Charlotte remains perfect at home, shutting out San Diego

Liel Abada, Patrick Agyemang and Andrew Privett scored goals as Charlotte FC posted a dominating 3-0 victory over San Diego FC on Saturday night.

Agyemang's goal came on a penalty kick to help Charlotte FC (6-2-1, 19 points) win their third straight game and fifth in the past six matches.

Kristijan Kahlina made two saves while registering his second straight shutout and fourth of the campaign. Charlotte is 5-0-0 at home this season.

FC San Diego (4-3-2, 14 points) lost its second straight match. San Diego played with 10 men after Andres Reyes received his second yellow card -- turned into an automatic red -- in the 39th minute.

San Diego put just two shots on goal, one in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time by Chucky Lozano and the other in the 88th minute by Milan Iloski.

Charlotte placed 11 shots on target while holding a 16-9 edge in shots.

CJ dos Santos made seven saves for San Diego.

Charlotte first got on the board in the 11th minute. Pep Biel passed the ball to Abada, who slid a close-range right-footed shot into the net.

In the 39th minute, Agyemang was heading downfield and he and Reyes were fighting for the ball. Both players had hands on the other player's jersey and shortly after they entered the box, Reyes took Agyemang down to the ground.

Reyes was initially given a red card for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. But after a heated debate and a review of the play, the card was bumped down to yellow but the penalty kick still stood.

Agyemang stood at the spot in the 45th minute and sent a right-footed shot into the right portion of the net to give Charlotte a 2-0 lead.

Charlotte had a flurry of chances early in the second half with dos Santos saving Wilfried Zaha's point-blank shot in the 52nd minute while Pivetta sent a header over the next one minute later.

In the 54th minute, Abada broke in toward the next and dos Santos came out to cut off the angle. Abada maneuvered around him while Hamady Diop dashed to the net. Abada delivered a blast on net and Diop was able to get his head on it and deflect it over the net.

But Charlotte cashed in on a free kick in the 57th minute. Ashley Westwood sent a cross toward the net and Pivetta headed it into the net for a three-goal lead.