S.C. Soccer

The Charleston Battery will play England’s Portsmouth F.C. in an international exhibition on Wednesday, July 27 at Blackbaud Stadium. This marks the second consecutive year that the Battery has hosted an English team. Last July the Battery played the Bolton Wanderers in front of a sold out crowd of 5,249. Port[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]smouth plays in the English Championship, which is a league below the English Premier League…Ralph Polson, men’s head soccer coach at Wofford College was a goalkeeper in his playing days at Erskine College. Polson knows a good goalkeeper when he sees one, and has recruited a freshman from Frisco, TX with a lot of promise. Garrett Close has been the starting goalkeeper for the Andromedia FC USSF Development Academy team for the past four years. Close is one of five in the Terriers’ freshmen recruiting class. The other four, forward Matthew Aurdenik (Columbia), defender Will Norris (Chapin), forward Ralph Polson, III, (Spartanburg) and defender Josh Scholler (James Island) are all from South Carolina…..The annual South Carolina Youth Soccer President’s Workshop is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Doubletree by Hilton Columbia in Columbia, SC….Troy Lesesne, assistant coach for the College of Charleston men’ soccer program, has been selected one of 15 young male soccer coaches for the NSCAA’s 30 Under 30 year-long education and mentorship program. Lesesne played collegiate soccer at the College of Charleston and then played two seasons with the Charleston Battery…..Furman incoming freshman Trevor Haberkorn (Keller, TX) has been named to head coach Javier Perez’s 18-player U.S. U-18 MNT roster for the 31st Northern Ireland Milk Cup, July 29-Aug. 2, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Furman men’s head coach Doug Allison has also added Scottish striker Lewis Hawke to the program’s 2013 signing class, which was recently ranked #5 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer. He is a native of Howwood, Scotland. Furman returns eight starters from last year’s 12-4-2 squad.