Van Oekel, Legion FC Pitch Shutout in Draw with Charleston

USL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHDAY 15	1ST HALF	2ND HALF	FINAL
CHARLESTON BATTERY (10W-3L-2D | 32 PTS)	0	0	0
BIRMINGHAM LEGION FC (3W-7L-5D | 14 PTS)	0	0	0

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Matt Van Oekel once again showed that age is merely a number. It was Salute to Service Night on Wednesday at Protective Stadium and by the end of the match, the Birmingham Legion FC players and fans were saluting the 38-year-old goalkeeper who turned in a vintage performance for his 50th clean sheet in USL Championship play as the Three Sparks held an attacking-minded Charleston Battery squad to a 0-0 draw.

Even so, the veteran felt his side could’ve had grabbed a win if the overall play was a little bit cleaner.

“I don’t really think about the personal achievements,” Van Oekel said afterwards. “Sure, it’s cool and all, but my goal here is to get this club wins and hopefully some silverware down the line. In the end, we didn’t do enough on the night to get three points, so we have to continue to work towards that.”

Van Oekel posted five saves on the night and it seemed like every one of them took every ounce of his athleticism to do so.

He did not have much time to ease into the match, thanks to an eighth minute save where he left his feet to punch away a dangerous set piece whipped in by Charleston’s Juan Torres. Van Oekel would be called into action 26 minutes later, winning a one-on-one battle in the box with MD Myers, who snuck past the backline but wasn’t able to get one by the charging keeper.

“I thought he was fantastic,” said Legion FC coach Mark Briggs. “In the first half they had some really good chances and he stood up big for us with big saves.”

Van Oekel’s heroics was the highlight on an evening where the Legion FC defense made it very difficult for the Battery to resort to its usual goal-scoring prowess. Despite leading the match with 13 shots — six of which came inside the box, Charleston’s expected goals metric (0.63) was only slightly better than Birmingham’s (0.52) on seven shots.

The league’s leading goal scorer, Cal Jennings, was only able to muster two total shots on the evening as Charleston was kept off the scoresheet for just the third time this season.

“A lot of credit to Matt, we did really well on the defensive end,” noted Birmingham defender Phanuel Kavita who made his 250th USL-C regular season appearance. “The biggest thing in going up against a team that rotates well on the ball is to stay organized and disciplined. Keeping that structure is what helped us in this game and in the end we did a decent job in getting a zero.”

Unfortunately, the Birmingham attack was unable to find that breakthrough goal on the other end as its only shot on target on Wednesday occurred in the second minute of second half stoppage time via Preston Tabort Etaka.

The final ball appeared to be lacking for the home side as Legion FC completed only 58% of its 81 passes in the final third.

“When you play against good teams, you can’t afford to be sloppy,” explained Briggs. “We were sloppy when our opportunities came. It’s not good enough, because when you work hard just to create those moments, you’ve got to be ruthless in those moments.”

It marked the sixth time in 15 league matches that Legion FC was unable to find the back of the net. Despite that, Kavita feels a tide could be turning, especially as the defense continues to thwart opposing chances on the other end.

“The goals will come,” he said. “They put in work in each and every day. Sometimes it takes a lucky bounce to grab that momentum. We just got to keep going and continuing to do the right things will eventually lead to success.”

NEXT UP
Having just finished its second game in five days, the congested schedule continues for Birmingham as it now heads up to New England for a date with Rhode Island FC on Saturday, July 5.

“We’re doing our best to get them as fresh and ready as we can,” Briggs said. “It’s going to be a difficult trip against a very well-coached team and one that we haven’t been successful against since they’ve began. There’s a lot of things there that should give our players a little hunger and desire.”

Following the Rhode Island matchup, Legion FC will remain on the road for a little while longer with a trip to North Carolina FC on July 11 before returning to Protective Stadium on July 19 to welcome the defending champion Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. Tickets for that match are available.