Charlotte Eagles News Release - www.charlotteeagles.com
Friday, May 16, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NC -- The Charlotte Eagles tied the Harrisburg City Islanders 1-1 in front of a great crowd of 2,017 on Friday night.
Harrisburg opened the scoring with a strike from Ryan Heins in the 26th minute. A quick feed from Brian Ombiji put Heins through and he was able to lift the ball into the net that had been quickly vacated by Terry Boss.
The half ended with Harrisburg leading 1-0. The Eagles were able to pull even in the 65th minute from a free kick by Jorge Herrera that was deflected and ended up in the back of the City Islander’s net. As it stood the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
On a quickly cooling night the Eagles were able to open the game up with much of the possession. However, the possession was happening mostly in the Charlotte defensive half which Harrisburg was more than willing to concede. However, Charlotte did not just dominate in possession early, but also in quality opportunities.
A little after 10 minutes in, Jorge Harrera rattled the cross bar with a strike from a free kick about 23 yards out. This seemed to wake Harrisburg a little who continued to be confident in Mo Oduor trying to control midfield and find a way to counter attack.
Their plan produced as they struck off of what seemed like a defensive miscue. A Charlotte give away at midfield led to a quick ball from Brian Ombiji that slid an open Ryan Heins through on a closing Terry Boss. Heins was able to lift the ball on the run past a helpless Terry Boss into the open net.
The half continued to lead to more Charlotte possession and produced another quality scoring chance. Just before the stroke of halftime Taurai Daka was able to get on the end of a nice Eagles possession which he started and rattle the cross bar yet again. His shot from about 22 yards beat Harrisburg net tender Danny Cepero but the crossbar denied the Eagles once again. As the half closed shortly after Harrisburg led 1-0.
On the game Charlotte coach Mark Steffens said, "They had the better of the first half, and we had a better second half."
The Eagles opened the second half with more possession and the half carried on much like the first. Both teams were unable to really break behind the other teams back line. Brady Bryant and Steve Shak were able to anchor a solid defensive unit that gave up 5 shots in the second half, but no real significant scoring chances.
The Eagles were able to draw even after 65 minutes on a Jorge Herrera free kick. A foul about 25 yards out produced a free kick that was in almost the exact same spot that Harrera had drilled the crossbar from in the first half. As Harrera struck the free kick a crowd ran in front of Danny Cepera and the ball deflected into the right corner.
As the half wore on neither team was able to produce any more great offensive chances as both back lines stood strong.
When asked what he thought about the result with defending champions Harrisburg coach Steffens said " I think any time you can take a point from a strong team like Harrisburg its a good thing. At the same time no one likes to tie much less at home."
Both teams faught hard and substituted looking for a spark. However, neither team was able to pull in another goal and the night ended in a draw. Harrisburg will travel to Wilmington and play the Hamerheads tomorrow. The Eagles have a week off until they play the Richmond Kickers in Richmond on May 24th.
