Written By:  Andrew Mosier

Photo By:  Adam Luther

 

STILLWATER, OKLA.—The Charlotte Eagles topped the Rhode Island Rogues FC, 1-0, on Saturday to advance to the WPSL Championship match. Taylor Suarez (Florida State commit) put the Eagles through to Sunday’s Final versus Egan, Minn.-based Salvo SC with a dogged solo effort in the 88^th minute.

“Today it came down to tenacity and perseverance,” Sam Hope, Charlotte Eagles head coach, said. “It’s been our story all season, just keep fighting and continuing to believe in ourselves.”

Charlotte came out swinging from the opening whistle versus a Rhode Island side with a reputation for its entertainingly no-nonsense approach to the game.

“Early on we had to solve some problems we had not seen before,” Hope said.

One of those problems was helping Suarez, a U.S. Women’s Youth Team standout, find the game. After starting on the wing, Suarez was moved to the right where she not only found the game, she began to dominate it.

Photo By: Adam Luther

The Eagles fired the first shot across the East Region Champion’s bow off a 17^th-minute corner kick when Charlotte midfielder, Emmi Dunn (Lenoir-Rhyne), came crashing through two defenders and Rhode Island goalkeeper, Jessica Kasacek (University of Maine), to nod the ball down before being cleared off the line.

Eleven minutes later Charlotte thought it had broken the deadlock when Kasacek bravely challenged Eagles’ midfielder JJ Aalbue (Montreat College) for a low-driven cross eight yards from goal. The collision left both players on the ground and the ball loose at the top of the penalty area. Ashlynn Serepca (University of Alabama) coolly slotted the ball into the untended net moments before the referee blew the play dead, negating Serepca’s goal.

After some tactical adjustments of its own over halftime, Rhode Island came out in the second half looking like the team that rolled to an 8-1-3 record en route to this weekend’s WPSL Championship Semifinals. Rhode Island’s Camryn Thompson (Stonehill College) snuck in on a routine back pass that forced Charlotte keeper, Blair Barefoot (UNC-Wilmington) off her line to challenge Thompson while the Eagles gathered numbers behind her. The rebound fell to Rhode Island’s Hannah McNulty (Providence) whose shot was cleared off the line by defender Morgan Leyble (UNC-Wilmington).

“A tip-of-the-hat to our backline,” Hope said. “They were so strong all game and for Morgan [Leyble] to clear the ball off the line like that. That was huge for us.”

Slowly, as the second half wore on, Charlotte turned the tide by maintaining more and more control. With two minutes to play Suarez nearly broke the deadlock running onto a delicately weighted through-ball from Serepca. After closing the space on Suarez quickly, Kasacek forced a weak shot from Suarez, which was cleared off the line by defender Emily DeRoehn (Johnson & Wales—Providence).

“We really didn’t want to have the game go to overtime,” Hope said. “We were knocking on the door. It was just a matter of time.”

After her near miss a minute earlier, Suarez finally found the winner with just a minute before the end of regulation – but it almost didn’t happen.

Photo By: Adam Luther

A bad first touch off a cross from Meredith King (Ole Miss) on the right side sent Suarez scrambling to regain control at the top of the penalty area after a defender poked the ball away. Suarez pulled the ball onto her left foot and beat a defender before she slotted the ball just inside the near post with her left foot.

“We talked about how we just need to stay composed in the final third and find the back of the net,” Suarez said. “At the end of the game, it seemed to start to come together. Meredith [King] found herself out wide. She played in a great ball. My first touch wasn’t great, but I was able to get back around and finish it.”

Charlotte faces the winners of the second semifinal, Salvo SC (Eagan, Minn.), in the WPSL Championship final on Sunday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM CDT at Neal Patterson Stadium on the campus of Oklahoma State University.

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LINEUPS

Rhode Island Rogues FC

0-Jessica Kasacek, 5-Taylor Chianese, 21-Rebecca Lancaster, 18-Emily DeRoehn, 3-Abby Kone, 23-Ashton Armstrong, 17-Slie Guilmette, 6-Paige Forster ©, 25-Jordan Restivo. 27-Hanna McNulty, 20-Camryn Thompson.

 

Subs: 2-Kaitlyn Lima, 7-Katelyn Vieira, 9-Ariel Teixeira, 10-MacKenna Renaud, 11-Brooke Jenkins, 12-Riley Trudeau, 14-Shannen Pelletier Kennawi

 

Charlotte Eagles

0-Blair Barefoot, 29-Kelly Flanders, 30-Morgan Leyble, 9-Kristy Campbell, 8-Kelsey Perrell, 11-Faith Adams, 16-Emmi Dunn ©, 7-Alex Jennings, 10-Taylor Suarez, 6-Meredith King, 17-JJ Aalbue.

 

Subs: 1-Chloe Buehler, 3-Blair Anderes, 5-Carrie Lewis, 14-TGessa Osborne, 19-Rachel Noonan, 25-Ashlynn Serepca, 31-Jackie Weston

 

Goals

88’ Taylor Suarez-CHAR

 

Misconduct

None

 

Stats

RI/CHAR

Shots: 6/16

Shots on Goal: 3/11

Saves: 10/2

Corner Kicks: 2/6

Offside: 2/2

Fouls: 5/3

Cautions: 0/0

Ejections: 0/0