Zach Hall

2016 US Open Cup Round 2: Independence ground Eagles in true Charlotte derby

May 19, 2016 by Zach Hall

Charlotte Independence Charlotte Eagles — Photo: Charlotte Eagles

A cool night at Charlotte Christian School was the scene as the sun began to set on the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup for the first-ever official match between the Charlotte Eagles and the Charlotte Independence. A real derby.

Adding to the drama is the fact that when the Eagles dropped to the PDL after more than 20 years as a pro team, the Independence were the club that replaced them in the USL.

The Eagles, playing in the tournament as a PDL team for the first time, entered the night with just two games under their belt, having won twice the week before in Open Cup and regular season play. The Independence, on the other hand, sit third in the USL Eastern Conference having already played nine regular season matches and a full preseason – giving the USL side an apparent fitness advantage and a comfort in tactics that proved to be a difference maker in the club’s 2-0 win.

Having played a congested schedule over the past two weeks, the night ended up being a much-needed opportunity for Independence to rest starters and see younger guys get some key minutes. Young players like Austin Yearwood, Emmanuel Appiah, Alec Bartlett, and Christopher Hellmann all made their first starts for the club in any competition. It would prove to be a fateful night for the young forward Hellmann, who got the game going just before halftime.

Both the scoreboard and the play on the field was deadlocked for over 40 minutes as neither Charlotte team could find the back of the net – though they had their chances. Eagles forward Tresor Mbuyu struck the woodwork around the 22nd minute and the Independence got a few shots off before Hellmann would get on the end of a poor save from William Pyle in the 44th, notching his first professional goal in his first-ever start for the club.

On the other side of halftime in the 50th minute, Caleb Calvert for the Independence would get a shot on goal off, forcing Pyle to make a save. Unfortunately for the PDL side, the ball fell straight to midfielder Jorge Herrera who put the ball away. It was bittersweet for the Columbian veteran, after spending over a decade with the Eagles throughout their professional days, but it was his goal that would put the nail in the Eagles’ Open Cup coffin.

Independence did a good job closing out the game, with young defenders Alec Bartlett and Austin Yearwood paired at center back for the first time performing well and goalkeeper John Berner returning from offseason surgery to keep a clean sheet in his first appearance back.

“First of all, a lot of respect to the Eagles group,” said Independence head coach Mike Jeffries after the game. “I think they’re very talented and play at a high level. For us, it was very important to get guys minutes in a meaningful game, in a game where there’s pressure to have to win, and I thought the guys held up very well. It’s always tricky in the Open Cup because you want to advance and yet, the way our schedule’s been with two away games…I didn’t make a lot of changes in those games so obviously giving games a break was important. More importantly, its good for these guys to in a game and contribute and they all did.”

With the win, the Independence, won’t have the leave the state of North Carolina. They will travel to Cary on June 1 to take on the NASL’s Carolina RailHawks in Round 3. This will be the second year in a row that the two clubs will meet at WakeMed Soccer Park. Last year, the Independence got the best of Carolina, winning 1-0 in the Third Round.

Zach Hall is your friendly neighborhood soccer fan with a blog, based in Charlotte, NC. He can be found spending too much time on Twitter @crowntownsoccer.

2016 US Open Cup Round 1: Charlotte Eagles get first amateur win, hold off Myrtle Beach Mutiny in OT

May 14, 2016 by Zach Hall

While the rain might have held off on Wednesday night, the drama didn’t as the Charlotte Eagles won 3-2 against the Myrtle Bay Mutiny in overtime.

With the win, the Eagles advance to the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in their first game as an amateur club. They were a professional team in the USL from 1993-2014 until dropping down to the Premier Development League prior to the 2015 season.

It was Charlotte that would have both the first and last word scoring in the 49th and 59th minutes, both put away by Jamie Siaj the junior from Pfeffer University. Both goals were assisted by Charlotte native Tresor Mbuyu.

Just a few minutes later, midfielder Santi Moar almost put the game away making it 3-0, but couldn’t find full contact with Mbuyu’s cross. The miss would come back to haunt the Eagles, as Ryan Arambula found himself with the ball at his feet after a scuffed clearance and had no problem putting it past Will Pyle and into the net.

Charlotte didn’t make it any easier for themselves on what was essentially the next play of the game, with Cam Boytes earning himself a straight red card for taking down a streaking Tobenna Uzo. The Eagles defense would hold strong for 20-plus minutes until the dying breaths of added time when Jon Ander Ibarrondo scored an absolute golazo from 25 yards out, taking a quick restart from a free kick, marching it up 30 yards by himself with no pressure and gave Pyle absolutely no chance and keeping the ball out.

The referee would call an end to the ninety-minutes just seconds after the Eagles restarted the match, all of a sudden tied up 2-2 and down a man.

When extra time began, it was obvious both teams were pushing hard for a winner. Even down a man, the Eagles played a tough, on the ground possession game. In the end however, it would be from penalty spot that Charlotte would earn their winner and even then it wasn’t with drama.

In the 109th minute, Eagles midfielder Marco Micaletto played a lovely give-and-go sequence with a teammate to get into the box where Jeremy Bonyaa took him down, heard the referee’s whistle blow and point to the spot. Micaletto took the ball himself and fired home a shot to the keeper’s right, but the ball bounced off the bottom pole of the goal frame and for a few seconds the entire stadium thought the shot had hit the post and not gone in. After a few seconds of staring at the field waiting for someone to say something, it was soon realized that the ball had in fact gone completely into the goal and the home team was ahead once more, 3-2.

After the winning goal, the Mutiny would pile and pile on pressure, throwing men forward at the depleted Eagles side, but Pyle and his defense kept any and all attacks away from the net until the final whistle blew.

“It’s really exciting to see the character of the group,” said Eagles head coach David Dixon. “They showed a lot of heart to pull back into the game. I think we gave up an easy goal and then to have a screamer right at the end, it’s really hard to bounce back from that. I think we’ve got a good group and I’m excited to keep going.”

The Eagles will move on to Round 2 where they will host the USL’s Charlotte Independence, the club that took their place when they left the league. They will square off on Wednesday, May 18 at the Charlotte Christian School at 7 p.m. ET.

Zach Hall is your friendly neighborhood soccer fan with a blog, based in Charlotte, NC. He runs CrownTownSoccer.com and hosts the Crown Town Cast – the only Charlotte soccer focused podcast in the whole wide world. Find him on Twitter, @crowntownsoccer.

2015 US Open Cup Round 4: Jorge Herrera’s goal leads Charlotte Independence to upset win, earns him TheCup.us Player of the Round

June 25, 2015 by Zach Hall

Bilal Duckett (Left, #15), Jorge Herrera (Right, #10) and Patrick Slogic (Rear) of Charlotte Indepedence celebrating Herrera’s goal against the New England Revolution. Photo: Elise Amendola, AP

Charlotte Independence’s Jorge Herrera has been named the TheCup.us Player of the Round for Round 4 of the 2015 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, after his long-range curling effort put his USL team over MLS side New England Revolution. Herrera’s seventh career Open Cup goal not only helped the expansion team upset a MLS team, but it won his club $15,000 as the USL team that advanced the furthest in this year’s tournament.

The award is voted on by TheCup.us staff and a select panel from the North American Soccer Reporters.

The Revolution used a heavily-rotated squad against the USL team and for the first half-hour or so, looked up to the task. However, momentum shifted in the 32nd minute when a Herrera free kick met the head of forward Tomasz Zahorski and went just over the bar. Confidence began to fill Charlotte, and they continued that confident look into the second half. After great pressure from center back Mechack Jerome, Alex Martinez was released on the left hand side and lifted the ball to Herrera on the edge of the box. Herrera showed great skill to chest the ball and allow the ball to bounce before volleying a curling shot into the back corner. The one goal was enough to lift Independence past New England and continue on in the 102nd edition of the tournament.

With the win, the Independence join the New York Cosmos as the only two lower division teams remaining in the Fifth Round. They move on to face the four-time US Open Cup champion Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.

“I think that the guys put together a really nice 90 minutes”, Herrera said after the win. “We scored, we were able to hold the win and then end we get what we were trying tonight.”

“It was a hell of a goal,” Independence head coach Mike Jeffries said of Herrera’s strike. “Jorge is such a talented player and a really good leader with our group. It’s nice to have a guy with his experience, and his class, on the team.”

Entering the competition, Herrera had six career Open Cup goals, all of them with the Charlotte Eagles, who after 22 years as a pro club in the USL, self-relegated to the Premier Development League (Division 4). The Independence stepped in to take over the Eagles’ franchise rights for the city of Charlotte. Herrera scored a pair of goals in 2008 for the Eagles, and then two more each in 2013 and 2014. With his goal against the Revolution, that gives him a goal in three straight tournaments. With seven career goals, it puts him in select company. Other members of the seven-goal club include Taylor Twellman, Jason Kreis, and Herculez Gomez, among others.

All seven of his goals have been scored while part of a Division 3 team, which puts him second among all Division 3 players in the Modern Era (1995-present) behind David Bulow’s nine. Herrera is also the fourth Colombian to win the award, joining Danny Barrera (Cal FC, 2012), Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders, 2009 and 2011) and Jose Correa (Chivas USA, 2012).

Herrera beat out Jimmy Maurer, keeper of the Cosmos, by a single vote to win this honor. Chris Wondolowski of the San Jose Earthquakes finished a close third, followed close behind by Philadelphia Union goalkeeper John McCarty.

FULL MATCH REPLAY: CHARLOTTE AT NEW ENGLAND

2015 US Open Cup Round 2: Tomasz Zahorski’s hat trick leads Charlotte Independence over Upward Stars FC

May 20, 2015 by Zach Hall

On a still and humid South Carolina night, Charlotte Independence began its first ever US Open Cup tournament with a convincing 4-1 win over NPSL side Upward Stars SC. While Independence was technically the home side, Rock Hill, SC, is pretty much half the distance between the two. Charlotte’s home stadium is still under construction (due to open June 13th), so this Open Cup fixture was played across the state border on Winthrop University’s campus.

The beginning of the night didn’t seem like a “David and Goliath” situation, with Andre Carle of the Stars opening up the scoring on the night. Independence goalkeeper Diego Restrepo and centerback Mechack Jerome had some miscommunication that Carle took advantage of, leaving Restrepo ten feet away from his goal while Carle simply walked the ball into the back of the net.

The Charlotte defense wouldn’t allow another mistake like that to happen for the rest of the game, as the players turned it on, pressed high and bossed possession for the next 25 minutes. Just eight minutes after going down, Independence forward Tomasz Zahorski got his head on the end of a Ben Newnam corner, put the ball in the near corner where Stars keeper Matt Amis had no chance of reaching it. Twenty minutes later Charlotte right back Jack Metcalf hoofed a long ball up to local lad Enzo Martinez, who headed it toward goal. The ball bounced down off the top bar and the referee Jeffery Muschik judged that it went over the line, giving the home side a 2-1 advantage. Just before the halftime whistle Zahorski would find the back of the net again, this time from the middle of a scrum in front of goal. Martinez found the ball at his feet, quickly put it in a good position for Zahorski to take care of business and it he didn’t miss his opportunity. By the time the dust settled, Independence was going into the locker room at halftime up 3-1.

Martinez’s goal would be the last one they needed, as the Stars struggled to put together many meaningful attacks against the home team in the second half. Carle had two half chances around the 60 minute mark, but his team was slow to aid him pushing forward and both would end up in uneventful corners.

Tomasz Zahorski wasn’t done yet though. Earning his hat trick in the first minute of second half extra time after Ben Newnam pulled Amis off his line, crossed the ball to the other side of the box where Zahorski chested the ball down and laid the ball clean into the back corner.

Charlotte coach Mike Jefferies after the game: “Credit to the Upward Stars, they made it difficult for us and we made it difficult for ourselves after that first goal, thats a gift and gives them momentum that we had pretty well under control. Credit to the guys for keeping their composure.”

“Minimum expectation was tonight. We obviously wanted to get through and give ourselves an opportunity to play upper division teams. The goal for most teams in lower divisions is to get a game against a MLS team and see how far you go and we’re no different.”

Charlotte midfielder Enzo Martinez on playing in front of family in hometown: “To play in front of my family and friends is a huge blessing.”

Martinez on earning more regular season minutes: “That’s my mentality right now. Its a lot of games, so we all have to be ready. Hopefully I keep taking advantage of the opportunities given to me and make a case for myself.”

On how far he wants to go: “We take it a game at a time, but we want to win it. Obviously it would be really tough, but there’s no reason why we can’t do it.”