It was a windy and rainy night in the Port City as two long-time rivals squared off in their second meeting of the 2017 PDL season. A slippery pitch under cloudy skies made for an interesting 1–1 draw between the Wilmington Hammerheads and Charlotte Eagles, with Daniel Escobar and Curren Page scoring the goals.

The start of the match was delayed a few minutes to make a repair on one of the goals, a la Montreal-Toronto FC in last year’s MLS Eastern Conference finals. Once the match began, it was clear that the rain was going to be a big factor, as there were a few missed tackles and bad passes to start the match.

Hammerheads keeper, Andrew Romig made a few big saves early on for the match to remain close. Kelvin Omondi and Joao Costa both connected on passes and made daring runs at the Wilmington defense in the first 20 minutes.

For most of the first half, the Eagles controlled the shot battle with 3 shots to the Hammerheads’ 1 at the half hour mark. Right before halftime, Wilmington’s defense began to find its rhythm, building towards chances at goal. Just as the half reached stoppage time, Daniel Escobar broke the deadlock with a chip shot goal to send the hosts up a goal at halftime.

The Hammerheads celebrating the goal, seconds after Escobar scored. (Photo Credit: Ryan Allen)

Charlotte lead in shots at the break, but Wilmington came right out of the gate in the second half looking to change that, firing off two shots in the first five minutes. The rain came down much harder for the bulk of the second stanza, changing the way the match had been played from the first half.

The match went back and forth in chances for the second 45 minutes. On 75 minutes, defender Nathanael Rennhack made a good fast-break run off of a counterattack that led to a shot on goal for the hosts. But by the final ten minutes of the match, Charlotte had controlled the pace more, eventually leading to Curren Page’s tying goal in the 86th minute.

The Eagles had another shot on target in stoppage time, but Romig came up big for the Hammerheads as the final whistle sounded for full time.

Takeaways from the Match

Charlotte won the shot battle, 10–8 on the night. Both sides seemed very even all night, and both will feel they should have won, but the rain proved to be a crucial decider in how the match was played. The night earned each club’s first draw of this year’s PDL campaign, moving the Eagles up to 15 points on the season. Wilmington goes to 4 points.

A brief moment of the match where it did not rain. (Photo Credit: Ryan Allen)

Man of the Match: Daniel Escobar, Wilmington Hammerheads

In his last match with the club, Daniel Escobar scored Wilmington’s lone goal on the night and received a big applause from the crowd when he was subbed off in the 77th minute.

Upcoming Fixtures

Wilmington finishes this three-match home stand on Sunday, June 11th as they welcome the Acorns of the North Carolina FC U23's (2–2–2) back to the Port City for the third and final meeting of the two sides this season. Charlotte ends the week with a trip to Greensboro, facing the Carolina Dynamo (1–3–1) this Saturday, June 10th.