RailHawks defender Tolleson retires from professional soccer

Teammates chose him 2009 Defensive Player of the Year

CARY, N.C. (Feb. 8, 2009) – Carolina RailHawks defender Jeremy Tolleson has retired from professional soccer in order to pursue mission work in Honduras.
Tolleson, 27, enjoyed three standout seasons of professional soccer, all three of them under Carolina RailHawks coach Martin Rennie.
“Since I’ve started coaching Jeremy – I had him with a PDL team in Oregon, a championship team in Cleveland and last year with the RailHawks – I hardly ever saw him play a bad game,” Rennie said. “He is consistently a very good player you can always rely on. We’ll definitely miss having him, but we wish him all the best and we’re excited about what he’s going on to do.”
Tolleson enjoyed arguably his best season in 2009, his first with Carolina. Tolleson missed the RailHawks’ first six matches while recovering from a preseason foot injury. But after making his debut on May 16, he played all but 38 minutes the remainder of the regular season. He was vital to a defense that finished the year with a league-leading 17 shutouts and a 0.63 goals against average.
In all competitions in 2009, Tolleson appeared in 31 matches for the RailHawks, logging 2,721 minutes and one assist. He was voted by his teammates as the RailHawks 2009 Defensive Player of the Year.
Prior to joining the RailHawks, Tolleson played two seasons for Rennie at the Cleveland City Stars. In 2007, Tolleson appeared in 19 matches and played 1,710 minutes, anchoring a defense that posted 10 shutouts and a 0.75 goals against average. In 2008, when Cleveland won the USL-2 championship, Tolleson appeared in all 20 City Stars matches and played 1,761 minutes for a defense that had 11 shutouts and a 0.95 goals against average.

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.