Matthews, NC - The Charlotte Eagles released their pre-season schedule today as the team prepares for its first day of training camp on Monday at the team's new training facility at Elon Park.

 

With many player announcements still on the way from Eagles Headquarters, Charlotte has not guaranteed its fans or the league exactly what the Defending Regular Season Champions will look like. However, all speculation has hinted towards the fact that Hall of Fame Coach Mark Steffens will be bringing one his most experienced squads ever into 2009.

 

That is good news for a team that looks to defend its 2008 Regular Season Title in the USL-2. That campaign will begin March 27th as the Eagles will face off in a special pre-season exhibition against the team that upset them in the 2008 USL-2 Final on Fox Soccer Channel.

 

Charlotte will play the recently promoted Cleveland City Stars at Wake-Med Park in Cary, NC. Gametime is set for 1pm on the 27th.

 

Cleveland moves in to their first USL-1 season with a new look and a new coach. Former City Stars coach and Charlotte Eagles player, Martin Rennie is now the coach of the Carolina Railhawks who will host the special exhibition between the Eagles and the City Stars.

 

The Eagles will continue their pre-season play against USL-1 teams as they travel to Charleston four days later on March 31st to play the Battery. The last time these two franchises met, the Battery escaped with a narrow 2-1 win off a last second penalty kick in the knockout round of the U.S. Open Cup. Charleston went on all the way to the Cup Final where they lost to DC United of the MLS.

 

Charlotte will close out its pre-season with games against Liberty University, Davidson College and UNC Charlotte. A full schedule is provided below: