Charlotte, Portland Play to 1-1 Draw
USL1 Charlotte Independence

Charlotte, Portland Play to 1-1 Draw

July 19, 2025 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
Charlotte Independence News Release


CHARLOTTE, NC - Charlotte Independence and Portland Hearts of Pine clashed in their first-ever meeting to a 1-1 draw Saturday night at American Legion Memorial Stadium.

Charlotte got the party started with a #2 Fabrice Ngah goal, but Portland struck in the 69th minute through #3 Nathan Messer to tie it. Despite a 20-8 shot advantage, the Jacks could not take advantage at home, only taking home one point.

The Jacks got the scoring started in the 10th minute. After #8 Juan David Moreno pressed forward a Charlotte counter attack, #9 Jon Bakero picked up the pieces on an original cross. His cross found the left foot of Ngah, who blasted a volley from 18 yards out into the bottom corner.

The left back has now contributed four goals from his defensive position this season.

The Independence had the stronger of play throughout much of the 45 minutes. In the 20th minute, #15 Rafael Jauregui played a lovely ball to the back post. Striker #26 Souaibou Marou rose high for the header, but hit the crossbar.

The visiting team from Oregon looked dangerous with pace in transition, but their final passes were not connecting. However, Charlotte made the most of their possessions, often creating some sort of scoring opportunity. The Jacks held a 12-2 shot advantage in the first half.

Charlotte nearly made the score 2-0 in the 43rd minute. It was a Cameroonian connection, as Ngah centered to Marou, but once again, he found the crossbar with a thunderous left-footed strike from the penalty spot.

A strong first half from the Independence likely could have equaled more goals, but they took a one-goal lead to the halftime stoppage.

Charlotte kept the offensive onslaught going in the second half. In the 60th minute, Morse made a strong save on a curling effort from Jauregui, getting down to his left.

Substitute #80 Christopher Jaime did his best to double the score in the 66th minute. The 21-year-old pushed the counter, drove at his defender, and his shot missed the post by inches.

A Charlotte turnover in the 69th minute put Portland on the attack and visitors equalized. #10 Ollie Wright played Messer, who fired in a bullet from the edge of the box to tie it.

The goal gave Portland loads of confidence and they continued to put the pressure on for a go-ahead goal. Jacks goalkeeper #28 Matt Levy made the save of the match in the 80th minute, diving full stretch to his right to deny #77 Masashi Wada.

Charlotte pushed back late, but could not find a winner and the game finished 1-1.

QUOTES:

Head Coach Mike Jeffries on the performance:

"I thought we had a really solid first half, unfortunately hit the cross bar couple times, but, I thought we had a good opportunities to get the second. and really push the game in the second half. We didn't put our foot on the gas to get the killer goal."

Jeffries on the frustration of not getting all three points:

"I think we have a pretty strong mentality as a group, so we'll maintain confidence and so forth. We managed to kind of pull ourselves back into the game where we had the first goal and had a chance to really bury the game and weren't able to do that."

Javen Romero on the performance:

"I feel like as an overall group, first half we dominated, we hit cross bar twice. ‚¬©Obviously, we just always got to keep fighting till the end. We can't let one little chance that they get can punish us just like they've done."

Christian Chaney on the team's mentality:

"We're in a midseason kind of funk right now and we had three games, two points isn't good enough. So this next week that we have leading up to the next game, we're going to put our heads down and work harder."

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United Soccer League One Stories from July 19, 2025


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