Bringing it home: Battery one win from final berth

Battery goalkeeper Dusty Hudock.

It's games like this that make Charleston Battery keeper Dusty Hudock feel like a kid again.

Tonight's U.S. Open Cup semifinal matchup against the Seattle Sounders at Blackbaud Stadium has the 35-year-old veteran feeling like a rookie.

"These are the kind of games that are easy to get up for," said Hudock, who will turn 36 next month. "I'm near the end of my career, so Open Cup games and playoff games mean a little something extra to a guy like me. As a competitor, you want to play in games like this where there's something on the line and you need a good result.

"I've always been motivated to play in games like this. It gets you excited to play. It makes me feel like I'm a young player again. To win (tonight) and advance to a Cup final would be a fantastic accomplishment for this team and the club."

This will be Hudock's third U.S. Open Cup semifinal appearance with the Battery. A veteran of the club for 10 seasons, Hudock was there for the Battery's 3-0 loss to Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids in 1999 and their 1-0 overtime loss to the MLS' Chicago Fire in 2004.

"It's tough to swallow any loss, but to get that close to a Cup final and come up short is very disappointing," Hudock said. "The game with Colorado kind of got away from us in the second half, but we had our chances to beat Chicago. That's a game that I think a lot of us would like a second chance at."

The biggest difference between the semifinal games of the past and tonight's matchup is that the Battery will finally have home field advantage. And what an advantage it has been this season.

The Battery is 3-0 at Blackbaud Stadium in the tournament and 9-2-2 at home in USL First Division games.

"No question, we've been a very good team at home this season," said

Battery coach Mike Anhaeuser.

"We've had tremendous fan support at home during the tournament, and I expect this will be the best crowd to date. The club put in a good bid because it was important for us to play at home.

"The last two times we got this far, we had to go on the road and play a team we'd never seen before. This time we're playing at home and playing against a team we're very familiar with."

The Battery and Sounders have played three times already this season, with each team winning a game on its home field and the two teams playing to a 1-1 draw last month.

"They've been three very close, very hard fought games," Anhaeuser said. "There isn't a lot that separates these two clubs."

The Sounders, the defending USL First Division champions, are no stranger to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, advancing to the final four last year before losing to FC Dallas, 2-1.

"Seattle has played in a lot of big games over the last couple of seasons with a lot of these same players," Hudock said. "They've got plenty of experience in games like this, and that's where they've got an advantage on us. In tight games like this, experience counts for something."

The Battery starters should be plenty rested for tonight's match. Nine of the team's "veteran" players, including Hudock, were sent home after last Thursday night's game with Minnesota. The Battery, which is 17-8 in U.S. Open Cup games since 1999, had a USL First Division game on Saturday night in Portland, but used mainly second-team players against the Timbers.

"You don't get many chances to play in a semifinal Cup game, so we wanted our guys to be ready to go," Anhaeuser said. "I felt like with the extra travel and the number of games we were going to play, some of the guys needed to take the night off. Hopefully, that will pay dividends for us (tonight)."

One player that will not be in the lineup will be striker Lazo Alavanja, who is second on the team with four goals. Alavanaja picked up a red card in the Battery's 3-1 win over FC Dallas in the tournament's quarterfinals.

"There's no doubt we're going to miss Lazo," Anhaeuser said. "He has the ability to take over a game. He had a great goal against Dallas in the last round."

The Battery defenders will have to contend with Seattle striker Sebastien Le Toux, who has a league-leading 10 goals in the USL First Division this season. The 2007 USL First Division MVP has five goals already in the tournament.

"He's a very dangerous player," Anhaeuser said. "He's very quick and he's a poacher. He has a knack of getting behind defenders, so we've got to mark him well."

Reach Andrew Miller at apmiller@postandcourier.com and check out the new Battery blog at, www.charleston.net/blogs/battery/>