CHARLESTON, S.C. – When the season began, the Charleston Battery hadn’t suffered a defeat in the USL at MUSC Health Stadium since May of 2014, and things continued as they had as the club extended its undefeated streak to 29 games with a 3-0-1 start at home this season.

But after back-to-back home defeats, including one to Louisville City FC, its opponent this Saturday in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2016 USL Cup Playoffs, a change appeared to be required.

“At the beginning of the season we were able to play and teams would sit back and we would be able to move the ball,” Battery Coach Mike Anhaeuser said this week, “but I think once we lost those two games at home, it was more we were better off getting Romario [Williams] moving and not waiting for the game, and trying to be a little bit more like New York.”

The Red Bulls II’s success pressing opponents high up the field, recovering possession quickly and striking forward – in the same manner as has brought success to the club’s MLS team – pushed the side to a record-setting season in its second year in the USL. Taking their cue from the Eastern Conference leaders, the Battery began to press opponents more, to good effect in particular on the road. After going winless in their first four road games of the season, the Battery are 7-1-4 since, including Sunday’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinal win at Nippert Stadium against FC Cincinnati.

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“I think it was with about six or eight games left we tried to pick up our tempo defensively with the physicality,” said Anhaeuser. “Not going to try and make it a little more difficult, just wanting to try and put them under pressure to make them kick it a little bit so we can try and pick up balls in higher spaces.”

The Battery were able to translate their new approach against the Red Bulls II themselves, winning a thrilling 3-2 victory on the road on July 23. Victories like that and against the Richmond Kickers on Sept. 17, and regular-season draws on the road against Louisville and Cincinnati, provided a confidence boost for the side, even though late-season losses against Montreal and New York sent it into the lower half of the Eastern Conference’s seeding.

With the talent the Battery have in the attacking third, including the pace and power of Williams and creativity of Maikel Chang, taking on the new identity has been a good fit for the club’s longtime players.

“This is New York’s go-to; they like to win the ball in the opposition’s defensive third or in the middle third, and then they’ve got four or five guys who go as quickly as possible to try and get that pass in behind the back line, or take a guy on one-v-one and make a cross or a shot out of it,” said defender Taylor Mueller. “We’ve got guys that can do that. Romario’s fantastic one-v-one. He’s strong, he’s fast, he’s got good feet and a good shot. Guys on the wing, Chang, Dante [Marini], Zach [Prince] when he’s out there, guys that can combine and get in behind defenders can really cause [opponents] dangerous situations.”

Anhaeuser believes putting regular pressure on Louisville’s back line and midfield, as the Battery have tried to do against other recent opponents, will be key in Saturday’s contest. With City having a host of attacking threats that look to strike quickly, breaking up their rhythm and forcing more long passes is a key for the Battery to continue their pursuit of a second USL Cup.

“You can’t sit back on Louisville because they’re too good with the way they pass the ball through the middle with [Aodhan] Quinn and then get the ball to their outside backs, and of course with [Chandler] Hoffman in the middle it’s the same way it was last year. They’re crossing the balls in, and if you don’t get pressure on those crosses, they’ve got guys coming in that seem to be putting it in,” said Anhaeuser. “Their wingers, they’ve got a subset of wingers that cause you to have to defend one-v-one with [Kadeem] Dacres, George Davis obviously, he’s able to get on the end of it, and then [Mark-Anthony] Kaye, so they have some dangerous guys one-v-one that can cause your outside backs to stay tucked in and worry about them.”

For Mueller, the midfield will likely hold the key to the game.

“Whenever they win the ball in the middle third of the field, they are not trying to go slowly into attack,” Mueller said. “They’re going to try to make one, two passes and get into a dangerous situation with the ball, their guys taking on a man one-v-one and getting a free kick, or it’s a guy going straight the length of the field to get a cross or a shot off, they’re trying to go pretty direct as soon as they win the ball in that area of the field.

“If we do turn over the ball in that middle third, we’ve got to be organized and get guys behind the ball, and get guys behind the ball as soon as we lose it, so reactions are going to be big.”

With another big atmosphere expected at Slugger Field, the Battery will aim to rise to the challenge on the road for a second consecutive weekend.

“You can’t go in and play timid,” said Anhaeuser. “If you do that, you lose a 50-50, and that can make the difference in the game. That’s what we’ve been preaching to the guys, and it’s been successful on the road for us, and we’re going to try and keep doing it.”