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It's getting better in every way for the Charlotte Eagles' USL Pro League soccer season.
Darren Toby and Salleu Bundu scored for the Eagles in a 2-0 victory over the Dayton Dutch Lions at Charlotte Christian on Saturday night. The win extended the Eagles unbeaten streak to seven games (5-0-2) and improved their league record to 4-4-3, 15 points.
(The total includes a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Railhawks in a U.S. Open Cup game which doesn't count in the standings.)
"It feels good to be at .500," Charlotte coach Mark Steffens said. "It took us the longest time to get there."
It came against the owners of the league's worst record (1-8-2, 5 points). Dayton nearly squeezed in a goal in the first three minutes, but didn't challenge the Eagles much after that.
The Eagles scored in the 10th minute, when Cheyne Roberts launched a cross into the middle of the 6-yard box, which Darren Toby headed past Dayton keeper Jesper Leerdam.
The Eagles took advantage of superior numbers for the second score, with about 10 minutes left in the game. Jorge Herrera played a ball into the 18-yard box which bounced off Brady Bryant's leg to Bundu. He tucked the ball inside the far post.
"I love that we're getting opportunities," Steffens said. "We didn't get a lot of scoring opportunities early in the season, then a lot of the ones we did create were long-range. Now we're getting layups."
The Dutch Lions played a man down for the last 58 minutes after Mettin Copier earned a red-card ejection late in the first half.
"Our defense shut the door on them anyway," Steffens said.
