Saturday was a huge day for soccer in Charlotte. Earlier in the day, the Charlotte Eagles defeated the Thunder Bay Chill 2–1. It was a big win for the club, the city, and it landed them on the ESPN Top 10 for the week. Amazing game too.

After that game, the Charlotte soccer nightcap was a match for first place in the Eastern Conference following Charleston’s loss in Toronto, and it too lived up to all the hype.

Louisville City FC and the Independence have always played tight games and have forged a bit of a rivalry in the process. Saturday probably cemented that rivalry as the game was physical and intense. There were early fireworks as Enzo Martinez was booked in the 1st minute for interfering with a free kick.

But he didn’t let that knock him off his game and opened the scoring in the 11th minute. A free kick taken short led to a bouncing pass in the box, perfectly placed beyond the backline by Callum Ross. Enzo slotted the ball home with his left foot, and as I’ve said before, early goals often lead to Independence victories. This one did as well, but with some complications.

1–0 to the Jacks! (Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

In the 32nd minute, Louisville got their first chance from a free kick which Cody Mizell knocked away and ended up tangled in the net prompting “Save of the Week” chants from the Jacks’ supporters.

Late in the half, one of Louisville’s sloppy touches led to Charlotte’s second goal as Enzo Martinez collected the ball and blew past the defender to beat the keeper coming off his line and take a 2–0 lead for the Jacks!

Soft touch finish from Martinez. (Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

2–0 has often been an insurmountable lead for the Jacks this season, but Louisville is one of the best teams in the league and they wouldn’t go down without a serious fight.

After the break, they pulled a goal back on the Jacks in the 48th minute with a nice finish from Mark-Anthony Kaye to make it 2–1. The Louisville goal came as a result of a missed clearance by Jun Marques Davidson that was collected by Niall McCabe who put in a great pass to set up his teammate.

Louisville kept the pressure on Charlotte, and it seemed as the gameplan shifted for Mike Jeffries’ men. Rather than trying to possess the ball and be on the front foot, the Jacks sat deep and allowed Louisville to play with a lot of the ball and looked to hit them on the counter for the third goal.

Lewis Hilton was replaced by Yann Ekra in the 59th minute, an unusually early substitution by coach Jeffries, but it signified that shift in the tactics. The results were a mixed bag as there were very few chances to counter due to uncharacteristically sloppy passing by the Jacks that stopped a lot of attacks before they began.

There were extremely nervy moments as well, including the closest Lousiville chance: a game saving clearance from Donnie Smith. In the 67th minute, after a pass was played beyond the Charlotte defense, Cody Mizell was quick off his line to deflect a shot away but the deflection landed right in the path of Kaye who headed it towards goal. Donnie Smith came in from his right back position and cleared the ball off the line with a heroic flying kick straight into the air that Mizell caught.

It was definitely Donnie!

Enzo’s hat-trick will rightfully make all the headlines, but this was the play of the game in my mind.

Donnie Smith was the X-factor in this one: following his acrobatic clearance, he intercepted a pass at the halfway line, beat a defender by cutting inside onto his stronger left foot, and laid off a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Enzo Martinez’s run that the bearded forward slotted past the keeper for his third goal of the night, similar to his first.

Enzo celebrated his hat-trick by jumping onto the wall by Jacks’ Militia and QC Royals along with several other players. Due to the referee’s adherence to the letter of the law, this was deemed “excessive celebration,” and Enzo was shown a second yellow card and sent off in the 81st minute. I’ve never seen anything like that… and that’s all I’ll say.

Down a man and with a 3–1 lead, Charlotte fought out the remaining nine minutes of regulation and an additional seven minutes of stoppage time to claim a 3–1 victory and move to the top of the Eastern Conference all by themselves.

Austin Yearwood was immense in those last 15 minutes making tackles, clearances and lung busting runs down the left to seal the game. It’s a pleasure to see a player continue to improve each and every week on the field.

(Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

Man of the Match

I’m breaking the rules with my MOTM this week. I’m splitting the award and giving it to both Enzo Martinez and Donnie Smith.

Enzo

When you score a hat trick, you get MOTM, simple as that. There might be a conversation to be had about the yellow cards, but not today. Enzo was clinical on Saturday, scoring three goals from four shots and leading an Independence attack that didn’t do much attacking in the second half.

(Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

Donnie

Smith returned to Charlotte on loan from the New England Revolution… to the surprise of everyone. He has been back in New England during the #beatless run but stepped in as the “next man up” playing for a suspended Joel Johnson. His clearance saved the game, and his interception, run and assist put it away.

(Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

Great job guys, enjoy some sweet tea!

Three Takeaways

Top of the table

The Charlotte Independence will play as the first place team in the East for the first time in club history on Wednesday night in Toronto. What a ride this season has been.

Beatless still

Charlotte has now gone 11 games without a loss and has a record of 8–0–3 in those matches.

Another way to win

Playing without Jorge Herrera, the Jacks proved on Saturday that they can win games by grinding defensively and capitalizing on their limited amount of chances even in games where they don’t play their best and have to change up their tactics a little. This is a mark of championship-caliber teams.

Up Next

The Independence take their first place show on the road to Canada next week, facing Toronto FC II on Wednesday night and the Ottawa Fury on Saturday. The Charleston Battery had some visa issues and as a result, several of their players were forced to miss their match against Toronto on Saturday, so keep a close eye on that situation as Charlotte has several international players as well.

It remains to be seen whether Jorge Herrera will be back from his injury in time to make the trip, so there’s a good chance we will see some squad rotation in these games, especially on Wednesday due to the physical and mental toll this game had on the players. Ben will have in-depth previews for those later this week.