RailHawks open season with back-to-back home matches

Schedule kicks off against St. Louis on April 10

CARY, N.C. (Feb. 8, 2009) – The Carolina RailHawks will kick off their fourth season with a pair of home matches at WakeMed Soccer Park against AC St. Louis on April 10 and NSC Minnesota on April 16.
The 2010 USSF Division 2 schedule, which was released Monday, will feature 30 matches, with each team playing 15 at home and 15 away.
“It’s exciting to finally have the schedule for next season,” said RailHawks coach Martin Rennie. “We’re bringing back a strong nucleus from last year’s team and adding a few new key players that will help us build on all the success of 2009.”

The RailHawks will play the bulk of their games on the weekend – 21 matches, 11 at WakeMed Soccer Park, leaving nine mid-week dates, four at home.
After their two-match, season-opening homestand, the RailHawks will play six of their next seven on the road. The only home match will be May 14 against Tampa Bay.

They won’t play another league match at WakeMed Soccer Park until June 19 against Crystal Palace.
With the front of the schedule loaded with away matches – 10 of Carolina’s first 15 matches are on the road – the back end will allow the RailHawks to play mostly at home. Of their final 15 matches, 10 of them will be at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Beginning July 28, the RailHawks will kick off a four-match homestand against Rochester, then face Vancouver (July 31), Montreal (Aug. 7) and Rochester again (Aug. 11). The RailHawks will close the season with four home matches in September against Crystal Palace (Sept. 3), Portland (Sept. 11), Puerto Rico (Sept. 25) and Austin (Sept. 30).
Eight teams will qualify for the playoffs, which will begin the week of Oct. 4. The first-place teams in the USL Conference and NASL Conference will be the top two seeds. The next six best teams, based on total points, will round out the playoff field. Each round, including the championship, will be conducted as two-game, home-and-away aggregate goal series.
Tentative dates for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup have also been established, though the draw will not occur until later in the spring. The first round is set for June 15-16, and subsequent rounds will follow on June 22-23, June 29-30, July 6-7, Aug. 31-Sept. 1 and Oct. 4-5.

The RailHawks have also reserved dates for at least two exhibition games – one in April, one in July – and are planning to bring in at least one team from Mexico’s Primera División. Those teams and the dates of those friendlies will be announced soon, as will the RailHawks’ preseason plans.

For ticket information to all RailHawks matches at WakeMed Soccer Park, contact the LGFCU Box Office at 919-859-5425 or visit www.carolinarailhawks.com.
For the entire USSF Division 2 schedule, visit www.ussoccer.com.

ABOUT THE NASL

The North American Soccer League (NASL) was established in November 2009 and is comprised of the following active teams: Carolina RailHawks, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Miami FC, Minnesota (whose name is to be determined), Montreal Impact, Rochester Rhinos, AC St. Louis, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. For the 2010 season, the NASL's nine teams, together with three teams (Austin Aztex, Portland Timbers and Puerto Rico Islanders) from the United Soccer Leagues, will play in a second division league established and administered by the United States Soccer Federation. The league will feature two divisions (NASL and USL) of six teams each with NASL teams Minnesota, Rochester and Tampa playing in the USL division in order to have equal teams.  In 2011, the NASL will be joined by teams in Atlanta and certain other cities to be named at a later date.  The NASL and its member teams are committed to building on their long tradition of providing a high level of soccer to fans across the United States and Canada in 2010 and beyond.