(Charlotte, NC) - The Charlotte Eagles hosted the Richmond Kickers tonight at Waddell Stadium.  Robert Ssejjemba led Richmond to a 4-2 victory with his two goals.

The Charlotte Eagles took the first lead of the game in the 30th minute.  Sam Casey made a beautiful serve to the top of the six yard box for Jacob Coggins.  Coggins connected with the cross with a header which deflected off the defender, lofting into the upper left corner. Richmond cut the momentum of the Charlotte goal with a goal of their just a minute later.  Robert Ssejjemba scored when a ball shuffled out to him at the top of the Eagles eighteen yard box.  Ssejjemba ran on to the ball and blasted a shot to the left side to tie up the match at one.

Chris Lemons carries the ball in the midfield - Photo by Rusty Burroughs

The Richmond Kickers took over the lead in the 45th minute, and it was Ssejjemba with his second of the night.  This time Chris Carrieri set up the goal with a nice pass into Ssejjemba to go up 2-1 just before the half.

"We had a great first half.  Richmond's goal just before the half was a real backbreaker," said Eagles coach Mark Steffens.

The Eagles got the first quality chance of the second half in the 50th minute with a blistering shot from Clay Roberts.  Roberts shot from 30 yards out sailed just over the top right corner. 

Richmond took a two goal lead in the 53rd minute when they sent a long ball into the Charlotte half.  Matthew Watson raced ahead of the defense for the ball and Chris McClellan came out of the box to play it, but Watson got a touch to steer the ball to goal.

The Kickers pulled further ahead in the 55th minute off a corner kick.  Mike Burke took the kick and served it in for Kevin Knight.  Knight made a beautiful header scoring just under the cross bar.

Charlotte lifted the intesity in the final twenty minutes trying to fight their way back.  The Eagles did cut the lead to two in the 72nd minute when Jacob Coggins was fouled in the Richmond penalty box.  Coggins took the penalty shot and beat Pascale with a perfectly placed shot with pace into the bottom left corner.

The Charlotte offense continued to pressure through the end of the half, but were unable to finish their chances, falling to Richmond 4-2 in the end.  Shots were fairly even in the half with Richmond edging out Charlotte 14-13.

"The guys worked hard and tried to fight back.  There's definately a lot of fight in this team.  It was 4-1 we made it 4-2 and probably had three saved off their line and not just by the keeper," commented Steffens.