Eagles 4, Blitzz 2
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Utah Blitzz ended their first United Soccer League season in the rain more than 2,000 miles from home Saturday night.
The Charlotte Eagles stopped the Blitzz's surprising playoff run with a 4-2 victory in a D3 semifinal game before 2,487 fans at Providence High School.
The Eagles will play for the league championship for the second time in four years next weekend against the New Jersey Stallions in Charlotte. The Blitzz, who were trying to become the first expansion team in four years to advance to the title game, finished their season at 13-5-3.
"It's been tremendously exciting," Utah coach Chris Agnello said. "To get this far, and to come in here and play like we did against a strong team, says a lot for us."
All but one of the game's goals was scored in a wild first half. The Blitzz were outshot, 16-4, but two of those shots connected within two minutes of each other.
The Eagles scored first in the 20th minute on a play that goalkeeper Mike Littman earned a yellow card for disputing. Charlotte's Ben Johnson played the ball toward the net from just outside the box and Ryan Leib followed Littman's deflection with a shot that appeared to knock the Blitzz keeper and the ball back over the goal line.
Utah earned three more yellow cards in the first half. "I was disappointed in our discipline and our composure at that point, but we were able to pull ourselves together," Agnello said.
The Blitzz bounced back with a pair of goals two minutes apart for a 2-1 lead. In the 28th minute, Rich Breza took a cross from B.J. McNicol and headed it past Charlotte keeper Dwayne Adams from about five yards out.
"We knew that we were going to have to start scoring," Breza said. "After their first goal, we started saying, 'We've gotta go out and get one.' "
Two minutes later McNicol scored an unassisted goal, blasting a rising shot off the crossbar and the right post into the upper right corner of the net from about 25 yards out.
But the Eagles evened the game two minutes later, when Mark Pinch took a Jeff Johnson pass and scored out of a crowd from five yards out.
Charlotte grabbed a 3-2 lead with six minutes left in the half on its sharpest bit of teamwork. Dustin Swinehart took the ball down the near sideline and headed a cross for Joey Johnson. Johnson sliced a shot past Littman from about 12 yards out. Nate Watkins scored the final goal with 20 minutes to play.
"We came in knowing that they were a good team. They like to go forward, and we figured it would be a high-scoring game," Agnello said. "We had hoped to get behind them more than we did. But I'm happy that we created about a half-dozen good scoring chances each half."