N.C. Soccer

The Wilmington Hammerheads have signed veteran Paul Nicholson (Whitehaven, England) for two more seasons, which will extend his career with the Hammerheads through the 2015 USL PRO regular season. This past season Nicholson appeared in 21 regular season matches, with three goals and one assist. The Hammerheads have also re-signed defender Tom Parratt for his fourth season…..Gardner-Webb has hired former University of South Alabama head coach Mike Varga as its new women’s head soccer coach. Var[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’]ga served this past season as an assistant coach of the Runnin’ Bulldogs…..The New England Revolution has reacquired goalkeeper Brad Knighton through a trade with Vancouver. Knighton, 28, who played collegiate soccer at UNC Wilmington, played his first three MLS seasons with the Revs. He has spent the last four seasons with the Philadelphia Union, the Carolina Railhawks (NASL) and Vancouver…..Midfielder Tiyiselani Shipalane has signed a multiyear contract extension with the NASL Carolina RailHawks. A native of South Africa, Shipalane scored the equalizer and assisted the game-winning goal against the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2012. He has 55 appearances with 14 goals since joining the RailHawks in 2010…..Greg Berhalter’s hire as the new head coach of the Columbus Crew pushes the number of former ACC players who are head MLS coaches to four. Berhalter played for the UNC Tar Heels, while Jason Kreis, the former Real Salt Lake now who recently became the first manager of New York FC, played at Duke, along with New England’s Jay Heaps. DC United’s Ben Olsen was an All-American at Virginia….Elon sophomore forward Nicole Dennion (Ewing, NJ) was named the Southern Conference Player of the Year. She scored 15 goals and had 35 points……Brevard College alum Douglas Neill (2010) has signed a contract to play professionally for the Central Queensland Football Club based in Queensland, Australia. He played for the Tornados from 2007-09 while amassing four goals on 27 shots. He appeared in 43 games with 40 starts during his stint at Brevard.