Saturday evening, Minnesota United meets its fellow residents of the top of the NASL standings, the Carolina RailHawks. Both teams have two wins and a tie after three games; in fact, both teams have scored five goals and allowed two, and this weekend will be the first chance for either team to get some separation in the standings.
For more on Carolina, I went to J. Mike Blake, a sports reporter for the (Raleigh) News & Observer. He's been covering the RailHawks, and he was nice enough to give me the lowdown on what's going on soccer-wise in the Research Triangle.
1. There's been a lot of upheaval in second-division American soccer over the past few years, between name changes, ownership troubles, and team moves. Yet Carolina has seemingly stayed steady, and now has an expanded soccer-specific stadium to boot. Why are things so stable in Cary?
Well, the RailHawks looked like they might fold about three years ago, before Traffic Sports USA purchased the team (they also own a majority share of two other NASL clubs). So things weren't always stable in Carolina. The RailHawks also benefit from the town of Cary's goal to attract NCAA College Cups, which meant expanding WakeMed Soccer Park.
2. Four of the regular RailHawks starting lineup are recent Wake Forest players - Akira Fitzgerald, Austin da Luz, Zach Schilawski, and Nick Millington. Is there a pipeline there, or is it merely coincidence?
No coincidence. All of these Wake players, plus other N.C. college graduates on the team, played for the RailHawks U23s under Dewan Bader. Bader is in his third year as a Carolina assistant coach.
3. Striker Nick Zimmerman led Carolina with 15 goals last year, but hasn't played yet this year, after going on some MLS trials over the winter. When will he be back?
Zimmerman was hurt in one of those trials. So at first first, he was rehabbing with Sporting Kansas City. Now he's rehabbing with the RailHawks, which means he will return to Carolina - the team just isn't sure when that will be.