Markanich & Myers: The Charleston Battery’s Dynamic (and Prolific) Duo

When Nick Markanich and Matt ‘MD’ Myers link up, look out.

That happened on Wednesday, May 8th in the Round of 32 of the 2024 Open Cup. Myers, who scored two against Cinderella Division III side South Georgia Tormenta, was hunting a third in OT – a goal that would send the Charleston Battery through to a tasty home tie with MLS’ Atlanta United.

And when that winning goal came, with one of the last kicks of the game, it was the result not of the benign selfishness of two of America’s hottest strikers, but rather a combining of their forces. “You saw what they’re about with that goal,” said coach Ben Pirmann about the 121st minute winner. “A great reading of the situation and a selfless flick by Markanich for MD to get his hat-trick.”

Selfless. It’s an odd word to use about the 24-year-old Nick Markanich. No one is more lethal in front of goal in American Soccer right now than he is. His 12 goals in 12 games have his name on everyone’s lips, even if no one can pronounce that name right (it’s Mar-Kay-Nick, for the record). And Myers, 23, is right behind him with nine. The two have combined for 21 goals so far in all competitions in 2024.

They’ve got the Charleston Battery flying high as the best team in the USL Championship (with an argument to be had coming out of Sacramento, where the Republic are also unbeaten).

Selfless in service of the team’s success, Markanich certainly is. So is Myers, his first-year strike partner who arrived from NYCFC II and Open Cup powerhouse the Ocean City Nor’easters before that. In attacking positions where selfishness is tolerated – in fact, it’s usually revered – they’re buying into a wider team system. As a result of that, says Pirmann: “everyone eats.”

System Paying Off

While Coach Pirmann, 38, prefers to focus on a team-wide process that’s leading to all those oodles of goals for his dual-tip of the spear, he can’t deny what’s happening with his prolific striking duo. “When you do things the right way as a team, someone is going to produce – and right now Markanich is doing that at an astronomical level and MD [Myers] is doing it at a very high level.”

"We’re flying high and the chemistry is there,” added Myers, born and raised in New Jersey, and the more outgoing of the two. “When you’re winning games it just seems easy. We’re having a lot of fun and trying not to get too high.”

How do you not get too high as a member (or a fan) of this flying 2024 Charleston Battery? Eight wins from 11 games (with three draws) has them undefeated in league play and clear atop the overall standings and closest chasers Louisville City by six points. And in the Open Cup, they now face a home date at Patriots Point against Atlanta United – the 2019 Open Cup and 2018 MLS champions – who Coach Pirmann calls one of the “biggest clubs in North America.”

Having also finished runners-up in last year’s USL Championship campaign, it all seems a long way from 2022 when the side missed the playoffs with only six wins from 34 games.

“We stunk and we had to get better,” said Pirmann, who arrived at the club in that rebuilding moment of 2022. He began digging out of a rough situation immediately by instituting a “high energy, high character” methodology. The pairing of Markanich and Myers fit the bill perfectly – and are looking like the finishing touches on a team with very few obvious flaws.

“Look at what MD [Myers] is doing, scoring a bunch of goals like he is – that’s an area where we built on from last year,” said Markanich, who joined the Battery from MLS’ FC Cincinnati at the start of last season and, though shy off the field, is nothing of the sort on it.

“I think we’re always pushing each other,” Markanich added about he and Myers, who’ve scored more goals this year than any strike partnership at any level of the American game where reliable stats are being compiled. Myers chimed in with a cheeky smile: “We’re partners in Teqball [the training game that’s a hybrid of soccer and ping-pong] around the club and we’re usually running the table, so that’s where it really started.”

Working Together

“But really, we just work for each other,” Markanich went on. “And the whole team just sets us up to have success. It’s our job to finish off those chances and just try to stay consistent at that.”

Both attackers, adept at defending from the front and loving the cool breeze of life in this current iteration of the Charleston Battery, see the Open Cup as a major opportunity to take a step beyond. The South Carolina club has a rare history in our historic knockout tournament – as one of only three teams not from Major League Soccer to have reached the Final (2008) since MLS was born in 1996.

“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing,” said Markanich ahead of the big date with Atlanta United, which he admits will be a special day for the home fans. “It’s a great chance for the fans to come out and we know they’re going to pack the house.”

It should come as no surprise that Myers fancies his Division II side’s chances against the former Open Cup and MLS Champions, boasting Argentine World Cup winner Thiago Almada and Georgios Giakoumakis in a star-studded squad. “We want to win trophies here,” he said, unfazed by being the underdogs. “And this is a great opportunity for us.

"Once the whistle goes and the game starts, you just get in that zone,” said Myers as Markanich nodded along in agreement – his quiet the kind of calm that precedes heavy-damage storms. “You get locked in and try to get the job done.

“Me and Nick, we’ll just be doing what we do and trying to get in good positions,” Myers said, with a spot in the rare air of an Open Cup Quarterfinal beckoning. “We’re here to score goals and I don’t really care who’s on the field against us – I think we can do it against anyone.”

Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on X/Twitter.