Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2011

RailHawks fall in regular season finale

Team celebrates NASL regular-season championship afterward

The postgame festivities weren't reflective of the scoreboard, but the Carolina RailHawks' 2-1 loss to the NSC Minnesota Stars still didn't change the fact the RailHawks had a regular-season championship to celebrate.

It was a bittersweet picture Saturday night at WakeMed Soccer Park as the team accepted its North American Soccer League trophy for the best record in the league. The RailHawks (17-8-3) ended a 370-minute scoreless streak, one that broke a team record from the 2007 season, and played before the third-largest home crowd (6,234) in team history. But it was also the team's fourth-straight loss - the most consecutive losses in coach Martin Rennie's career.

The team will now get almost two weeks off before its first postseason match. The RailHawks, the No. 1 seed in the NASL playoffs, went 4-7-2 over the last half of the season after a 12-1-1 start.

"Once we won the regular-season title, that edge has just kind of not been there," Rennie said. "But I believe that these guys are going to find it for the playoffs. There's something about them that when they really have to turn it on, they can do it."

Brian Cvilikas buried a shot on an assist from Lucas Rodriguez to put Minnesota on top in the 52nd minute. It was the third goal in five minutes, starting with a 48th minute penalty taken by Minnesota's Kyle Altman.

In the 50th minute, the Stars - who needed a win to assure a playoff berth - inexplicably were open for a counter-attack, which the RailHawks' Pablo Campos put away after an assist from Jonny Steele.

Carolina has a first-round bye, but will play the semifinals against the lowest seed remaining after the quarterfinals.

The semifinals will be a home-and-away series decided by total goals scored in the two games.

"We (will) start to remind ourselves that we won the regular-season title, we won the first seed, we have all the advantages going into the playoffs and it's on us to get the job done," defender Kupono Low said.