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Crystal Palace falls to first place Charlotte 3-0 Saturday

26 Jul, 2008

Crystal Palace Baltimore lost to league leading Charlotte Eagles on Saturday night at Restart Field in North Carolina. Steve Shak, Jorge Herrera and Dustin Swinehart all posted goals for Charlotte in the 3-0 victory, which extended the Eagles league lead with a 12-1-4 record, while Palace falls to 9-6-1, good for 4th place with just four remaining regular season games.

Charlotte scored the first goal of the match in the eighth minute of play. The Eagles' Ben Johnson put a throw in to the near post for Dustin Swinehart, who won the header and flicked it on to the far post. Veteran defender Steve Shak was unmarked and easily touched it in.

The Eagles extended the lead to two goals in the 17th minute. The play began with a long ball played down the left side for former D.C. United forward, Robert Ssejjemba. Ssejjemba played a one-two with Joseph Kabwe before sending a cross to Jorge Herrera. Herrera controlled the ball and fired a well placed shot just inside the right post to beat Brian Rowland in the Crystal Palace goal.

Crystal Palace turned up the pressure in the second half, but it wasn't enough. Baltimore almost got on the board in the 74th minute after intercepting a pass from the Charlotte defense and sending it across to Pat Healy. With an open net and Baltimore's best chance to score, Healy put the shot wide right.

Charlotte extended its lead to 3-0 in the 80th minute of play. Darren Toby played a through ball forward for Dustin Swinehart on the attack. Swinehart maneuvered wide right to get around goalkeeper Rowland. Swinehart beat Rowland and made a tough angle shot from the right side into the open net. It was Swinehart's 15th goal of the regular season, leading the league.

The match ended with the Eagles out-shooting Crystal Palace 11-4 in the second half and 24-9 overall. Crystal Palace takes on Real Maryland Thursday, July 31 at UMBC. On Sunday, August 3, they take on Bermuda at Poly/Western High School in the City of Baltimore, a one-time home field location change that will see the derby match played as part of the Baltimore International Festival’s (BIF) 4th Annual Mayor’s Cup Soccer Tournament.

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