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The Charlotte Eagles USL-2 professional soccer team
begins their fight in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup
Tournament on Wednesday, June 28th facing USL-2
rival Wilmington Hammerheads. Kickoff is
scheduled for 7:30 pm at Legion Sports Complex in
Wilmington, NC. The US Open
Cup, which is recognized as US Soccer’s National
Championship, is an annual competition open to all
amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated
with US Soccer. |
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Wednesday nights match is sure to be an exciting battle
between two long time rivals. The two teams have
faced one another twice so far in the 2006 USL-2 season,
with both matches ending in a tie 1-1, 3-3. No ties
will be allowed on Wednesday night with the victor moving on
to the US Open Cup third round against the Atlanta
Silverbacks on July 12th.
The Wilmington Hammerheads advanced to the second round with
a 3-1 victory over the Virginia Beach Submariners of the USL
Premiere Development League (PDL) in a first round match on
June 14th in Virginia. The Charlotte Eagles
automatically qualified and received a bye into the second
round with their 2005 USL-2 National Championship win.
Charlotte and Wilmington both advanced to the US Open Cup
third round in 2005 only to be defeated by Major League
Soccer Teams. The Eagles suffered a difficult 3-2 loss
to CD Chivas USA with a Chivas goal in the final minutes of
play. Wilmington was ousted by FC Dallas, 3-1.
This year only the winner of Wednesday nights match will
make it to the third round and will then need to defeat
Atlanta of the USL-1 in order to face an MLS team.
If the Charlotte Eagles are able to pull off a victory in
Wilmington on Wednesday night, then Charlotte will host the
third round match against the Atlanta Silverbacks. The
match would be played at UNC Charlotte's Transamerica Field.
More information on the Eagles pending third round match
will be posted on the Charlotte Eagles website (www.CharlotteEagles.com)
on Wednesday night.
