| | | Eagles Win in Pink!
Swinehart Scores Two in 2-1 Victory
(Charlotte, NC) - Restart Field was the venue for Kick for the Cure Night and another Charlotte Eagles and Lady Eagles doubleheader night. The Charlotte Eagles sported special pink jerseys in support of Komen for the Cure and the fight against breast cancer The Eagles showed they can even play well in pink as veteran forward Dustin Swinehart lead the Eagles to a 2-1 victory over the Western Mass Pioneers. Charlotte continues its reign at the top of the standings with a record of 7-1-2, 23pts, while Western Mass falls to 4-4-3, 15pts in the middle of the table.  Steve Shak, heart of the Eagles defense, wins a header (photo by Rusty Burroughs) Charlotte came out strong from the start of the match and really controlled the tempo of play with strong possession as a heavy cooling rain poured down on Restart Field at kickoff. Dustin Swinehart opened up the scoring for the night, just thirteen minutes into play. First year Eagle Darren Toby set up the goal with a nice serve from the right side. Swinehart got airborne and redirected the cross into the net with a nicely placed header back to the near post.
Just three minutes later Swinehart added his second goal of the night to put the Eagles up 2-0. This time it was veteran defender Josh Rife who set up the goal from the left side of the pitch. Rife made a swift pass into the middle to connect with Swinehart with space in front of the net, about ten yards out. Swinehart took a one touch poke at the ball, beating Western Mass goalkeeper Matt Glaser on the right side. The goal was Swinehart's tenth goal of regular season play, leading the league.
The half ended with Charlotte up 2-0. Charlotte out-shot Western Mass 10-1 in the first half.
Western Mass picked up its intensity in the second half of play. The Pioneers looked to use physical play to knock Charlotte off of their possession game in the second half, and play got scrappy at times in the midfield.
In the 55th minute the Pioneers cut the Eagles lead in half when Neil Krause drew a foul resulting in a penalty kick. Krause and Brady Bryant were shoulder to shoulder chasing down a loose ball played forward by Western Mass. Just inside the box, Krause got tripped up, and despite the noise of the disagreeing Charlotte fans, the referee awarded Western Mass a penalty kick. Jeff Deren stepped up to take the kick, and beat Charlotte goalkeeper Kevin Trapp with a brisk shot to the lower left side.
The remainder of the second half continued to be very physical, and referee Risso Francisce was not afraid to blow his whistle to maintain control of the match. Francisce dealt out three yellow cards in the half; two for Western Mass and one for Charlotte. The match ended with a 2-1 victory for Charlotte.
The pink jerseys worn in match are being auctioned off this week at www.CharlotteEagles.com. All proceeds from the jersey auction will be donated to Komen for the Cure to help in the fight against breast cancer. The jersey auction opened today with the kick off of the Lady Eagles match at 5:00pm and will continue throughout this week. The auction will close on Saturday, June 21st at 5:00pm. Visit www.CharlotteEagles.com to view the auction, and click the register button on the auction site to participate.
The Charlotte Eagles are on the road for their next four matches in another busy stretch of games. On June 21st the Eagles are in Maryland to face the Real Maryland Monarchs, then on June 24th its round two of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The Eagles travel to Charleston to face USL-1 side, the Charleston Battery. Should the Eagles defeat Charleston it will mean the chance to host MLS reigning champions the Houston Dynamo on July 1st in Open Cup round three. Charlotte has a two game road trip on June 27th at Western Mass and June 28th at Bermuda.
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