had all been training since February 1. The round robin tournament, which runs through next Saturday, is all three of the MLS clubs' final preseason games before the season opens April 1.

The free kick was the result of one of the searching balls played out of the Houston defense, run onto by Dwayne De Rosario. Battery defender Chris Gores was whistled for a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge on De Rosario as they both chased after what would probably been an otherwise innocuous ball.

Cerritos stepped up and neatly lobbed the ball from 22 yards out over the six-man Battery wall into the top left corner, freezing Battery goalkeeper Dusty Hudock on his line.

Despite its defensive stance, the Battery created the first scoring chance of the game. In the 19th minute Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad was forced to dive through traffic to collect a low-driven cross with two Battery attackers lurking on the far post.

Shortly after the game was suspended due to a problem with the Blackbaud Stadium lighting. After nearly 45 minutes, play resumed, though neither team was able to establish any rhythm until well into the second half.

Not having played a game in more than a week, Kinnear ran what is effectively his starting 11 for much of the match, missing only Brian Ching, who is in Germany with the US National Team, and Brad Davis, who was unavailable to play due to injury.

Though Houston maintained a good hold on the game, the Battery came close to equalizing in injury time. Throwing everyone forward on a free kick from the right flank, Gores got on the end of well taken free kick, heading just over the crossbar.

"There are some good things and some bad things we can take from this game," Kinnear said. "It gives us a good indication what we need to work on."

DC United defeated Red Bull New York in the second game of the 2006 Carolina Challenge Cup Saturday night when forward Jaime Moreno slotted home the game-winner from six yards out in the 56th minute. New York was forced to finish the game with only nine players after Youri Djorkaeff and Taylor Graham were both ejected in the second half.

DC looked the stronger of the teams throughout the match and were unlucky not to have taken the lead in the 34th minute when Moreno narrowly missed the target with a right footed effort.

The deciding goal came after some excellent midfield play involving Freddy Adu and substitute midfielder Justin Moose. The ball was worked wide by Adu to Moose who crossed to the center of the goal. The ball deflected to Moreno who tucked it neatly past Red Bulls goalkeeper, Tony Meola.

Adu came close to adding a second for DC in the 72nd minute. He broke a tackle on the left side of the field and dribbled the ball to the edge of the box before firing a hard shot that flashed wide of the left goal-post.

In the 79th minute Djorkaeff received a red card for a second bookable offense after a heavy tackle on a United midfielder. New York’s problems were compounded five minutes later when defender Taylor Graham was also ejected for a clumsy challenge on substitute forward Jamil Walker.

The Carolina Challenge Cup continues Wednesday evening as the Charleston Battery take on the New York Red Bulls at 6 Pm followed by DC United versus the Houston Dynamo at 8:15 PM. For tickets call (843) 971-4625 or visit www.charlestonbattery.com.