Well, the team they have now is nothing like the team from 2 years ago that was full of older players. They went with youth last year and frankly, didn't play well.
This year, they have a new coach (former player and assistant coach that's been with the Battery forever) and redid their lineup again, it's still very young, average age is like 24 years old. Which means it's about the same age as a PDL team. And I'll say this about the Menace. They have always been a strong club. They played in the former USL Pro league (3rd division) and they were always up there with Charlotte and Wilmington. They dropped down this year to PDL but don't think there's not some quality on some of these PDL teams. Plus, they average about 3,000 fans too, so they're well supported.
As for the Battery's performance this year, they have given up a lot of late goals. Overall, they've played solid with only a couple of halves of bad soccer. If they could have held on in even 1/2 of those instances, they'd be right in the thick of it. I think it's just growing pains for many of them going from the college game to the pros, having to stay focused and concentrating for the full 90'. They're not out of it this year either. They have a favorable home schedule coming down the stretch and they have usually gotten full points at home. Come on out and watch them, they play a very open, entertaining brand of ball.
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