Toronto FC lose 2-1 to Charleston Battery

A first half penalty from Nathan Sturgis wasn’t enough as Toronto FC lost 2-1 to Charleston Battery in preseason on a rainy Wednesday night in the Carolina Challenge Cup. Dane Kelly scored the tying goal for Charleston just four minutes from half and Mike Zaher scored the game winner from the penalty spot in the second half.

"The first half we played well and scored a good goal and had good movements. The play was very good until the last two minutes before half when we gave the goal away, said Toronto FC Head Coach and Technical Director, Aron Winter. "I was happy about a lot of things but not the second half. We made it difficult for ourselves."

Toronto took the lead at the 14th minute when Sturgis made no mistake beating goalkeeper Keith Wiggans from the spot to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. Toronto was awarded the penalty after Nigel Marples was charged with a handball in the box after Jacob Peterson’s cross into the box.

Charleston then turned up the pressure late in the half and earned an equalizer four minutes from halftime via Mike Kelly. The initial shot was blocked but Toronto failed to clear and Kelly made no mistake smashing the ball in the bottom right corner to beat goalkeeper Stefan Frei.

The rain picked up ten minutes into the second half and Charleston earned an opportunity to go ahead with a penalty. Mikael Yourassowsky fouled Kelly in the box giving the Battery a penalty. Charleston’s Mike Zaher stepped to the spot and although he was stopped by Frei on the initial shot, the rebound fell onto his foot and he converted to give the hometown Battery the 2-1 lead and that proved to be the decisive goal.

Toronto will conclude its preseason on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET against D.C. United from Charleston. Fans can watch live on TorontoFC.ca.

Scoring summary:
Toronto FC: 1: Nathan Stugis ’14 PK
Charleston Battery: 2: Dane Kelly ’43, Mike Zaher ’57 PK

Caution summary:

Toronto FC: Nick La Brocca ’55
Charleston: Mike Zaher ’27, Evan Taylor ’36, Dane Kelly ’45

Toronto FC (4-3-3) Stefan Frei, Ty Harden (Dan Gargan ’46), Nana Attakora (Ashtone Morgan 46′), Dicoy Williams, Mikael Yourassowsky, Nick La Brocca (Matt Gold ’58), Oscar Cordon (Andrew Ornoch ’63), Nathan Sturgis, Jacob Peterson, Javier Martina, Keith Makubuya (Nick Soolsma ’70)

Charleston (4-4-2) Keith Wiggans (Andrew Dykstra 46′), Nigel Marples, Graham Dugoni (Mark Wiltze ’46), Sean Flately (Gui Keis ’46), Mike Zaher, Zach Prince (Jose Cuevas ’46), Kevin Jackson (Luke Mulholand ’46), Evan Taylor (Alex Caskey ’46), J.C. Mack (Jerry Santol ’46), Dane Kelly (Nico Rittemeyer ’62), Levi Coleman (Seedy Bait ’46)

Toronto FC 2011 Preseason Results (2-5-1):

February 2 – Tied 1-1 vs. Partizan Belgrade, Nana Attakora 6′
February 6 – Won 1-0 vs. Red Star Belgrade, Matt Stinson 41′
February 10 – Lost 3-1 vs. Dinamo Zagreb, Gianluca Zavarise 46′
February 24 – Lost 3-2 vs. Houston Dynamo, Jacob Peterson 7′, Dwayne De Rosario (pen) 30′
February 26- Lost 1-0 .vs. Orlando City
March 3- Won 1-0 .vs. Charleston College, Joao Plata 40′
March 5- Lost 1-0 .vs. Chicago Fire
March 9- Lost 2-1 .vs. Charleston Battery, Nathan Sturgis 14′