CHARLOTTE, NC (August 15, 2026) – Christopher Jaime and Jon Bakero both added a goal and an assist as Charlotte Independence defeated Sarasota Paradise 3-1 on Saturday night.
The win is the fourth consecutive for Charlotte, who shook off the loss in the Prinx Tires USL Cup Wednesday night against Hartford in emphatic fashion in the first half. Before anyone in American Legion Memorial Stadium could get settled in, the Independence were ahead by three just fifteen minutes into the game. Souaibou Marou bagged his league-leading 11th goal of the season to get it started, with Bakero and Jaime following suit shortly after.
As mentioned, it was a flying start at home for the Jacks. Sega Coulibaly shipped a ball diagonal to Bakero. The Spaniard decided to take it out of the air first time, finding Marou charging at the back post to head home for his sixth goal in his last six league matches and a 1-0 lead three minutes into the match.
Five minutes later and the Jacks had a 2-0 lead inside eight minutes. It all started from Jaime, who took the ball off a Sarasota defender and suddenly, Charlotte was quick in transition. The midfielder drove all the way into the box and centered perfectly to Bakero for a tap-in.
Marou almost made it three inside 11 minutes as Charlotte continued to put their foot on the gas. The Cameroonian stepped in front of his defender to receive a Mathis Guffroy pass and one-on-one with goalkeeper Alex Sutton, was denied by the Sarasota goalkeeper.
The bleeding didn’t stop and Jaime tripled the advantage. Again, the midfielder did fantastic work to read the Sarasota defenders and picked off a clearance inside the opponent’s box. He stepped inside to have a clear look at the frame and blasted by Sutton at the near post to continue the onslaught.
Charlotte’s dominance led to frustration from Sarasota, who committed two reckless fouls that resulted in yellow cards. The Jacks peppered six shots on target in the first half and took their three-goal lead to the break.
Straight out of the intermission, substitute Viggo Ortiz almost made it four. The winger brilliantly touched it by his committed defender on the edge of the box and looked to beat Sutton to the near post, but the goalkeeper stretched to make a strong foot save.
Goalkeeper Matt Levy was not tested often, but he came up with a sensational save in the 71st minute. The ball fell in the box to Garrett McLaughlin, who stung a volley destined for the upper echelon of the net, but Levy acrobatically dove to deny.
Sarasota broke up the clean sheet late. Running down the flank, Roberto Burlew’s shot/cross went over Levy’s head and found side netting to put Sarasota on the board.
As time dwindled down, Sarasota lost a man. Aaron Walker received a straight red card in stoppage time to all but end Sarasota’s hopes and the final whistle came shortly after. The Independence in the meantime move into first place, pending Union Omaha’s tout with Richmond on Sunday night.
POST-GAME QUOTES
Head Coach Mike Jeffries on the victory:
“I don’t think we could have started any better than that. A goal two minutes in, three in the first 15, and I thought we played really, really well for that stretch. The rest of it was a little bit of managing the game, and I felt like we let them kind of get back into it. Credit to them. Three-nothing down 15 minutes in, and they kept fighting and kept pushing, so you’ve got to give them a lot of credit for that. But the way we started the game, I just thought we were really, really sharp. The ball moved, and the goals were all really nice goals.”
Jeffries on the explosion in the first 15 minutes:
“The guys were ready. We had to make some adjustments to the lineup and shape-wise, but the guys who showed up were ready and bought into some of the ideas.”
Chris Jaime on his goal:
“All we kind of wanted to do today was flip the switch, move on from Wednesday, and we did that. We came out here with full intensity and, of course, it was great to not only get the goal, but also help get another goal and just push our momentum.
Jon Bakero on preparing for Madison next week:
“Being out of the cup, this is all we’ve got now. So, let’s see. We all know it, and we’re really excited for this last stretch of the season to push and hopefully end it up in a strong position come playoff time.”
