# 2018 North Carolina FC season

The 2018 North Carolina FC season was the club's 12th season of existence. Until the 2017 season, the club was previously known as the Carolina RailHawks. The 2018 season was the clubs first in the USL, having left the NASL at the end of the 2017 season. For the first time since 2009 and its fourth in club history, North Carolina won the Southern Derby, a fan-based U.S. professional soccer cup competition between North Carolina, Charleston Battery, and Charlotte Independence. North Carolina finished the regular season in 9th place with 47 points, missing out on the playoffs by 2 points to Nashville.

## Club
### Coaching staff

    As of March 15, 2018
| Position | Staff |
| Head coach | Colin Clarke |
| Assistant coach | Dewan Bader |
| Assistant coach | Greg Shields |
| Assistant coach | Nic Platter |
| Assistant coach | Michael Milazzo |
| Head Athletic Trainer | Shawn Wilson |

### Roster

    As of October 13, 2018
| No. | Position | Player | Nation |
| 1 | GK | Alex Tabakis | Greece |
| 3 | DF | Peabo Doue | United States |
| 4 | MF | Victor Igbekoyi | Nigeria |
| 5 | DF | Michael Harrington | United States |
| 6 | MF | Austin da Luz | United States |
| 7 | FW | Donovan Ewolo | Cameroon |
| 8 | MF | Dre Fortune | Trinidad and Tobago |
| 9 | FW | Marios Lomis | Netherlands |
| 10 | MF | Kyle Bekker | Canada |
| 11 | DF | Wuilito Fernandes | Cape Verde |
| 13 | DF | Connor Tobin | United States |
| 14 | FW | Daniel Ríos (on loan from Guadalajara) | Mexico |
| 15 | MF | Cameron Steele | United States |
| 16 | MF | Graham Smith | United States |
| 17 | MF | Bernhard Luxbacher | Austria |
| 18 | MF | Marcel Kandziora | Germany |
| 22 | MF | Ty Shipalane | South Africa |
| 23 | MF | Zach Steinberger (on loan from Indy Eleven) | United States |
| 27 | DF | D.J. Taylor | United States |
| 30 | GK | Austin Guerrero | United States |
| 31 | DF | Steven Miller | United States |
| 33 | DF | Aaron Guillen | Mexico |
| 99 | MF | Nelson Blanco | El Salvador |

## Transfers
### Winter

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GRE | Alexandros Tabakis (from Sporting Kansas City) |
| 3 | DF | USA | Peabo Doue (from Jacksonville Armada) |
| 4 | DF | CMR | Carson Nsegbe (from Rainbow FC) |
| 5 | DF | USA | Michael Harrington (from Chicago Fire) |
| 7 | FW | CMR | Donovan Ewolo (from MFK Vyškov) |
| 9 | FW | NED | Marios Lomis (from Creighton University) |
| 10 | MF | CAN | Kyle Bekker (from San Francisco Deltas) |
| 10 | FW | CPV | Wuilito Fernandes (from Orange County SC) |
| 14 | FW | MEX | Daniel Ríos (on loan from Guadalajara) |
| 15 | MF | USA | Cameron Steele (from Penn State University) |
| 16 | MF | USA | Graham Smith (from University of South Florida) |
| 17 | MF | AUT | Bernhard Luxbacher (from Wiener SK) |
| 30 | GK | USA | Austin Guerrero (from Alianza) |
| 98 | DF | GAM | Futty Danso (from Kelantan) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | USA | Macklin Robinson (to New York Cosmos B) |
| 2 | DF | ENG | Paul Black |
| 4 | DF | HAI | James Marcelin |
| 7 | MF | JAM | Lance Laing (to FC Cincinnati) |
| 8 | MF | JAM | Saeed Robinson (to Colorado Springs Switchbacks) |
| 9 | FW | USA | Matthew Fondy |
| 10 | MF | USA | Nazmi Albadawi (to FC Cincinnati) |
| 12 | MF | TRI | Kareem Moses (to FF Jaro) |
| 15 | DF | USA | Christian Ibeagha (to Oklahoma City Energy) |
| 17 | FW | USA | Billy Schuler |
| 19 | FW | TRI | Jonathan Glenn |
| 20 | MF | USA | Jonathan Orlando |
| 26 | FW | BRA | Renan Gorne (return to Botafogo) |
| 30 | MF | NGA | Bolu Akinyode (to Nashville SC) |
| 37 | MF | WAL | Danny Barrow |
| 92 | GK | USA | Brian Sylvestre (to LA Galaxy) |

### Summer

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | MF | USA | Zach Steinberger (on loan from Indy Eleven) |
| 4 | MF | NGA | Victor Igbekoyi (from Zira FK) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 98 | DF | GAM | Futty Danso (to UiTM FC) |

## Competitions

Win  Draw  Loss

### USL
#### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 7 | Indy Eleven | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 45 | 42 | +3 | 49 | Conference Playoffs |
| 8 | Nashville SC | 34 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 42 | 31 | +11 | 49 | Conference Playoffs |
| 9 | North Carolina FC | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 60 | 50 | +10 | 47 | |
| 10 | Ottawa Fury | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 31 | 43 | −12 | 45 | |
| 11 | Charlotte Independence | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 44 | 57 | −13 | 42 | |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Stadium | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | A | H | H | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | A |
| Result | L | L | L | W | D | D | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | D | W | L | D | D | W | W | D | W | L | D | W | L | D | W | W | L | W | L | L | W |
| Position | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 |

#### Matches
### U.S. Open Cup

Schedule Source

## Squad statistics

    As of Match played October 6, 2018
Source: Match reports

### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | USL Regular Season | USL Regular Season | U.S. Open Cup | U.S. Open Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | GRE | Alex Tabakis | 33 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | USA | Peabo Doue | 19 | 1 | 11+6 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | NGA | Victor Igbekoyi | 6 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | USA | Michael Harrington | 24 | 0 | 22+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | USA | Austin da Luz | 34 | 5 | 31 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | CMR | Donovan Ewolo | 29 | 8 | 15+13 | 7 | 0+1 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | TRI | Dre Fortune | 18 | 1 | 8+7 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | NED | Marios Lomis | 25 | 8 | 7+15 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| 10 | MF | CAN | Kyle Bekker | 34 | 7 | 28+3 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | CPV | Wuilito Fernandes | 15 | 1 | 7+7 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | USA | Connor Tobin | 22 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 14 | FW | MEX | Daniel Ríos | 28 | 19 | 23+4 | 19 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | USA | Cameron Steele | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | USA | Graham Smith | 33 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | AUT | Bernhard Luxbacher | 7 | 1 | 0+5 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 18 | MF | GER | Marcel Kandziora | 22 | 2 | 13+7 | 2 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | RSA | Ty Shipalane | 21 | 1 | 5+15 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | USA | Zach Steinberger | 9 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | USA | D.J. Taylor | 34 | 0 | 30+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | USA | Austin Guerrero | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | USA | Steven Miller | 31 | 4 | 29+1 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | USA | Aaron Guillen | 26 | 0 | 22+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 98 | DF | GAM | Futty Danso | 11 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 99 | MF | SLV | Nelson Blanco | 4 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |

### Goal scorers

| Place | Position | Nation | Number | Name | USL Regular Season | U.S. Open Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | | 14 | Daniel Ríos | 20 | 0 | 20 |
| 2 | FW | | 8 | Donovan Ewolo | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | FW | | 9 | Marios Lomis | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | MF | | 10 | Kyle Bekker | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 | MF | | 6 | Austin da Luz | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 | MF | | 23 | Zach Steinberger | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | DF | | 31 | Steven Miller | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | DF | | 13 | Connor Tobin | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | MF | | 18 | Marcel Kandziora | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | DF | | 3 | Peabo Doue | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | | 7 | Dre Fortune | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | | 11 | Wuilito Fernandes | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | FW | | 17 | Bernhard Luxbacher | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | | 23 | Ty Shipalane | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 58 | 8 | 66 |

### Disciplinary record

| Number | Position | Name | USL Regular Season | USL Regular Season | U.S. Open Cup | U.S. Open Cup | Total | Total |
| 3 | DF | Peabo Doue | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | Victor Igbekoyi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Michael Harrington | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | Austin da Luz | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | Donovan Ewolo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Dre Fortune | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Marios Lomis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Kyle Bekker | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | Wuilito Fernandes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | Connor Tobin | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | Daniel Ríos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | Graham Smith | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | Marcel Kandziora | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | Zach Steinberger | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | Aaron Guillen | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 33 | DF | Steven Miller | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 98 | DF | Futty Danso | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 99 | MF | Nelson Blanco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | | TOTALS | 51 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 56 | 1 |