The Carolina RailHawks are one match away from wrapping up the NASL regular-season championship.

As they prepare to face Ft. Lauderdale tonight at 7:30 in South Florida, they do so knowing that a win or tie will secure them their NASL’s title.

“We’re really close,” RailHawks coach Martin Rennie said after Saturday’s game. “The thing is, you’ve got to play the next game and get the results. Since the start of the season, we’ve tried to win every game that we play, and we have won a lot of games. We want to win as many as we can.”

Saturday’s 2-0 win over Tampa Bay, coupled with Puerto Rico’s 2-0 loss to Atlanta, pushed the RailHawks ahead of the Islanders by nine points, and the RailHawks have a game in hand. Any points earned from tonight’s match means Puerto Rico cannot catch them.

Watch the match live at CarolinaRailHawks.com.

Approaching Milestones

The RailHawks have been re-writing the club’s record book all season. The latest to fall was the single-season wins record, which the RailHawks upped to 17 with Saturday’s win over Tampa Bay. Several more individual and team records could fall over the regular season’s final two weeks.

The RailHawks have already set nine club records this season, including wins in a season and goals scored (49), and they have nine more that are in striking distance, including points in the table and fewest losses in a season.

Etienne Barbara’s season-long scoring binge has resulted in him matching or surpassing 10 records, including goals in a season, assists in a season and career goals and points.

With his seventh assist of the season against Ft. Lauderdale on Aug. 20, Jonny Steele took over the club’s career assist record (12), which has changed hands four times this season.

Lassiter Makes Debut

Local product Tyler Lassiter made his RailHawks debut on Saturday night and helped his new club record its eighth shutout of the season.

Lassiter grew up in Wake Forest and played his youth soccer for CASL before going on to be a four-year starter at N.C. State. Lassiter joined the RailHawks on loan for the remainder of the NASL season from MLS’ New York Red Bulls, who selected him in the second round of January’s SuperDraft.

With Lassiter alongside Gareth Evans, who joined the club two weeks ago, in central defense, they hardly looked the part of pair who’d never played together before. Flanked by Kupono Low and Floyd Franks, himself making his first appearance in six weeks, and Brad Knighton in goal, the RailHawks held Tampa Bay to just seven shots, only two on target.

“It was awesome,” Lassiter said of his homecoming. “My whole family’s here – from my grandmas all the way to my cousins, my sister, a lot of friends, a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s a good feeling.”

Krause, Nurse Appear in WC Qualifiers

Defender John Krause and midfielder Chris Nurse missed Saturday’s match after being called up to their respective national teams for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. Krause is representing Puerto Rico and Nurse Guyana.

Krause played the full 90 minutes in Friday’s 0-0 draw against St. Kitts and Nevis, and he went the full 90 in Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to Canada.

Nurse appeared in both of Guyana’s matches, a 2-0 win over Barbados on Friday and a 2-1 win over Bermuda on Tuesday, and played the full 90 minutes of both contests.

Puerto Rico is grouped with St. Kitts and Nevis, Canada and St. Lucia. Puerto Rico will face St. Kitts and Nevis on Oct. 7 and Canada on Oct. 11, and they’ll finish qualifying against St. Lucia on Nov. 11 and 15.

Guyana is grouped with Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Bermuda. They’ll  face Barbados again on Oct. 7 and Bermuda on Oct. 11, and they’ll finish this qualifying round on Nov. 11 and 15 against Trinidad and Tobago.

In this round of World Cup Qualifying, teams are placed into groups and they will play round-robin, home-and-away series. The winner of each group advances on to the next stage of qualifying.

Extra Time

• Pablo Campos’ two-goal effort Saturday was his third multi-goal game of the season, and eighth turned in by a member of the RailHawks. His 11 goals are tied for second-most in the NASL.
• Kupono Low earned his first assist since 2008 on Saturday, setting up Pablo Campos’ 19th-minute goal.
• Brian Farber earned his second assist of the season on Saturday, setting up Pablo Campos’ 38th-minute goal.
• Floyd Franks appeared in his first match since July 23 on Saturday, and played the full 90 minutes to help the RailHawks secure their eighth shutout of the season.
• Stephen Glass appeared in his first match since July 3 on Saturday, entering the match as an 81st minute substitute.