RailHawks Championship-Like Season

If you were at the final Carolina RailHawks game that closed out the 2013 NASL season it was much like a movie that you have seen before.

The RailHawks drew a big home crowd at WakeMed Park, 6,015. They fell behind 1-0 to the San Antonio Scorpions, but Brian Shriver saved the day with two second-half goals for the 2-1 victory.

Unbeaten in 13 home matches, the RailHawks finished with the most points (43) over the entire NASL season. They also earned three U.S. Open Cup victories, won 14 games overall and drawing two.

They held an advantage going into the final two games of the spring season, but finished one point behind the Atlanta Silverbacks.

Overall, they have the most points of any NASL team over the course of the two combined seasons.

[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’] But when the final whistle of 2013 sounded, the RailHawks were all dressed up with no where to go. They finished second in both the spring and fall halves of the NASL season, but second place didn’t get a ticket to the Soccer Bowl and a shot at the league championship.

It had been a roller-coaster season in which the RailHawks only won once on the road. Anything more would have earned advancement.

In his final postgame comments, RailHawks head coach Colin Clarke thanked the fans. The final game, which was meaningless from the standpoint of standings, drew the largest crowd since the home team’s win over the Los Angeles Galaxy on May 29 in Lamar Hunt U. S. Open play.

“Our fans have been magnificent this year,” Clarke said. “They keep coming out in great numbers and supporting us. We wanted to finish it right, we wanted to start next season with that record (unbeaten at home) still intact.

“Everybody knows when they come here they’re not going to get a lot. That’s important to us.”

Clarke will get a chance to get the RailHawks off to a good start next year. Curt Johnson, president and general manager, announced that the third year of Clarke’s contract has been exercised and he will be back next year as the RailHawks head coach.

“Clearly, from my perspective, Colin has done a very good job,” Johnson said. “Not only this year in terms of having the most points in the league, our home unbeaten run, and the Open Cup.

“I think both years were very positive for the organization: 2012 beating the Galaxy at home in front of our first real big crowd, and then this year beating the Galaxy again, and Chivas (USA) at home. Obviously, a difficult end to the spring, a variety of reasons for that. But, Colin’s done a fantastic job here.”

The RailHawks have some work to do in terms of player personnel. They have already started signing players. The big question mark is Shriver, who led the NASL in scoring this season with 15 goals, good for the league’s Golden Boot award.

He is out of contract, and has said that he is ready for a break and ready for free agency.

“I feel like I’ve got quite a few more years in me,” Shriver was quoted as saying by Neil Morris in an IndyWeek.com article. “I need a break. It’d be nice to rest and recover for the next few weeks, and see what happens in the future.

“I love it here, and hopefully things work out. But in the end it is a business, so we’ll see what happens.”

The RailHawks have signed midfielder Tiyiselani Shipalane to a multiyear contract extension. They have also exercised the options on seven others.

Those seven returning RailHawks are goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald, defenders Austen King and Justin Willis, and midfielders Jake Beckford, Cesar Elizondo, Breiner Ortiz and Nick Zimmerman.