After Strong Start, Eagles Fall to Cleveland

Columbus Eagles FC flew out of the gates Sunday to take an early lead, but Cleveland Ambassadors stormed back and took all three points in a 5-1 win. The loss is the Eagles’ second in a row, and drops them to fourth in the Ohio Valley division of the WPSL.

Next up for the Eagles is a Sunday rematch with division-leading Motor City FC on June 16 at 5 p.m. The club is also hosting a watch party earlier that day for the U.S. women’s national team’s group-stage match against Chile.

Sunday’s match started with a flourish: Micaela Powers put Columbus (2-0-3, 6 points) on the board first after just seven minutes. Her free kick was a blast that found the top corner and put the Eagles ahead. It’s her second goal of the season (and second in as many matches).

But the wheels fell off for Columbus after that – defensive errors led to three Cleveland goals, scored by Sandra Yu, Kati Druzina, and Kati Ito. The Ambassadors had the better of the play in the majority of the match, and took a 3-1 lead into the half.

Eagles head coach Matt Ogden made some substitutions to try to swing the momentum in the second half, but Kayla Fischer scored a brace for Cleveland to put the match to rest. The Ambassadors (2-1-1, 7 points) move to second in the division with the win.