Eagles Advance to National Championship Final
Published on August 16, 2008 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Charlotte Eagles News Release
Charlotte, NC: The Charlotte Eagles erased an early deficit to defeat Crystal Palace Baltimore 2-1 tonight at Restart Field. Jorge Herrera and Dustin Swinehart tallied the two Charlotte goals. The win puts Charlotte in the National Championship Match.
With Charlotte's win and Cleveland's 1-0 overtime victory over Richmond off a goal from former Eagle Adam Ruud, Cleveland will host the Eagles at Krenzler Stadium on Saturday, August 23rd at 8pm. The match will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel on tape delay at 10pm August 23rd. This will be Charlotte's 7th Championship Final in 16 years and 4th appearance in the last five years.
Tonight's semifinal match started with both teams pressuring the opposition's defense immediately. The pressure paid off early in the 5th minute for Baltimore as a clearance from the back found Val Teixeira streaking down the left flank. Eagles' defender Ben Johnson went up in the air to challenge Teixeira for the ball and was whistled for a foul just outside the corner of the penalty box. Teixeira lined the kick up and quickly sent a pass across the top of the box for Shintaro Harada. Harada fired a bullet from 20 yards out into the right corner, beating Eagles keeper Terry Boss for an early 1-0 lead.
Despite the early deficit, Charlotte maintained possession and continued to put the pressure on the vastly improved Baltimore squad. Joseph Kabwe was a key factor in that pressure, and the forward's skill almost paid off in the 18th minute as he was fouled just outside the box giving Jorge Herrera a dangerous free kick. Unfortunately for Charlotte's Herrera, his shot sailed just over the crossbar and did not threaten Baltimore's keeper Rowland.
Charlotte continued to keep possession the remainder of the half as Kabwe again broke through the defense off a Dustin Swinehart feed. Kabwe's last touch before his shot with a rushing Rowland was too far ahead of him, and Rowland just got enough of it before Kabwe could get a clean shot off. The first half ended with Charlotte trailing 1-0.
In the second half, the Eagles took the field inspired by their home crowd and quickly attacked Crystal Palace from the whistle. The constant attack paid off soon thereafter in the 48th minute and the Eagles were awarded a penalty kick drawn by Robert Ssejjemba.
The Eagles played their entertaining style of two-touch soccer in the back and worked it up to Jorge Herrera who played a great ball into second half sub, Ssejjemba. The Ugandan forward took a great touch off his chest and turned toward goal, but was taken down in the box by a Baltimore defender. The referee quickly blew the whistle and pointed to the spot. Herrera, who played the great ball in to Ssejjemba, calmly stepped up and nailed a shot to the lower right corner, beating Rowland who dove to his left.
With the game being tied at one, Charlotte immediately continued the pressure and hit pay dirt just three minutes later in the 51st minute. This time, it was 2008 scoring champion Dustin Swinehart putting away the eventual game winner off a fantastic cross from Josh Rife. Rife made a great overlapping run to receive the ball from Joseph Kabwe. Rife, the former Indiana University standout put a left footed cross onto the head of a streaking Swinehart, who made no mistake, assuring the Eagles a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles continued pressure for the next 20 minutes of the match, and almost extended their lead when Herrera put a header on goal but Rowland made an amazing save to keep the score 2-1.
Baltimore was not finished for the night, as they continued to get opportunities off several Eagles' uncharacteristic miscues including one shot off the post of a beaten Terry Boss.
The Eagles keeper continued to deny Palace several times late in the game until one mistake by his defense cost him the opportunity to play in the USL-2 Final. As the Eagles defense tried to play out the clock, Steve Shak took a pass from Ben Johnson. Shak, not knowing Palace's forward Gary Brooks was behind him, let the ball go back to Boss. Brooks immediately had a breakaway on Boss, and while attempting to make the save, the Eagles keeper made contact with Brooks outside the box. The disputed call led to Boss receiving a red card.
Kante's following free kick off the foul flew high over the crossbar. With seconds ticking off in stoppage time, Eagles back-up keeper Kevin Trapp made one last fantastic save to send the Charlotte Eagles into their 7th USL-2 Final. Although disappointed in the loss of Boss, the Eagles are happy to have another outstanding keeper like Trapp for the final.
Trapp, the Charlotte native and former Myers Park High School standout will lead his team into Krenzler Stadium in Cleveland, OH to take on the Cleveland City Stars for the USL-2 National Championship! Kickoff for the National Championship Match is slated for 8:00 pm on Saturday, August 23rd and will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel at 10:00 pm. For more information, visit www.CharlotteEagles.com.
United Soccer League Championship Stories from August 16, 2008
- Cleveland ends Kickers' playoff run - Richmond Kickers
- Eagles Advance to National Championship Final - Charlotte Eagles
- City Stars To Host Championship Next Saturday After Defeating Richmond 1-0 In Overtime - Cleveland City Stars
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