Opening act (again): United set for road test in Charleston

Mar. 22—Saturday, 5:30 p.m., 101.7 FM, ESPN+ (streaming), Estrella TV

New Mexico United is getting used to playing as an opening act.

After playing its own home opener on March 9, United helped first-year Rhode Island FC christen its home stadium last week. The third show on NMU's spring tour comes Saturday when it visits Charleston, South Carolina for Battery FC's first home appearance of the USL Championship season.

So far, it's been a relative success for New Mexico. With a win and a draw on its ledger, United is one of five teams tied atop the USLC Western Conference standings with four points.

Forgive coach Eric Quill and his players if they're not entirely thrilled. Rhode Island forged a 1-1 draw last week with a stoppage-time tally that deflected off NMU's Chris Gloster and into the net for an own goal.

"I don't think anyone here would consider a 1-1 tie a success," Quill said. "That was just game two and we're still growing into ourselves and learning who we are, but late in the match we need to batten down the hatches and come home with a win."

Defender Talen Maples, who netted United's lone goal in Rhode Island, agreed.

"We're not satisfied with one point," he said. "Three points is our standard and that's what we're after this week."

If New Mexico can secure three points, it will have gone a long way to do so. The club departed Thursday for what will be roughly a 2,150-mile round trip to Charleston. This, after traveling roughly 4,400 miles for last week's visit to Rhode Island.

It's part of a grueling three weeks for NMU, which concludes March with a visit to Phoenix before returning home.

Quill said the subject — by design — never comes up.

"We don't talk about travel," he said. "We don't want any excuses for ourselves. We have 22 players we consider starters and we can rotate them as needed to keep legs fresh. We just focus on the opponent and getting ourselves ready to play Charleston."

In Battery FC, United figures to encounter a hungry foe. Charleston opened the season with back-to-back road draws at North Carolina and Oakland and has managed just one goal thus far despite generally outplaying its two opponents.

Battery FC has dominated possession, ranks second in the USLC in passes and has fired 30 shots in its first two games. The club has just one goal to show for it thus far.

"Charleston has a lot of quality," Quill said. "They don't give up much defensively and, even though they've struggled to score, they gain confidence as the game goes on. It's crucial for us to go out on the front foot, try to get that first goal and settle things down. I felt like our guys stood up to a tough environment last week. Time to do it again."

MILESTONES: Coming off last week's career-best nine-save performance, NMU goalkeeper Alex Tambakis needs just two more to become the second to reach 550 in USLC history. United defender Will Seymore needs one appearance to reach 150, while defender Harry Swartz's next outing will be his 100th.

Players to watch

New Mexico (1-0-1): United departed Thursday for its second lengthy road trip in as many weeks. The club did not find last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Rhode Island satisfying as it spent much of the match playing defense and ultimately conceded a tying goal in stoppage time. Still, NMU's defenders largely rose to the occasion and have played well through two games. Zico Bailey (2 clearances, 6 interceptions, 5 tackles), Talen Maples (8 clearances) and Arturo Astorga (4 clearances, 4 tackles won) have been particularly solid. Goalkeeper Alex Tambakis had a career day against Rhode Island and narrowly missed a second straight clean sheet. Tambakis' nine saves eclipsed his previous best of eight from 2016 — set when playing for Charleston. United will endeavor to create more shots this week after managing just 14 in its first two contests.

Charleston (0-0-2): A volume approach hasn't produced much for the Battery attack thus far this season. Charleston has launched 30 shots (more than twice as many as United) but has just one goal to show for it in a pair of road draws. Nicholas Markanich got the lone tally last week versus Oakland. Still, there is quality on the Battery front line for playmaking midfielder Aaron Molloy to utilize. Molloy tends to dominate the ball and has seven chances created, a league-best 21 crosses and ranks second in the USLC with 176 passes. Talented forward Jake LaCava, who came over from Tampa Bay in the offseason, figures to find his range at some point. Charleston's back line is a strength and has made life easy on goalkeeper Adam Grinwis thus far. Grinwis has faced just two shots through two games and has made just one save.

NOTEWORTHY: Saturday will be United's third straight home opener as Charleston makes its first appearance of 2024 at Patriots Point, where it averaged 2,797 fans per home date last season. Home field has not meant much in the series thus far. NMU won 2-0 in Charleston in 2022, and Battery FC took a 1-0 victory last year at Isotopes Park. United concludes its three-game road stretch next week at Phoenix before hosting El Paso Locomotive FC on April 6.