I’ll get it out of the way early: I’m a Charlotte Eagles fan. I started Soccer ‘n’ Sweet Tea to cover all the goodness that the Carolinas have to offer when it comes to professional and amateur soccer, but if you ask me who my team is… it’s the Eagles. And Saturday… well, Saturday was a lot of fun.

As you might’ve heard (and as the above title, subtitle, and gif gave away), the Charlotte Eagles Soccer Club won the PDL National Championship on Saturday afternoon at the Sportsplex in Matthews, North Carolina, beating the Thunder Bay Chill 2–1 in front of 1,427 excited, sweaty fans.

I’ll do a quick run-through of the game itself and then talk about what it means in the bigger picture for the club and its fanbase.

The Game

The Eagles topped Mississippi Brilla FC the previous Saturday in the PDL Semifinal at Matthews and earned the right to host the PDL National Championship game as a result. The Thunder Bay Chill from Ontario, Canada, winners of the Central Conference, won their semifinal and made the trip south… and they were welcomed by a beautiful, sunny, hot and sweaty summer day in North Carolina.

While it was hot in the stands, the game on the pitch started off slow on the scoreboard, with chances on both ends but nothing in the net for the first 20 minutes. Then, in the 21st minute, the team that doesn’t allow goals against them (the Chill hadn’t allowed a single goal in the 2017 playoffs) scored first.

Eagles defender Hazeley Pyle accidentally conceded a corner kick, and the Chill took advantage: German Altaro put the set piece into the box and Patricio Arce headed it past goalkeeper James Pyle and defender Curren Page for the game’s opening goal.

0–1, Chill.

After the Chill goal, I had to take a walk. Knowing that the Chill simply don’t allow goals, that they’re built on their strong defense, and that the 2017 Eagles, even with their recent playoff success, didn’t have the offensive firepower they had in the 2015 and 2016 campaigns… I just had to take a walk.

While on that walk, Joao Costa put my concerns to rest.

In the 26th minute, the Charlotte Eagles made SportsCenter and reassured the crowd that they would not vanish without a fight.

I mean… what else do you say about that? SportsCenter Top Ten… for amateur soccer. It’s hard enough to get professional soccer on SportsCenter, right? I was excited in the moment and couldn’t think of the term “scissor kick” and called it a “sideways bike” on Twitter, but Gio Bejarano’s pass and Joao Costa’s beautiful shot reignited the Eagles and gave the assembled fans hope for the fight… just five minutes after the Chill threw the first punch.

Before we move on, Costa’s goal was his 16th in 2017 for the Eagles, the most in a year for the club in their brief PDL history… a legendary season for the young Brazilian forward. Hats off to Joao, and congrats on making the All-Conference team too. Sweet tea’s on us next time we see you.

Back to the game: the final twenty minutes of the first half saw more chances, back and forth, but no more goals, and the halftime whistle blew at 1–1.

The second half saw things get a bit physical, as yellow cards were given to Ashley Sibisi and Eduardo Sanchez in the first fifteen minutes, but that second one was more important: Sanchez fouled Joao Costa just outside Chill keeper David Elias’s box, in perfect range for the Eagles’ free-kick sharp shooter Ryan Williams.

Standing at the other end of the field under the shaded concourse, surrounded by Eagles staffers, the excitement was palpable. This wasn’t just any free kick: this was a chance to take the lead in the National Championship game, and the staff who had watched Williams all year knew it. I wrote down this quote immediately when I heard it said, before Ryan took the Championship-winning shot, because we just knew…

“It’s like Joao went straight to where Ryan likes it to draw that foul. No way he misses this. No way.”

It might have seemed like blind optimism, but after seeing several of those kicks find the net this season, Eagles fans had reason to hope. Here… see if this prepares you for what’s to come.

And so, when the Eagles captain and the eventual Player of the Match for the National Championship game stepped up to take the free kick with fans all expecting a goal to remember… Ryan Williams delivered.

Beautiful.

After the goal, the Chill fought hard for the final 30 minutes and had multiple chances to find a second and equalizing goal… but the defense stood tall, and the game and the 2017 PDL National Championship trophy was Charlotte’s.