USL PRO Game Report
Saturday, June 21, 2014
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Eagles claimed a 3-1 victory against long-time rivals the Charleston Battery on Saturday night at the Queens Sports Complex to break the side's six-game USL PRO losing streak. Juan Guzman, Fred Sekyere and Jorge Herrera all found the net for the Eagles, who grabbed an early lead and held on for the club's first league victory since May 8.
The game started off in favor of the Eagles when Guzman intercepted a pass that Charleston goalkeeper Odisnel Cooper had intended for one of his defenders. The Colombian corralled the loose pass and put it in the back of the net to open the scoring in just the second minute.
The Eagles kept the momentum going as they struck again in the 28th minute as Charleston gave away a free kick near its penalty area. The delivery from Jorge Herrera was flicked on goal by Sekyere, as the midfielder scored his first professional goal.
The Battery appeared to have pulled a goal back shortly after Sekyere's goal, but the goal was disallowed after an offside call. The assistant referee's flag would again be raised before the break as Charlotte's Drew Yates found the back of the net, but the Eagles maintainted a two-goal lead at the halftime break.
Charleston made a pair of substitutions to start the second half, and one paid off quickly when Mikael Chang scored in the opening minute of the half as he took a good cross and slipped it past Eagles goalkeeper Alec Kann to cut the Eagles' lead in half.
The Eagles restored their two-goal advantage in the 65th minute when Sekyere played in Herrera. The Eagles veteran slotted his shot past Cooper who got tripped up on the play. Charlotte maintained the energy and with good defense and big saves from Kann they were able to keep the gap at two to take victory.
Charlotte takes to the road to battle the Harrisburg City Islanders on Friday, June 27th before traveling to Rochester and taking on the Rhinos on Saturday, June 28th. Make sure to follow the action on twitter with hashtags #CE93 and watch the games LIVE on youtube.com/charlotteeaglessc.