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Silver Spring, MD – Real Maryland FC couldn’t fend off the Charlotte Eagles attack like they did in their meeting just one week ago. Last weekend, the Monarchs were outshot 15-2 in the first half of their match against the Eagles in Charlotte. Tonight, Real Maryland FC equaled their adversary with amount of shots, but found themselves at the wrong end of a 3-0 score line come the final whistle.

In the first of two matches this weekend, the Monarchs started out strong with an offensive line up that kept pushing the Eagles back. The Eagles only bent to the pressure and kept coming back with strikes of their own. Charlotte was first to get on the board in the 39th minute on a goal by Amaury Nunes from Ben Page. The Monarchs thought they found the answer off of a free kick by Ryan Cordeiro at the end of the first half. In stoppage time, Cordeiro serviced a nicely bent ball to an onrush of players, but no one was able to get a proper strike on the service. At the whistle for half-time, the Monarchs were down 1-0.

Similar to other games this season, a good half-time talk got the team up and looking to attack to start the second half. As the half wore on, the Eagles bent again to the pressure, but came back with even more force than in the first half. In the 77th minute, Chris Lemons scored the back breaker goal that knocked the steam out of the Monarch’s driving force. Just four minutes on the field, Taurai Daka caught a sleeping defense and put away a volley over Real Maryland’s keeper, Justin Hughes to seal the deal.

At the moment, the Monarchs find themselves on the edge of the playoff bubble. By the end of the weekend, the Monarchs could find themselves looking to try and get back into the top five. With four games left in the regular season, Real Maryland has to play the top three teams in the league. The hill is a steep climb, but the team has shown resiliency all season long as different members of the team have stepped up to lead the way.

The Monarchs will be in action tomorrow as they host CSD Municipal in their second International Friendly of 2009. They will have their hands full as they take on the team that has won the championship the most times in the Guatemalan First Division. Los Rojos are coming to town and the atmosphere of the game should be motivation enough for the Monarchs to get back to their true form.

Real Maryland FC will return to USL 2 league play next Saturday as they travel down to Richmond to take on the kickers. The team will then turn around the next day and host the Harrisburg City Islanders on Sunday, August 2 at 4 pm at Richard Montgomery High School.

Real Maryland FC participates in the Second Division of the United Soccer Leagues. All 2009 Regular Season Home Games will be played at Lester Stadium at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, MD. For more information or tickets, please visit realmaryland.us or contact General Manager David Noyes at (301) 933-6460.