Meachanicsburg, PA – Tim Gross
After surging to a 6-0 victory over visiting Morris Elite SC Sunday at Mountain View Middle School, the Eagle FC raised the USL W League’s Eastern Conference trophy, dumped a jug of water onto head coach Toan Ngo’s shoulders and broke out in several chants of “Ole … ole, ole ole …” to celebrate the program’s historic moment.
And then, with the bleachers empty and the scoreboard dark and the sun setting behind the visitors’ bench, the players huddled and shouted one final word to punctuate their celebration on the pitch.
“Together.”
The refrain reflected the style of play that spurred Eagle FC (13-1-0) to Sunday’s triumph. Authoring on-point passes and swarming to second chances, the club took a 1-0 lead seconds before halftime and broke the game open with a barrage of offense on the other side of the intermission. On top of an Eastern Conference title, the win sends Eagle FC to the pre-professional league’s national semifinals with a matchup against NC Courage scheduled for Friday at a site and time to be determined.
“We played our game,” Ngo said. “Our biggest focus today was just to be us, know what we want to do, play our speed, set the tone, set the expectation. And they came out, and they played one-two-touch soccer. We played together, and they deserve this.”
Eagle FC, which joined the league ahead of its inaugural 2022 season, features a core of players with roots in central Pennsylvania, including captains Meg Tate (a Carlisle and Dickinson graduate) and Cashlin Copley (Manheim Township), and Justyce Hollenbach (Lower Dauphin), who punctuated the scoring Sunday with a screaming shot into the upper-right corner in the 87th minute.
Nia Christopher also scored twice in the second-half surge to go along with a pair of assists. Melina Descary and Tate accounted for the other second-half goals against Morris Elite SC (11-2-1), which won the Metropolitan Division and allowed five goals in the regular season.
“We just had to figure out how to break them,” Ngo said. “I think by us playing faster and being able to swing the ball a little bit quicker allowed us to transition and leverage our speed on our wings, which has been our bread and butter, and we finished the opportunities we were given.”
.@EagleFCWomen receive the 2023 USL W Eastern Conference trophy. pic.twitter.com/lokPleU8Qu
— Tim Gross (@ByTimGross) July 9, 2023
