The roster updates from the Cary offices of the Carolina RailHawks have been trickling in. There have been heartening re-signings, most notably that of quicksilver Guyanese winger Gregory Richardson. Also back for another season: stalwart defensive midfielder Amir Lowery, goalkeeper Eric Reed, the aggressive midfielders Brian Plotkin and Joseph Kabwe, and defenders Caleb Norkus and Mark Schulte. Right back Greg Shields—currently on loan to Partick Thistle of the Scottish second division (according to the gratifyingly transparent Web site of the Glaswegian club, we know that his loan expires March 31)—seems to be slated for a return, as well.
Today brought two pieces of news. First was the surprising retirement of 2009 team defender of the year Jeremy Tolleson. Only 27 years old, the Atlanta native has elected to hang up his boots and become a missionary in Honduras. Tolleson began last season on the sidelines, recuperating from a foot injury. His return came at a fortuitous time, however, when central defender Jack Stewart was lost for the season with a broken leg. Tolleson subsequently partnered with Schulte to anchor the league’s best defense; despite being only 5-foot-9, he effectively positioned himself to snuff out attack after attack, and also proved to be a dangerous attacking weapon with his long balls forward (3:18).
It’s disappointing to lose a player of his caliber, but one can’t help but be impressed by his willingness to walk away from a sport that has surely dominated his life for 20 years. Although it’s true that Division 2 soccer players in America are paid little more than missionaries (and perhaps D2 soccer players are secular missionaries, spreading love for a game that pays them less than they could make doing almost anything else), it still comes as a start to fans that an athlete could have a calling above playing sports for a living. Our hat is off to you, Mr. Tolleson, and Godspeed.
Tolleson’s departure will intensify interest in whether Stewart will return to the club. Continue reading »
RailHawks midfielder Joseph Kabwe plays the ball as Ansu Toure defends. (photo by Rich Bostwick)
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK/ CARY—Bummer. It was a lovely evening for soccer, sunny and mild in early fall. Just as it’s a little early for the leaves to change color and drop from the trees, it was a little early for the RailHawks’ remarkable season to end.
But end it did, as an exhausted and increasingly desperate squad failed to put the ball in the net against the seventh-seeded Vancouver Whitecaps, finishing with a nil-nil draw. The RailHawks needed a 1-0 victory just to get to penalty kicks, but the Cary XI closed their season by failing to score in 180 minutes and two home-and-home legs against a bigger and more experienced, playoff-hardened Vancouver side.
By the end, the RailHawks were in a 4-4-2 and throwing everyone forward. “We had chances in the first half and didn’t take them,” coach Martin Rennie said. “It made it a little more difficult. We started to go more direct.
“When you go more direct, you need the ball to bounce your way and it didn’t—which usually isn’t the way we play,” Rennie said. “We’re usually much more thought-through, much more precise. But once we weren’t getting the goal, I think maybe we began to panic a little bit, which made it more difficult to break them down.”
“You’ve got to credit Vancouver,” center back and captain Mark Schulte said. “They knew what they had to do: They had to shut us down—they sat in [on us].”
In truth, the RailHawks showed little of the squad that scored 43 goals in USL-1 league play. They launched 12 shots, but Whitecaps keeper Jay Nolly only needed to make four saves.
It was one save in particular that would prove to put the kibosh on the season. Continue reading »
Mark Schulte and Sallieu Bundu celebrate earlier this season in a game against the Minnesota Thunder (Photo by Rich Bostwick)
We’re coming to the sad realization that the RailHawks’ regular season is drawing to a close. It’s been a real treat to see such a quality team this year. In reflecting on the season in advance of tonight’s regular season finale against the Montreal Impact, we find ourselves thinking about the issue of year-end league honors.
Team honors, selected by the players, will be announced prior to the playoff game Sept. 27—and you can vote, too, for “fan favorite.”
We’re thinking about the league: The USL will recognize a first and second team all-USL-1 lineup, and there should be citations for best goalkeeper, best defender, and most valuable player. A recent speculative press release from the league office, after reviewing the top performers from other squads, acknowledged the difficulty of recognizing the RailHawks, who are unique in their dependence on a revolving lineup of 20+ quality players, rather than four or five aces.
To take the most obvious example: The league leaders in goals scored (Johnny Menyongar of Rochester, Mandjou Keita of Portland, Charles Gbeke of Vancouver) all have 11 goals. The RailHawks’ leading goal scorers, however, have only six (Gregory Richardson and Sallieu Bundu), yet collectively the team is the second in the league in scoring goals, with 41.
However, if one looks at goals-per-game, one RailHawk in particular becomes one of the league’s best scorers. Richardson’s six goals have come in 11 games, a rate that would put him in first place in the league if it were sustained over the season. (Then there’s Joseph Kabwe and his five goals and four assists in 15 games and 806 minutes; production that’s good enough to place him in the the league’s top 20 in points.)
Richardson is probably the RailHawks’ best candidate among the scorers, with Bundu also a strong second-team possibility, but we’d like to make a case for Daniel Paladini for post-season honors. Continue reading »
It’s Tuesday, and again the white-hot Carolina RailHawks are a little underrepresented on the USL-1 team of the week. This afternoon, word came from league HQ that Joseph Kabwe, who’s seen a resurgence of form after being largely absent from the lineup, would be so honored. The citation is chiefly for his goal against Austin Saturday, but it’s also perhaps a bit of a makeup for leaving him off last week’s team after his two assists in the 4-0 rout of Miami. Announcement here.
Not the weekly honors matter all that much, of course. The team would surely much rather have that Wilmington game back, for the RailHawks in their present form would be making a good show of it in the U.S. Open Cup. Including two friendlies, the RailHawks have won seven of their last eight games (five out of six without the exhibitions), and they’ve played those eight with an aggregate score of 18-4.
Today, the RailHawks released this highlight reel from Saturday’s 3-0 romp over Austin, from the USLLive.com feed. You’ll see (and Kabwe surely doesn’t need to be reminded) that the Zimbabwean midfielder shoulda-coulda had a hat trick, going 1 for 3 on lay-offs from Gregory Richardson.
Wednesday night, the RailHawks visit the Rochester Raging Rhinos at Marina Auto Stadium. The Rhinos have been nipping at the heels of the league’s top four all season and this game will be no picnic. (Well, that’s what I said in advance of the Miami game.) The RailHawks will have midfield mainstays Amir Lowery and Daniel Paladini available again, after the duo served suspensions during the Austin game. Kickoff is 7 p.m. and you can watch on USLLive.com.
Miami FC visits WakeMed Soccer Park this afternoon at 2 p.m. The temperature is forecast to be 91 degrees at kickoff, and Miami will be no pushover. This month, they’ve begun a march out of the bottom of the table: They’ve won two games, drawn two and lost just once. One of their draws was against the undefeated Portland Timbers (although the Timbers returned two days later to hammer the Blues 3-0).
The RailHawks need to win today to salvage the weekend and stay near the top of the table. If they lose, they will be five points off the pace set by Portland, with each having played 18 games. Puerto Rico and Charleston are tied with Portland with 35 points apiece, but they’ve played 22 and 20 games, respectively.
Friday night was not so hot for the ’Hawks as the Charleston Battery fired two artillery shots past Eric Reed in the first half, and held on for a 2-1 victory. Luke Kreamalmeyer scored in the 87th off a long free kick from Kupono Low Daniel Paladini. *
Particularly worrisome was an apparent reversion to the defensive form of June: Both Battery goals originated as corner kicks.
Aside from failing to pick up any points (and handing three more to a injury- and suspension-plagued, but first-place Charleston side), the RailHawks saw midfield stalwarts Amir Lowery and Daniel Paladini each pick up their fifth yellow cards of the season, meaning that they will have to serve a one-game suspension. According to Tim Candon, the suspension will likely be served next Saturday, a home game against cellar-dwelling Austin.
In other USL news this weekend:
USL-2 Wilmington clinched a playoff berth with a 2-1 victory over the Harrisburg City Islanders, thanks to the help of goalkeeper and former RailHawk Chris McClellan, who had six saves.
How good are the Portland Timbers? Yesterday they played Burnley FC, newly promoted to the English Premier League, to a 2-2 draw. Burnley visited WakeMed Soccer Park a year ago and lost 2-1 to the RailHawks’ U-23 PDL team (which they don’t maintain anymore). Here’s a recent Times story (h/t Tim Candon) on the vastly different West Coast preseason tours being undertaken by Burnley and Chelsea.
Gregory Richardson made an impressive debut with the RailHawks, scoring in the 44th minute. (photo by Rich Bostwick)
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK/CARY—The RailHawks deserved to win this game—which they did, 2-1—and the three points put them back in the thick of things at the top of the USL-1 table. Vancouver are never an easy side to subdue, but on this night the defending champions looked relatively pedestrian. The central midfield trio of Daniel Paladini, Brian Plotkin and Amir Lowery effectively stifled Vancouver’s attack throughout the match. When Paladini was able to find newly signed Gregory Richardson on the left wing positive things happened.
The much-improved RailHawks side showed moments of class during the match, though Plotkin and John Cunliffe were as likely to give the ball away as not. Paladini continues to show why he is Rennie’s first-choice attacking midfielder as he was able to go at defenders with pace and make intelligent passes. Richardson was electric on the ball and was always at the center of the RailHawks attack, so much so that one wonders who they played through before he arrived on the scene. He’s got pace, a light first touch, and his goal (though a bit fortunate as was off a defender and megged the keeper) showed a nose for goal. The 1,000 percent humidity must have reminded him of home in Guyana.
Tonight’s victory was exactly what good teams achieve. Carolina is now one of the top teams in the league. They play good, fundamental soccer even though they are prone to losing their way for stretches, and get the important points at home against solid opposition. If the goals start falling with a bit more frequency there’s evidence to suggest this team could win the league.
Gavin Glinton, in one of several opportunities inside the 18 against the Islanders. He finished with two shots in 74 minutes. (Photo by Rich Bostwick)
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK/ CARY—When the final whistle blew after five minutes of stoppage time, and the RailHawks were once again without a victory, losing 2-1 to the Puerto Rico Islanders, the normally unflappable Martin Rennie gave vent—ever so briefly—to his feelings. A water bottle on the grass felt the brunt of Rennie’s one-time professional kick, before the young coach composed himself and shook hands with Puerto Rico’s formidable coach, Colin Clarke.
June has been brutal for the RailHawks: With only one game remaining this month—a friendly against Panama on Tuesday (a substitute for what woulda/coulda/shoulda been a 3rd round US Open Cup match against the Chicago Fire—the record for the month is this: 0-2-2 in league play and 1-3-2 overall. The only victory came in the month’s first game against the USL-2 Richmond Kickers in the opening round of Open Cup play.
What’s more, the team that entered June having reeled off four consecutive victories, with an aggregate score of 7-0, and had conceded only five goals all season, gave up nine goals in all competitions in June (four were conceded to USL-2 opposition).
The RailHawks are still in third place, four points behind the Islanders, who took the league lead with the victory. However, the RailHawks have played two fewer games than Puerto Rico, one fewer than second-place Charleston and two more than fourth-place Portland. In terms of points-per-game, the top of the table looks like this:
Portland: 1.91 2.0 [updated to reflect Sunday night results, which also dropped RailHawks to fourth in the points standings]
Amir Lowery, in the air sometime during the game's first 18 minutes, before he was shown a red card for a bad mid-air challenge. (Photo courtesy of the RailHawks)
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK/ CARY—On a night when thunder and lightning knocked out an hour of power and heavy rain unequivocally defined the term fair weather fan for several dozen families who sheepishly made their mini-vanning way home, the Charleston Battery and Carolina RailHawks huffed and banged their way through 90 minutes of football.
Carolina entered the game on top of the USL-1 table and had never lost to their Southern Derby rivals, posting a 7-0 record over the past two seasons. Keeper Caleb Patterson Sewell had not conceded a goal in his RailHawks tenure and Martin Rennie was able to field his strongest side with the exception of Josh Gardner who had picked up the flu in Portland. 4,500+ fans braved the game-time tempest and were rewarded with cool weather and eerie, ominous skies. It looked like a promising night for the home side.
Amir Lowery in the thick of green things in Portland (photo by Craig Mitchelldyer)
USLLIVE/ WEB—Although the RailHawks are now in command of the league table with 10 points in four outings, it’s a bit worrisome that they’ve scored only four goals in four games. Fortunately, an airtight defense, led by the central trio of Mark Schulte, Jack Stewart and Amir Lowery, hasn’t given up a goal since the season opener against Minnesota. Schulte and Lowery, furthermore, have played every minute of the season, with Stewart just a half-hour behind.
Last night, with a perfect nine points in three games, the RailHawks went to Portland for the first of two fixtures against the Portland Timbers. In a hard-fought, foul-heavy contest, the apparently tiring ’Hawks held off their hosts in the second half to escape with a point for the 0-0 draw.
The missing pieces of the RailHawks 2009 roster are falling into place.
Today, the team announced the signing of three players who have been making strong impressions in the preseason: 21-year-old goalkeeper Caleb Patterson Sewell, who has manned the goal for two halves of the two friendlies we’ve seen; Devon McKenney, who has been starting at right back; and Amir Lowery, who has put in impressive performances in the rear of the midfield. The text of the press release is after the jump.
In other USL-1 news, the league confirmed that there will be an expansion franchise in New York beginning next season. The new team will play in the 13,000-seat stadium at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, just outside of Queens. The league claims this will take the USL-1 to 13 teams, but they seem to be assuming that there will continue to be USL teams in Portland and Vancouver after this season (the MLS has awarded franchises to both cities). Tampa Bay will also begin play next year as the Rowdies. The league’s announcement is here. Continue reading »
Kyle on "UNC holds off pesky NCCU with big second half, awaits selection committee": Mike Potter does Triangle sports fans a wonderful service by providing a unique perspective of events that may not otherwise receive media coverage. Thanks Mike for all you have done and continue to do in your outstanding career as a journalist and an ambassador for the Triangle.
caniacgirl on "Peters and pipes pickpocket a peck of prickly Penguins": I absolutely love the headline! Games like this one definitely reignite the little bit of playoff hope I have left in me. It should be an interesting few weeks that's for sure.
Greg Nccu Student on "Miller leads NCCU to 11th victory": There are a lot of Rumors on Campus about Joanna Miller leaving NCCU next year. Please Coach Robinson, We need to keep this player from gong to another College.
