The Charleston Battery sit tied for the league lead with 13 goals in five games this season, which has helped the historic club move to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

One of the reasons for the club’s early success has been its continued proficiency from set pieces, with the combination of Justin Portillo and Forrest Lasso making any Battery free kick within 35 yards of goal a decent scoring opportunity.

The other – which came to the fore in Saturday’s 3-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Rowdies – is the manner in which the Battery have been able to attack opponents down the right flank. While Portillo may lead Charleston with 11 chances created this season, sitting right behind him in the team’s rankings are Quinton Griffith with 10 and Maikel Chang with nine.

Below is the chance creation and shot chart for the Battery against Tampa Bay, and the heat map of the combined play of Portillo, Griffith and Chang. As the central player of the three, Portillo had the opportunity to drift to the left side, but the majority of Charleston’s threats came down the right as Chang and Griffith teamed up well.

This was also the case in previous successes for the side. The experience Chang and Griffith have together – Griffith has been with the Battery since 2013, Chang since 2014 – gives a great level of understanding to the duo. With a contest against Ottawa’s three-at-the-back system coming up on Saturday, finding the pockets of space out wide that will create two-on-ones or three-on-twos out wide could bring more joy to the Battery’s fans.

U.S. U17s Get Flying Start

Away from the USL this weekend, the U.S. U17s took to the field for the first time at the CONCACAF U17 Championship in Panama, and a pair of players with USL experience had eye-catching performances in a 5-0 romp against Jamaica on Sunday.

Forward Ayo Akinola, who appeared last season for Toronto FC II, took Man of the Match honors with two goals and one assist, while midfielder Chris Durkin – who was in his second stint on loan with the Richmond Kickers before the tournament began – also rated high in the victory after notching the opening goal.

The U.S. will get a much bigger test on Wednesday when it takes on rival Mexico – which took a 6-0 win against El Salvador in its opening game. For both Akinola and Durkin, and the other three members of the squad with USL experience, it will be a big litmus test. Hopefully for the U.S., there will be more moments like this.