Charlotte, NC: The Charlotte Eagles left their Matthews headquarters Thursday morning en route to Harrisburg, PA where they will take on the City Islanders Friday night at Skyline Complex. Charlotte enters Friday night hoping to maintain the play that gave them 4 crucial points last weekend.

Although the Eagles are still near the bottom of the standings they only trail first place Wilmington by 5 points. Another win tomorrow night, and Charlotte will be able to keep the heat on the clubs above them.

The Eagles are coming off a 1-1 tie with Richmond and a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace Baltimore last weekend. Kevin Trapp was spectacular in goal, and Charlotte seemed to regain some confidence in the midst of a challenging start to the 2009 season. "We came out of our first three games with only one point, and the Wilmington loss at home really made our guys have a bit of a gut check I think," stated Coach Mark Steffens.

The loss Steffens referred to was the Eagles’ 6-3 loss to Wilmington on May 8th at home. It was the most goals Charlotte had allowed in recent memory, and the defense that was one of 2008’s best appeared exposed throughout the match. "Obviously we were disappointed, but you have to give a lot of credit to Wilmington. The Hammerheads have a great side this year, and good teams will punish you when you give them all the looks we gave them that night."

Without a doubt, the veteran Eagles squad was left with something to prove. "I challenged them the week leading up to Richmond and Baltimore," said Steffens. "There really wasn’t much I needed to say. These guys have been against the wall before; this was an opportunity to respond and grow as a team."

And respond is exactly what the Eagles did. Charlotte faced the Kickers at University of Richmond Stadium, a place where getting points never has been easy for the Eagles. With the Eagles down early from a Delicate goal, the team continued to push themselves. Their perseverance paid off in the 84th minute when Diego Martins rocketed a free kick from 22 yards out in the goal to tie the game 1-1. "It was only one point, but it felt like we just won the game," remarked Steffens. "Kevin Trapp played great in goal, the team stepped up and we got a crucial point. It really did give the boys some confidence."

Charlotte took that confidence into Baltimore the next night, and with tired legs, the Eagles earned a good 2-1 win courtesy of a Jorge Herrera penalty kick in stoppage time. The team was ecstatic to come out of arguably their toughest road trip with four points. However, Steffens still believes his team faces a tough road ahead. "The great news is we definitely have not played to our potential yet. We still didn’t play as well as we had hoped, but we escaped with some important points. I believe the guys are more than capable of pulling some good wins together, but this is a long season and the league is considerably better than last year. Harrisburg will be a fantastic test for us, and then we’ll go from there."

Kickoff is set for 7:05pm at Skyline Complex in Harrisburg, PA.