Story and photo by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – Just seven weeks into the off-season, it’s been a busy time for the Carolina RailHawks, Cary’s professional NASL soccer team. They’ve hired a new coach, set the first two games of 2012 and are getting a stadium expansion.

N. Ireland Soccer Legend Colin Clarke New RailHawks Coach

Last week, the RailHawks introduced new head coach Colin Clarke to the public and the press at Page-Walker in downtown Cary.

Clarke comes over from arch-rival Puerto Rico Islanders. The Hawks and the Islanders have been dueling it out for division leadership for the past couple of years, and the selection of Clarke makes perfect sense.

Prior to coaching Puerto Rico, Clarke was head coach for the Dallas Burn and the Richmond Kickers. In Richmond, Clarke worked directly with RailHawks president Curt Johnson, GM of the Kickers at that time.

As a player, Colin Clarke played professionally in England for twelve years, including stints with first division clubs Southampton, Portsmouth and Queens Park Rangers. He play for N. Ireland in the 1986 World Cup and appeared in 38 games for the Northern Ireland national team. From the RailHawks:

Appearing 38 times for the Northern Ireland National Team, Clarke recorded a World Cup goal, a hat-trick, and finished his career as the all-time leading goal scorer for Northern Ireland.

First Game is Against the Old Coach

No pressure on the new coach, but the first game is against the old coach, Martin Rennie, and his MLS Vancouver Whitecaps.

It will be the season’s first exhibition match on Sunday March 4, 2012.

“Hosting a high profile Major League Soccer exhibition against Martin Rennie and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC is the perfect way to begin our 2012 season,” said RailHawks President Curt Johnson.  “We want to test ourselves against MLS on the field and continue to showcase our fans, WakeMed Soccer Park, and the new RailHawks organization to soccer fans throughout North America.”

Home Opener April 14

The Hawks also announced that the 2012 home opener will be on Saturday, April 14, 2012 against the Atlanta Silverbacks.

The season opens a week earlier with the RailHawks away against the NASL champion Minnesota Stars.

Stadium Upgrade

In the meantime, work has begun on a ten-month expansion of Wake Med Soccer Park to 10,000 seats.

The $6.3 million project will add 1,500 seats on the north side and 1,500 seats on the east side. The eastern end of the stadium will also get a three-tiered structure including restrooms, concessions, multi-purpose space and new team locker rooms.

Town of Cary graphic from March 2011. Shows east end expansion.

$5.8 million comes from Wake County and the City of Raleigh hotel and food tax, known officially as the interlocal occupancy tax. The stadium was built in 2002 by Wake County on land provided by the state of North Carolina. According to the Town of Cary, 360,000 fans annually visit Wake Med Soccer Park bringing an economic impact of $12 million to the region.

The main impetus to expand the stadium is to stay competitive with other cities for lucrative NCAA matches. Over this last weekend, the UNC Tar Heels won the NCAA College Cup soccer championship over Charlotte by a score of 1-0 in front of 8,777 fans at Regions Park in Hoover, Alabama just south of Birmingham. In the past, Cary has played host to NCAA Div I, II and III men’s and women’s matches.

For RailHawks fans, the expansion means more amenities and more choices for seating and groups. Players, coaches and refs will enjoy the new locker rooms. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2012.

Cary, NC – Earlier this week, we reported that Green Hope won the state soccer championship in a gripping match against Myers Park on Saturday night. Now we have the pictures to prove it.

Great job by Tom Mousseau capturing the drama and passion of the final game. 

If you’d like to report on your sport for your school, email sports@carycitizen.com and we’ll tell you how get started.

Story from staff reports. File photo from by Tom Mousseau.

Cary, NC – Green Hope varsity soccer captured the state Division 4A title yesterday in a close match against Charlotte Myers Park at Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary.

Nail Biter

Green Hope trailed early in the game, but tied it up to send the championship match into overtime.

In the second OT period, the Falocns managed to get a score and hold off Myers Park until the final tick.

Andrew Chadwick, coaching his last game for the Falcons, filed these brief notes on Max Preps:

Green Hope ends the season 25-1 and captures the 4A NC State Championship with a 2-1 OT win over Myers Park. Green Hope came from behind in 3 of the 6 playoff games. In the final, down 0-1, Green Hope equalized, then score in the 2nd OT to win 2-1! Amazing season!!!

We’ll have photos of the match later in the week. But for now, it’s time to hang another championship banner in the metaphorical rafters of the town.

The CaryCitizen Calendar of Events is edited by Lindsey Chester. Photo by Tom Mousseau.

Cary, NC – Swinging into the holiday season, Cary is hosting a feast of events this coming weekend including a Beaujolais Nouveau tasting, a jewelry event called Naughty or Nice, a local team in the state soccer finals and lots of other great stuff.

Beaujolais Nouveau

The Sister Cities Association, in partnership with the Wake Tech Culinary Arts Department, and Total Wine, present the 5th annual Beaujolais Wine Tasting on Friday, November 18 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm at the Matthews House in downtown Cary. Tickets at Beaujolais Wine.

Naughty or Nice

This is a dangerous event brought to you by our friends at Joint Venture Estate Jewelry here in Cary. “Leave the men. Leave the kids. Join us for Girl’s Night Out: Holiday Style for Joint Venture Jewelry’s Naughty or Nice Wish List Party! It’s simple, you tell us and we’ll tell him.” 4-7 pm on Friday, November 18.

Falcons to Play for State Soccer Title

On Saturday, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) hosts the 2011 Soccer Championships at Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary.

Of special interest, Cary’s own Green Hope High School is vying for the title in the 4A division. Game is at 5, but get there early because traffic will be heavy all day.

Lots of Theater

This weekend, The Hobbit is Green Hope, F.A.T.E presents Our Lady of 121st Street, and a show called Ganip Ganopsical & the Strawberry Popsical is at CAC.

More info on the Calendar.

Let There Be Music

Not into theater this weekend? Not into naughty? How about some music?

This weekend features a concert by the Triangle Youth String Orchestras, a show by the Triangle Brass Band and Classical Interlude with Eric Dyke from the NC Symphony. All this weekend in Cary, NC. Check the Calendar.

More Events

It’s a cornucopia of events this weekend. A juggernaut. Almost an onslaught. Certainly an embarrassment of riches.

Check the Calendar and see for yourself.

Story by Rob Daniels and Steve Philipps of the ACC. Photo by Chris Adamczyk for ACC.com.

Cary, NC- UNC finished on top winning the Men’s ACC Soccer Championship played Sunday at Cary’s WakeMed Soccer Park.

Played Great in the Cold Semi’s

Leading up to the Sunday victory, the UNC team played the Virginia Cavaliers in some bone chilling temps Friday. With wind chills into the 30s and falling, the top-seeded Tar Heels defeated Virginia 1-0 in the ACC Tournament semifinals when Schuler finished a well executed sequence initiated by Enzo Martinez and continued by Rob Lovejoy less than two minutes into overtime. UNC (16-2-2) had reason to believe it wouldn’t come to this, having controlled play for almost all of regulation. By itself, of course, outshooting the opposition 21-4 doesn’t promise anything in this game, and getting frustrated doesn’t particularly help.

“You can’t dwell on your misses,” Lovejoy said. “You have to think you’re going to get the next one and put it away.”The fourth-seeded Cavs (12-7-1) got to WakeMed Stadium with a 4-3 overtime win over No. 5 Wake Forest on Tuesday. The game was the tournament’s highest scoring quarterfinal since 1997, and coach George Gelnovatch said it had a cumulative effect that was tough to counteract against a powerful UNC club.“Congratulations to Carolina, a good team that played hard and well tonight,” Gelnovatch said.

Number 7 B.C. Beat Duke in Semis

Boston College, the number 7 seed, bested No 2 Duke in the semi-finals Friday in a closely matched game , 2-1 with each team shooting 10 shots on goal.

If the Eagles’ ranking within this exceptionally competitive fraternity suggested they were longshots to survive, their play did not. “The truth is the Eagles would have been seeded first if they had beaten North Carolina in the regular-season finale. While falling to No. 7 in their own league, they stood seventh in all of Division I (203 teams worth) in the RPI dated Tuesday.

“I don’t pay attention to all these seeding things,” Medina-Mendez said Friday. “It’s soccer.”

Number 1 Prevailed in Championship

But number one seed UNC- got the best of the Eagles on a beautiful fall day Sunday.

Ben Speas, who had scored twice all season before Sunday, delivered two goals and assisted the third as top-seeded UNC defeated Boston College 3-1 to claim the program’s third ACC Tournament championship. Speas assisted Carlos McCrary and knocked in a 40-yard free kick in a five-minute span of the first half for the Tar Heels (16-2-2), who have allowed only two goals in an ongoing six-game winning streak.

Speas was named MVP for his goals and 3 points contributing to their victory. “I’m very proud of our team because Boston College was an outstanding team and they’re going to do very well in my opinion in the NCAA tournament,” said UNC’s Carlos Somoano, who became the first coach to win the conference title in his first year on the job. “They gave us a great game today. We hadn’t had to deal with a team coming at us that much this season.”

The Eagles, seeded seventh in the tournament while rated seventh nationally in the most recent RPI, made a frenzied charge, generating four solid scoring chances in the final 20 minutes. North Carolina goalkeeper Scott Goodwin repelled three of them with solid saves. Both teams can reasonably anticipate first-round byes in the NCAA tournament, for which the pairings will be announced Monday.

No Title Since 2000

UNC, which claimed its other titles in 1987 and 2000, didn’t trail in the tournament. It jumped in front on Sunday when Speas took the ball on the right side of the box and crossed one for Carlos McCrary, who took great care to head it off the turf and in with 7:41 left in the first half.

It became 2-0 in short order on an unconventional play. Speas admitted he was simply trying to play his free kick into the box for a teammate. Any teammate. But BC goalkeeper Justin Luthy appeared to mis-time his jump, and he was unable to snare the ball.

“On those long ones,” Speas said, “you want to keep it on goal just in case something like that does happen.” The Eagles unsuccessfully sought a call of interference, believing a Tar Heel had improperly obstructed Luthy’s path to the ball.

The necessity of pushing forward created space for North Carolina’s third goal, a breakaway that Speas finished off a feed from Billy Schuler less than three minutes after the Eagles had gotten on the board. Schuler, the team’s leading scorer, was limited to 40 minutes over the final two games by a leg injury, but he made his time count. He delivered the game-winner in Friday’s overtime win over Virginia and got Sunday’s assist in his third minute on the field.

“His presence on the field changes a lot of things,” midfielder Enzo Martinez said. “And his numbers speak for themselves.”

Although he didn’t enjoy seeing it, Kelly appreciated Schuler’s excellence.

“When Billy’s healthy,” Kelly said, “he is a problem.”

We’re Not Done

North Carolina made it a special day for outgoing athletics director Dick Baddour, who promoted Somoano from assistant coach in the spring. Baddour attended with his successor, Bubba Cunningham, who begins his tenure on Monday.

In prevailing at WakeMed Stadium, UNC achieved something relatively rare. It became only the eighth team to win the ACC Tournament after claiming the regular-season title outright, and it did so with an entirely new back line in which Somoano put his total trust.

“This is a reward,” Speas said, “but we’re not done at all.”

Story and photo by Tom Mousseau.

Cary, NC –  Green Hope High School men’s varsity soccer team advances to the third round of the state playoffs by beating Enloe High School on Saturday with a final score of 4-2.  In a tight match against Enloe, Green Hope was down by a 2-1 margin in the second half when Kellen Foster scored to tie the game. 

Points later came by Tyler Carroll and Rodrigo Ortiz to cap off the game.  The win puts the Falcons overall record to 21-1-0.

Green Hope will host Durham Jordan on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 in what is likely to be an exciting match.  Jordan beat Green Hope in last year’s playoffs and went on to win the 4A title.  In the previous match up this year, Green Hope defeated Jordan with a score of 5-0.

In addition, Green Hope’s own Indi Cowie will put on an Freestyle Soccer exhibition at half-time. Watch her amazing video from ESPN and read NY Times article.

YouTube: ESPN 360: Indi Cowie

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/magazine/mag-27Soccer-t.html?pagewanted=all

Story by Steve Phillips. File photo by Tom Mousseau from last year’s ACC Women’s Soccer Championship in Cary between Wake Forest and Maryland. The Deacs are this year’s defending champs.

Cary, NC – Women ACC play quarterfinals finished up this Sunday on college campuses, and now the semi-and final matches will move to Cary’s WakeMed Soccer Park this Friday, Nov 4.The field is set for the 2011 ACC Women’s Soccer Championship with all the familiar teams in attendance. Duke will play Wake Forest, and Virginia meets Florida State this Friday in the semi-final match ups.

Sunday’s quarterfinal action at the campus sites of the higher seeded teams found No. 1 Duke edging No. 8 Virginia Tech 1-0; No. 2 Virginia blanking No. 7 Maryland 2-0; No. 6 Florida State topping third-seeded North Carolina 1-0 in double-overtime,  and No. 5 Wake Forest defeating No. 4 Boston College 3-2.

The Tournament

The tournament now moves to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., which will be hosting the semifinals and finals for the fourth straight year and the eighth time in nine years. Friday’s first semifinal matchup finds Duke (17-2-1) facing Wake Forest (13-3-3) at 5:30 p.m. The second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. finds Virginia (14-3-2) matched against Florida State (13-6). Both games will be broadcast by ESPN3.

The winners advance to next Sunday’s 1 p.m. championship match (Nov 6), which will be broadcast nationally by ESPNU. Defending champion Wake Forest and Virginia are both going after their second ACC Championship titles, while Duke and Florida State seek to win the tournament for the first time. Duke earned the top seed for this year’s Championship by placing atop the conference standings with an 8-1-1 league record. The regular-season title was the second in Duke women’s soccer history and the Blue Devils’ first since 2004.

Duke used two second-half goals by sophomore Laura Weinberg to top Wake Forest 2-0 in the regular-season meeting between the teams on Oct. 20. Florida State and Virginia played a high-scoring shootout at Charlottesville, Va., on Oct. 8, with Caroline Miller’s goal in the 93rd minute lifting the Cavaliers to a 4-3 win.

Each of the four teams in the semifinal field boasts an impressive national ranking. Duke enters Friday’s games ranked as high as fourth nationally, Virginia as high as fifth, Wake Forest as high as seventh and Florida State as high as 12^th.

Snapshot of Quarter Finals Play

Duke 1, Virginia Tech 0

The Blue Devils opened on the attack from the start as sophomore Kaitlyn Kerr had a shot blocked in the first two minutes of the match.  Following a Hokie foul at the 23-yard mark, sophomore Mollie Pathman fired a shot into the box that got knocked around.  Sophomore Laura Weinberg then  tapped it to freshman Kelly Cobb who punched it inside the left post for her team-leading 10th tally of the season.

Duke snapped a streak of five matches without scoring a first half. Cobb matched a Blue Devil freshman record with her 10 goals on the year..  With the goal at the 2:51 mark, it marked the second-fastest tally of the season and the sixth time this year Cobb has scored Duke’s first goal in a match.

Tara Campbell registered the win in goal for the Blue Devils as she played the first 30:14 of the match and finished with one save before leaving the game due to a broken nose Redshirt freshman Meghan Thomas added a career-high three saves in a career-best 54:46 minutes.

The 25^th-ranked Hokies (12-7-1) tried to mount a late rally with five shots over the final 10 minutes and three corner kicks in the last three minutes. But Duke held on to post its school-record 14^th shutout of the season and claim its first ACC Championship win since 2005.

Virginia 2, Maryland 0

The Cavaliers took the lead in 29th minute of play. Amanda Fancher’s cross fell to Molly Menchel at the top of the box, where she fired a shot into the upper left corner for her third goal of the season.

Virginia’s second goal came in the 83rd minute. Caroline Miller found Gloria Douglas on the wing, and Douglas cut inside and fired a shot just under the crossbar for her sixth goal of the season.

Virginia posted its fifth consecutive shutout, its longest streak since six straight shutouts in 2009. Chantel Jones made one save to earn her 44th career shutout, tying the NCAA record. Jones, who has 11 shutouts this season, equaled the mark set by Erin Guthrie of Rutgers (2006-09). Boston College keeper Jillian Mastoianni has 43 career shutouts, 10 of which have come this season.

Yewande Balogun made two saves in goal for 15^th-ranked Maryland (10-5-4).

Wake Forest 3, Boston College 2

Rachel Nuzzolese scored the opening goal and assisted on Wake Forest’s other two scores as the fifth-seeded Demon Deacons took their first step towards defending their ACC Championship.

Kim Marshall notched her first-career goal in the 22nd minute, when she one-timed Nuzzolese’s service into the back of the net. Riley Ridgik netted the game-winner in the 70th minute, heading Nuzzolese’s corner kick inside the far post.

Boston College (11-5-2) tried to rally late, getting a penalty kick goal from Gibby Wagner in the 71st minute and a Kristie Mewis score in the 90th minute, but could not complete the comeback.

Florida State 1, North Carolina 0 (2 OT)

A golden goal by Jessica Price in double overtime gave No. 12 Florida State the victory over No. 8 North Carolina.

Price found the back of the net by putting away a loose ball in the box following a Florida State corner. The game-winner was Price’s second of the season and 11th of her career, while it marked her second career golden goal.

The play was set up when Tiffany McCarty won the corner kick. Tiana Brockway took the corner and sent the ball to the far post where Ella Stephan put a header on goal.  UNC keeper Anna Sieloff was there for the initial save as she tipped the ball off the crossbar, but Price made a great read and one-timed the rebound over the goal line for the game-winner.

Heels First Loss in ACC Championship

The loss by North Carolina was its first ever in the 24-year history of the ACC Championship. The Tar Heels own a 58-1-4 all-time record in the event. In addition to its first-ever loss in the ACC Championship, it marked the first time the Tar Heels have lost three straight games in their 33-year history. The win was the first for the Seminoles in Chapel Hill (1-7-2) and the first win over UNC in 11 tries in the ACC Championship.

The shutout was FSU’s ninth of the season and third in the last four games.  FSU keeper Kelsey Wys played the entire contest and made two saves vs. the Tar Heels (11-5-1) to record her fifth shutout of the season.

2011 ACC Championship Women’s Soccer Schedule

Sunday, Oct. 30 – Quarterfinals- results

Held at campus site of higher seeded team

• No. 1 Duke 1, No. 8 Virginia Tech 0
• No. 5 Wake Forest 3, No.4 Boston College 2
• No. 2 Virginia 2, No. 7 Maryland 0
• No. 6 Florida State 1, No. 3 North Carolina 0 (2 OT)

Friday, Nov. 4 – Semifinals

WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary

• N.C.Duke vs. Wake Forest (ESPN3), 5:30 pm
• Virginia vs. Florida State (ESPN3), 7:30 pm

Sunday, Nov. 6 – Finals

WakeMed Soccer Park; Cary, N.C. Championship (ESPNU), 1:00 pm

• Winner from above 2 matches.

Check our events Calendar regularly to find out about this and other events in Cary.

Story by Hal Goodtree. Photos by Tom Mousseau for CaryCitizen.

Cary, NC – In 2011, Cary’s own Carolina RailHawks were the darlings of the North American Soccer League. But the dream of a championship came to an end Saturday night at Wake Med Soccer Park with a loss to arch-rivals the Minnesota Stars.

The Brilliant Season

The RailHawks had it all during the regular season: a league-leading 17-8-3 record, the league’s leading scorer (Etienne Barbara), four first-team all-stars. At one point, the had a 10-game winning streak.

The Early Exit

The NASL has a two-game format for each round of the playoffs. Most total points wins.

The RailHawks received a bye in the first round thanks to their league-leading record.

Their first post-season game was a semi-final match against the Stars in Minnesota. The ‘Hawks lost 1-0 on a late goal.

The RailHawks had a chance to come back at home, but needed to win by two goals.

Saturday night’s game was a hard-fought, high-scoring contest. At the end of regulation time, the ‘Hawks led 4-3.

That left the semi-final series knotted at 4 aggregate goals a piece, sending last night’s match into extra-time.

The teams played two 15-minute extra-time periods without scoring, sending the match into penalty kicks.

Minnesota converted all 5 of its penalty kicks. But the Stars goalie managed to block one of Carolina’s attempts, ending the match, the series and the season.

The Pictures

Contributing photographer Tom Mousseau of All-Star Photo was at Saturday night’s NASL semi-final playoff match for CaryCitizen.

Story by Hal Goodtree. Photos by Karl Fisher.

Cary, NC – The RailHawks might have been shot out of a cannon this season, with a 17-3-8 record, massive crowds at Wake Med Soccer Park and a high level of excitement at the games. But the season is on the line this Saturday, with a must-win game against the Minnesota Stars.

In fact, the ‘Hawks have to win by two goals because of the points system in the playoffs.

All Fired-Up

Expect Etienne Barbara, the Maltese Maelstrom, to come out with guns blazing. He led the NASL in scoring this season with 20 goals and eight assists, a club record.

Team Captain Kupono Low is likely to be fired-up as well – he’s a guy who always gives 110%. Low was named to the NASL Best XI first-team squad this year. Midfielder Matt Watson and goalkeeper Brad Knighton also made the NASL first-team.

The Railhawks have the firepower, but it’s going to be an uphill battle on Saturday night. Coach Martin Rennie, who is moving on to MLS next year, has said that the involvement of the fans is a key to the semi-final game. “We’re looking forward to taking the series back to WakeMed, and playing in front of our fans and having a chance to move on to the final.”

Saturday promises to be a great night in the annuls of Cary sports. Be there for the ‘Hawks. Bring your vuvuzela.

Event Details

Carolina RailHawks vs Minnesota Stars
Saturday October 15, 2011 at 7 pm
WakeMed Soccer Park
Cary, NC

Get tickets

Story from staff reports. Photos by Tom Mousseau.

Cary, NC – In this edition of Wide World of Cary Sports, we focus on Green Hope varsity boys soccer, ranked #1 in North Carolina and #3 in the nation, according to Max Preps.

Juggernaut

Last week, GH dispatched Cardinal Gibbons 3-1. And on Monday, they put away Athens Drive four to zip.

Falcons soccer, under head coach (and sometime CaryCitizen contributor) Andrew Chadwick, are 9-0-0 in conference play and 13-0-0 overall this season.

Photos

Contributing Photographer Tom Mousseau captured the action against Gibbons last week. Coincidentally, Green Hope’s goalie is also named Thomas Mousseau.

More of Tom’s stellar sports photography can be found at All-Star-Photos.com.