Agyemang rallies Charlotte to 3-2 victory over Toronto

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Patrick Agyemang scored in the 85th minute to help Charlotte FC pull out a 3-2 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.

Agyemang used an assist from Brecht Dejaegere to score his second goal this season and the third of his career. Agyemang has made five starts and 19 appearances over two seasons with Charlotte (3-3-2), which extended its unbeaten run at home to 13 matches dating to last season.

Charlotte grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute and took it into halftime after Kerwin Vargas used an assist from Enzo Copetti to drill a right-footed shot from outside the box to the bottom left corner of the net. It was the first goal this season for Vargas and the first assist for Copetti, who had six goals and two assists as a rookie last year.

Toronto (3-4-1) pulled even early in the second half when Prince Owusu scored in the 49th minute on a left-footed shot from close range. Federico Bernardeschi notched an assist. Owusu, who subbed in for Deandre Kerr is the 46th minute, made three starts and six appearances last season. He has four starts and eight appearances this season.

Charlotte grabbed a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute when defender Jaylin Lindsey set up the first career goal for 22-year-old Liel Abada, who was making his second start and third appearance.

Owusu's third goal of the season and his career evened the score in the 78th minute. Toronto lost defender Kevin Long to a red card in the eighth minute of stoppage time to close out the match.

Kristijan Kahlina finished with three saves for Charlotte, which is 3-0-1 at home this season. Kahlina had two saves to keep Toronto off the scoreboard in the first half.

Sean Johnson stopped two shots for Toronto, which falls to 3-2-1 all time versus Charlotte.

Toronto, in its first season with John Herdman at the helm, beat Charlotte and first-year coach Dean Smith 1-0 at home in the third match of the season. Lorenzo Insigne scored the only goal in the victory but an injury kept him out of the rematch.

Toronto returns home to play the New England Revolution on Saturday. Charlotte will host Minnesota United on Sunday.

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Toronto FC forward Federico Bernardeschi, left, and Charlotte FC defender Bill Tuiloma vie for the ball during the second half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC forward Liel Abada reacts after scoring a second-half goal against Toronto FC during an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Toronto FC forward Federico Bernardeschi, left, moves the ball against Charlotte FC defender Jere Uronen during an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Toronto FC forward Federico Bernardeschi, left, and Charlotte FC forward Kerwin Vargas work for the ball during the second half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC forward Patrick Agyemang, right, hugs midfielder Ashley Westwood after scoring a second-half goal against Toronto FC in an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Referee Allen Chapman, left, shows a yellow card to Toronto FC defender Kevin Long (5) as Charlotte FC forward Patrick Agyemang lies on the field during the second half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith, left, argues a call during the second half of the team's MLS soccer match against Toronto FC in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Toronto FC midfielder Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, left, reacts to a missed shot as he is embraced by forward Prince Osei Owusu (99) during the second half of the team's MLS soccer match against Charlotte FC in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Toronto FC defender Aime Mabika, right, collides with Charlotte FC defender Jaylin Lindsey on a second-half corner kick during an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC forward Kerwin Vargas celebrates after scoring a goal against Toronto FC during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC forward Kerwin Vargas celebrates after scoring a goal against Toronto FC during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC forward Kerwin Vargas, front, celebrates with forward Liel Abada after scoring a goal against Toronto FC during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC forward Liel Abada, left, shoots against Toronto FC midfielder Matty Longstaff, second from right, and defender Kevin Long, right, during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Charlotte FC defender Jaylin Lindsey, left, and Toronto FC midfielder Matty Longstaff jump for a head ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Toronto FC goalkeeper Sean Johnson blocks a Charlotte FC shot during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, April 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Protesters began leaving a Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California early Sunday after they were surrounded by police and told they could face arrest if they didn’t go.

The move, days before commencement events are set to begin on the Los Angeles campus, came after the university said campus safety officers, assisted by the Los Angeles Police Department, were clearing the area and that anyone not complying could be arrested.

“If you are in the center of campus, please leave. People who don’t leave could be arrested,” USC said on the social media platform X.

Livestream video from student journalists showed the encampment had emptied out as police formed a line to move remaining protesters away and stop people from re-entering the area.

The encampment had restarted after the LAPD first arrested 93 people on April 24. The atmosphere on the private university campus had largely remained calm since, while attention turned to arrests at the University of California, Los Angeles.

At the University of Virginia, 25 people were arrested Saturday for trespassing after police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to remove tents from campus, and demonstrators at the University of Michigan chanted anti-war messages and waved flags during commencement ceremonies.

USC, a private university, has been the subject of student protests over the war in Gaza as well as the administration’s decision to cancel a commencement speech by the valedictorian, a Muslim student who had expressed support for Palestinians. The university made that decision in mid-April, saying they had safety concerns after receiving threats. Some Jewish groups had criticized the student’s selection as speaker.

Administrators later canceled the entire main-stage commencement planned for May 10, when 65,000 people were expected to gather to celebrate graduates. Other commencement activities, including graduation ceremonies for individual schools and colleges, are still scheduled from Thursday through Sunday. Access to the private campus has largely been restricted for people not affiliated with the university since late April.

Video posted online Saturday evening showed some demonstrators engaging in calm songs and chants in preparation for expected police activity. The encampment has been set up on a campus green space, with dozens of tents surrounded by makeshift fencing covered in signs with various messages of support for Palestinians and criticism of the university and law enforcement.

A university representative read a statement nearby the encampment Saturday saying that it had to come down, according to Annenberg Media, a student-run campus publication, saying the encampment and unspecified acts of vandalism and theft of university property violated the law.

Early Friday, several dozen counter-protesters had set up outside the encampment, playing scenes from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel on a screen, Annenberg Media reported.

In Virginia, student demonstrators began their protest on a lawn outside the school chapel Tuesday. On Saturday, video from WVAW-TV showed police wearing heavy gear and holding shields lined up on the campus in Charlottesville. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine,” and university police said on the social platform X that an “unlawful assembly” had been declared in the area.

As police moved in, students were pushed to the ground, pulled by their arms and sprayed with a chemical irritant, Laura Goldblatt, an assistant professor of English and global studies who has been helping student demonstrators, told The Washington Post.

The university administration said in a statement that the demonstrators were told the tents and canopies they erected were prohibited under school policy and were asked to remove them. Virginia State Police were asked to help with enforcement, the university said.

It was the latest clash in several tense and sometimes violent weeks at colleges and universities around the country that have seen dozens of protests and hundreds of arrests at demonstrations over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war; many of the encampments have been dismantled by police.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. Some schools have reached agreements with protesters to end the demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and commencements.

The Associated Press has recorded at least 61 incidents since April 18 in which arrests were made at protests, with more than 2,400 people being arrested on 47 campuses. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

Michigan was among the schools bracing for protests during commencement this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern University in Boston. Many more are slated in the coming weeks.

In Ann Arbor, the protest happened at the beginning of the event at Michigan Stadium. About 75 people, many wearing traditional Arabic kaffiyehs along with their graduation caps, marched up the main aisle toward the graduation stage.

They chanted “Regents, regents, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide!” while holding signs, including one that read: “No universities left in Gaza.”

Overhead, planes flew banners with competing messages. “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!” and “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”

Officials said no one was arrested, and the protest didn’t seriously interrupt the nearly two-hour event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people, some of them waving Israeli flags.

State police prevented the demonstrators from reaching the stage. University spokesperson Colleen Mastony said public safety personnel escorted the protesters to the rear of the stadium, where they remained through the conclusion of the event.

“Peaceful protests like this have taken place at U-M commencement ceremonies for decades,” she added.

The university has allowed protesters to set up an encampment on campus, but police assisted in breaking up a large gathering at a graduation-related event Friday night, and one person was arrested.

At Indiana, protesters were urging supporters to wear their kaffiyehs and walk out during remarks by President Pamela Whitten on Saturday evening. The Bloomington campus designated a protest zone outside Memorial Stadium, the arena for the ceremony.

At Princeton, in New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike in an effort to push the university to divest from companies tied to Israel.

One of them, senior David Chmielewski said in an email that the strike started Friday morning with participants consuming water only, and it will continue until administrators meet with students about demands including amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for protesters. Other demonstrators are participating in “solidarity fasts” lasting 24 hours, Chmielewski said.

Princeton students set up a protest encampment and some held a sit-in at an administrative building this week, leading to about 15 arrests.

Students at other colleges, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes earlier this year before the more recent wave of encampments.

The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

Marcelo reported from New York. Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit, Nick Perry in Meredith, New Hampshire, and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed.

Police gather on the campus at the University of Southern California prior to clearing out an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators remove belongings from an encampment after police arrived on the campus at the University of Southern California Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

People stand guard outside an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the campus at the University of Southern California Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Police form a line where pro-Palestinian protesters set up tents on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

A pro-Palestinian supporter holds a sign reading "State Police=KKK" on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where they set up tents, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

Police use a microphone as a pro-Palestinian demonstrator listens on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents were set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

A graduate holds his cap with an Israeli flag while shouting at pro-Palestinian protesters as they demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)

Rawan Antar, 21, center, chants in support of Palestinians during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)

Graduates sporting Israeli flags and pins shout at Pro-Palestinian protesters as they demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)

Graduate Ari Belchinsky wears pro-Israel pins during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

A graduate waits for the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony to begin at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

CORRECTS PHRASE ON BANNER - A plane pulling a banner that reads "Divest From Israel Now! Free Palestine" flies overhead before the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)

A plane bearing a banner that reads ""We stand with Israel jewishlivesmatter.us" flies overhead before the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Graduates sporting Israeli flags and pins shout at Pro-Palestinian protesters as they demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators stand across from one another on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

Police move pro-Palestinian demonstrators back from the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

The aftermath of a site is seen after authorities broke up a demonstration by pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take videos and photos with their phones on the University of Virginia campus as police break up what authorities called an "unlawful assembly," in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Police with riot shields form a line across from pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

A police officer, right, watches a protester wave a Palestinian flag on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

Police with riot shields detain a pro-Palestinian demonstrator on the ground as a National Lawyers Guild representative holds up an emergency contact notebook, on the University of Virginia campus, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator wears goggles and a mask as police with riot shields and protesters stand across from one another on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)

Police lift a pro-Palestinian demonstrator from the ground on the University of Virginia campus, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)