RailHawks On Verge 1st Half Win

With two games remaining in the first half of the 2013 NASL split season, the Carolina RailHawks are a win away from winning the spring half of the season and earning the right to host the season-ending Soccer Bowl in November.

That game comes at home on June 29 against second-place Atlanta Silverbacks. If the Silverbacks win, they move into first place.

[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’] The RailHawks have lost only one time this season. That was back in March against the Silverbacks. They have been winning and winning in dramatic fashion.

Scoring in the final minutes of close games, even in stoppage time, to win or tie has been the hallmark of this RailHawks team.

Ty Shipalane’s stoppage time goal gave Carolina a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Cesar Elizondo had tied the game with a RailHawks goal in the 90th minute.

The next time out they got another 1-1 road draw when Elizondo scored the equalizer in the 88th minhute.

In their last game Brian Shriver scored two goals in the final five minutes resulting in a 3-2 win over Minnesota United.

Then there was that 3-1 win over Chivas USA in the third round of the 2013 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The RailHawks scored a pair of goals in overtime to advance. The goals came from Elizonto and Brian Ackley.

Shriver and Austin da Luz scored a pair of the goals, both assisted by Zack Schilawski, to beat the Los Angeles Galaxy for the second consecutive year in their second round game.

That win advanced the RailHawks to a Open Cup third round against Chivas USA, the MLS team that knocked them out of the 2012 tournament.

Atlanta lost to Real Salt Lake of MLS 3-2 in overtime in the Open Cup’s second round.

Shriver, the Florida native who played collegiate soccer at UNC Chapel Hill, currently leads the North American Soccer League in scoring with eight goals.