U.S. Open Cup Game Report
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Eagles advanced to the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a 3-1 victory against the PDL's Carolina Dynamo on Wednesday night at Queens College. Jorge Herrera had two goals and an assist to lead his side to victory, and a game with the Carolina RailHawks on Wednesday, May 28.
The game started off slowly with a lot of back and forth between the two sides. Charlotte's Zak Boggs got a good opportunity in the fourth minute but it went just wide of the post. It looked like the Eagles had taken the lead in the 22nd minute, but a goal by Drew Yates was disallowed after a foul was called. Another opportunity came when the Eagles got a free kick in the 31st minute, but Herrera's free kick soared over the crossbar.
Boggs had another good opportunity in the 41st minute but was denied by Dynamo goalkeeper Alex McCauley. Two minutes later, however, Juan Guzman opened up the scoring off a cross from Herrera to give the Eagles a 1-0 halftime lead.
Eagles goalkeeper Brock Duckworth continued to stand tall in the second half and made a huge save on Mamadee Nyepon to keep the Eagles ahead by one just after the break. Herrera bagged his first of the game as he hit a looping shot in the 55th minute into the left corner of net to extend the Eagles' lead to two goals.
The Dynamo would pull a goal back in the 60th minute when Nyepon found the back of the net, but the Eagles continued to have a number of good opportunities and put the away in the 87th minute when Herrera stole possession from Dynamo defender Biko Brennan and fired a left-footed shot into the back of the net.