The Charlotte Eagles gave up a goal early and had to hang on in a strange finish, but their 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace Baltimore in the USL Division 2 semifinals Saturday night has them in the league finals for the first time in three years.

Jorge Herrera and Dustin Swinehart scored goals three minutes apart early in the second half to put the Eagles (14-2-5) in the championship against the Cleveland City Stars, 1-0 overtime winners over Richmond, next Saturday.

Despite the Eagles' first-place finish in the regular season, they'll travel to third-seeded Cleveland for their seventh all-time appearance in the title game.

The USL awards the title game on a bid basis, and would have awarded it to Charlotte had Richmond been the opponent, Eagles officials said.

The Eagles gave up a goal in the fourth minute when Crystal Palace's Shintaro Harada took a pass from Val Texeiro off an indirect kick and drilled a shot from about 30 yards out.

“We gave up a goal early to a team that hadn't scored against us in two games, and we knew it would be tough from then on,” Eagles coach Mark Steffens said.

Charlotte tied the game three minutes after halftime on Herrera's penalty shot, and took the lead for good three minutes later. Josh Rife served a ball to Swinehart about 10 yards in front of the goal and the veteran midfielder headed it in for his 17th of the season.

Crystal Palace (11-9-1) put together a couple of late scoring threats, but hit the goalpost with one and Eagles goalkeeper Terry Boss made a diving stop on the other.

Boss received a red card ejection in the final minute of extra time and will miss the championship game. He was replaced by former Myers Park standout Kevin Trapp, who swatted away a final close-range shot from Crystal Palace's Ibrahim Kante.