Unbeaten Since NASL Midseason Break
Brian Shriver has always been a goal scorer. He scored goals growing up playing club and high school soccer in Clearwater, Fla. He was a NSCAA Youth All-America and three-year team captain at Clearwater HS.
He finished his collegiate soccer career at UNC Chapel Hill with 22 career goals, 14 coming in his senior season. He turned down an offer from FC Dallas to turn pro after his junior year in Chapel Hill, but turned it down to return for his final college season.
[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’] He scored big goals as a professional with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers when he scored 11 goals in 2011, and it was there that he caught the eye of Carolina RailHawks head coach Colin Clark.
Not that he was a totally unknown at that time. While at UNC he played for the RailHawks U-23s, coach by Dewan Bader. He scored six goals in 13 games with that team.
A year ago Shriver was the golden boot winner in the 2012 U.S. Open Cup, as the competition’s top goalscorer with five. He was the RailHawks’ first player to achieve that honor.
The once-beaten RailHawks stumbled in the final game of the spring half of the season and was edged by the Atlanta Silverbacks for the spring championship by a single point.
They began the fall portion of the schedule with a 1-0 win over FC Edmondton, and a 1-1 draw with Atlanta. They then took back the top spot in the NASL standings with a 3-1 win over the expansion New York Cosmos on a rainy night in front of a home crowd of 4,096..
Shriver scored twice against the Cosmos, their first loss since beginning play in the second half of the split season. They ran his league-best total to 11 goals. The win ran the RailHawks’ unbeaten streak to 11 at home.
Shriver scored in the eighth and 26th minute in a highly competitive game that saw four ejections, 11 yellow cards and 43 combined fouls.
“New York is a very good team, with good players,” said RailHawks coach Colin Clark. “This was a big win tonight. We will enjoy it and then move our focus on to the next match.
The Cosmos brand returned to the field 28 years after the original club folded in the dying days of the original North American Soccer League. at the time, the Cosmos was the flagship of the NASL.
The Cosmos came to WakeMed Stadium unbeaten, after a win over Fort Lauderdale and a draw with Tampa Bay. Shriver was named NASL Player of the Week, his second such honor this season, for his efforts against the Cosmos.
“It was a great win over the weekend and I am glad I was able to contribute,” said Shriver.
“It is a well deserved award for Brian with two big goals on Saturday,” said Clarke about Shriver’s performance. “He has been working hard and scoring goals all year so it is great for him to get the recognition he deserves.”
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