The Charlotte Eagles did not disappoint on Saturday night, advancing to the PDL Final
My brother attended his first soccer game on Saturday night in Matthews, and what a thrilling first game it was.
The Charlotte Eagles are celebrating their 25th season of playing soccer, and, well… it’s going pretty great so far. Despite not winning their division for the first time since joining the PDL in 2014, they have made it further in the PDL playoffs this year than any before. After clinching an Eastern Conference championship last weekend in Georgia, they earned the rights to host Mississippi Brilla FC Saturday in a PDL National Semi-Final at Matthews Sportsplex, where the Charlotte Independence usually play.
(And… spoiler alert… they won.)
I took my brother Andy, who had never been to a soccer game before. He’s not particularly into the sport like I am, but thought it would be fun for him to see what my obsession is all about. It was definitely fun for me taking someone who knows a little but not a whole lot about the teams, or even the sport itself. And it was a good crowd too: 1,112 fans packed in the Plex!
We also sat behind this really cool couple who was at the game with their grandson. They told us they were a host family for Eagles players for 17 years and had only recently stopped hosting to spend more time with their grandson in the summer. We chatted throughout the game about different things relating to the Eagles past, the Independence, and the game that was happening on the field.
And the game was awesome!!
As fellow soccer fans in the Carolinas, I’m sure most of you can relate to the idea of taking a non-soccer-fan to a game… and you really hope it’s an entertaining first experience for them.
As a Charlotte Independence fan, I have come to expect my team to score multiple goals per game, but I wouldn’t mind a 1–0 final as long as we come away with the win at the end of the match. On Saturday with Andy though, I was really hoping this wouldn’t be a 0–0 draw with extra time and penalties.
It didn’t go that way though, and he had an awesome time! Both teams created some great chances; I was certain Joao Costa was going to score a few times just like he did the Saturday before where he put in 4 goals in the Eastern Conference semi-final!
Costa didn’t end up with a goal, but he did get an assist as he found Kelvin Omondi for a beautiful shot to put the Eagles ahead 1–0 in the 31st minute:
Charlotte continued to push for the rest of the half, but couldn’t get a second goal. It was 1–0 at halftime with the Charlotte Eagles on top.
I think Mississippi’s coach must have made an awesome halftime speech: Brilla FC hit the ground running after the break. They seemed to have the better chances to start things out, and folks in the stands were starting to get a bit nervous that the game would be tied up any moment.
But then, Charlotte doubled their lead off a free kick from midfield in the 62nd minute. The Eagles kicked the ball from the right side of midfield just to the left of the penalty area, then headed the ball into the box, and it looked like Costa got a touch on it, the ball took kind of a strange little bounce and Ashley Sibisi was right there to put the ball past the keeper.
Charlotte took a 2–0 lead with roughly 30 minutes left in the game.
Now, some teams may feel disheartened going down 2–0, on the road, with 2/3 of the game over, but not Mississippi. They say “2–0 is the most dangerous lead” for a reason.
Brilla FC came at the Eagles even harder than they had been, and quickly capitalized on a mistake by the Eagles just 10 minutes later. In the 70th minute, goalkeeper/likely MVP James Pyle had a poor clearance (this was seriously the only thing he did wrong the whole game) and Mississippi’s Mario Mastrangelo jumped on it. At that point, it was practically 2 on 1 as Mastrangelo found Jordan Skelton, who got to the ball just before Pyle, and easily tapped the ball in to cut the Eagles’ lead to 1.
After that, Brilla kept pushing for a second goal, and the fans in our area were getting even more nervous. The tension was palpable. Then finally in the 77th minute, we had what felt like the defining moment of the game.
As Brilla was crossing a ball in, Appiah fouled Skelton in the penalty area. Brilla were awarded a penalty kick with a chance to tie the game at two..
BUT THEY HAD TO PUT THE PENALTY PAST JAMES PYLE.
And frankly, that’s just not fair. Mississippi should file a complaint, because James Pyle is a penalty saving machine! This dude saved a penalty in the Eastern Conference final at a key moment in the first half. Then, he saved a penalty in the shootout to win the Conference.
Andrew Pierce came on our SNST Weekly Podcast (subscribe now on your favorite podcast app) and said the coach told the players ahead of the shootout, “Just make your shots, James is going to save 2.”
It’s just expected this dude is going to save penalties.
So, Thomas Vancaeyezeele stepped up to the penalty spot, shot to the right, and James “Penalty-Saving Machine” Pyle SAVED THE PENALTY!
Check it out below:
At that point, the momentum swung completely into the Eagles’ favor. What seemed like seconds later, the Eagles scored their third goal. My girlfriend PK (she came to the game late after work) predicted that Ryan Williams would score, since I kept saying I was sure Costa was gonna get a goal. She turned out to be right as Ashley Sibisi crossed the ball in, and Williams slid in to just get on the end of the cross to put the icing on the cake for the Eagles.
In a matter of moments, the Eagles went from possibly being tied up 2–2 with less than 15 minutes to go, to being up by two goals, 3–1. Everyone in the stands was going nuts, even my brother was cheering.
It was fun: fans were drumming, singing, and screaming “GO EAGLES!”
Those last 10 minutes were just a big celebration, as the home fans knew that their team was going to play for the PDL National Championship next week. After what seemed like 25 minutes of stoppage time, the ref blew the final whistle, and the fans went nuts again.
The game finished 3–1 in favor of the Eagles. The players came and thanked the fans, did a little dance… and now the Eagles get to play one more game.
The PDL National Championship game will be in Charlotte on Saturday night, though the time has yet to be determined at time of writing. The opponent for the Eagles will be the Thunder Bay Chill, Central Conference champions who knocked out the Western Conference champion FC Golden State Force at home.
This will be the fourth time Thunder Bay has been in the PDL final, having won the title once in 2008. And this Chill team has not given up a single goal in the playoffs so far. It will be an interesting match up considering Charlotte has actually scored the most goals in the playoffs this year with 8.
Whatever happens this weekend though, it’s a great time for Carolina soccer as one of our oldest clubs has a chance at winning the league championship.
I hope to see lots of y’all at the championship game, and I am sure I speak for a lot of you Carolina soccer fans out there when I say, “GO EAGLES!”
