— CARY, N.C.—Previously on “As the RailHawks Soar” … Nacho married his girlfriend and came back to Cary. Conner replaced Daniel as team captain. Austin landed in the hospital. Akira returned from New York.

Oh, Aaron was arrested and indicted as part of a U.S. Justice Department investigation into racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice by FIFA officials and other sport marketing executives.

Who will buy the RailHawks? Will Brian find that it's always sunny in Philadelphia? Is Mark pining for South Florida? Like sands on the WakeMed Soccer Stadium pitch, so are the days of the ‘Hawks lives.

The Carolina RailHawks will open their 2015 North American Soccer League fall season in Cary Saturday at 5 p.m., with a star-spangled kickoff against Minnesota United. Carolina and Minnesota ended the NASL spring season tied with 14 points apiece. By virtue of a tiebreak, the RailHawks finished third in the league table, an altogether satisfying finish to the 10-game spring season “sprint” that felt like a two-month marathon full of twists and turns.

There were medical scare plotlines involving a plethora of players. Austin da Luz missed the entire spring with a broken foot. Simone Bracalello tore his hamstring in the fourth game at Indy Eleven. And presumptive key contributors like Futty Danso, Wells Thompson, Nazmi Albadawi, Kupono Low and even Nacho Novo each missed multiple games due to injuries.

There was a courtroom drama plotline involving Aaron Davison and Traffic Sports USA—the RailHawks’ majority stakeholder. Traffic Sports pled guilty to federal wire fraud conspiracy, while Davidson, then the president of Traffic Sports USA, was indicted as part of the DOJ probe into FIFA.

There were character departures and returns, chiefly at goalkeeper. Brian Sylvestre was loaned to the Philadelphia Union as its new starting keeper, having not played a minute all season for Carolina. Sylvestre returned for a one-off cameo in the RailHawks’ loss to the USL’s Charlotte Independence in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Meanwhile, Carolina starter Hunter Gilstrap eventually made way for the return of prodigal goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald, who came back on loan from New York City FC for spring-season sweeps.

Fitzgerald earned two clean sheets and allowed only one goal over three games in goal for the RailHawks, which closed out the spring season with two road wins and a home draw against Minnesota United. He returned to New York following the RailHawks’ June 6 spring finale. Last week NYCFC waived Fitzgerald, who then cleared waivers on Friday.

According to RailHawks manager Colin Clarke, the team hopes to finalize a new contract with Fitzgerald this week for the remainder of the 2015 NASL season. If that occurs, it’s expected that Sylvestre’s loan to Philadelphia will be extended through the end of the MLS season.

Clarke is disappointed for Fitzgerald, that the once and perhaps future Carolina keeper’s MLS stint was cut short. But Clarke and the club will be happy to welcome Fitzgerald back for the 2015 fall season.

“He’d definitely stepped up and gotten a taste of the next level, and he was doing well from the reports out of New York,” Clarke said. “He just got stuck in a situation where there were four keepers, and in MLS when you have that many keepers and you’re looking to improve and make moves, something’s going to give.”

The RailHawks were often true to their perennial schizophrenic form throughout the spring season. Their home loss to Atlanta was the Silverbacks’ only win of the entire spring season, and the road loss to San Antonio was the Scorpions’ first win of the season. After thoroughly outplaying the spring-season champion New York Cosmos for 90 minutes, Carolina coughed up two goals during added time to turn a sure-win into a draw. Then the RailHawks gave an anemic performance against Charlotte in being ousted early from the U.S. Open Cup.

On the other hand, Carolina’s third-place spring finish situates them in the league’s playoff chase amid bigger-budgeted teams like Minnesota, New York and the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The RailHawks’ 15 goals scored is tied for third-most in the 11-team league, and their 10 goals allowed were the fourth fewest. Carolina scored three of the eight goals the Ottawa Fury allowed all spring. The RailHawks traveled to Jacksonville and sank the Armada 4-0, Carolina’s second straight road victory.

Now a 20-game, four-month fall season awaits the RailHawks and the rest of the NASL. The tandem of Ty Shipalane and Nacho Novo are expected to continue as the team’s scoring spark plugs. Shipalane’s three goals and team-high four assists gives him 10 individual points, the third-most in the NASL. Novo’s four goals tie him for second-best in the league. Novo and Shipalane scored or assisted on nine of Carolina’s 15 goals during the spring season.

But no other RailHawk has netted more than two goals, and none other than Shipalane has more than a single assist. Finding additional scoring options is one of the most important tasks facing the Hawks.

After a promising 2014 rookie season, midfielder Nazmi Albadawi suffered an early sophomore slump due to injuries that kept him out of three matches and hampered several others. And it took nine games for Mark Anderson to score a goal—a penalty kick at Jacksonville—after the attacking midfielder’s heralded arrival over the offseason from Fort Lauderdale.

“[Anderson] started well, but goals and opportunities to score didn’t go for him,” Clarke said. “I think that ate away at his confidence a little bit and he struggled. He’s also picked up a few little injuries that have held him out, and he’s now got to work hard to get back into the team and get himself 100 percent fit for the second season.”

Clarke said overcoming the injury bug has made the biggest difference in realizing the potential of his squad.

“We didn’t have who we felt were our best players on the field early on,” Clarke said. “We’re not as deep as some teams. We don’t have the budget to get a squad like Minnesota or the Cosmos, which have 20-plus players who can step in. We spent some money on good, quality players to improve the team, and those players weren’t on the field at the beginning of the season.”

The eventual addition of Danso at center back, Thompson at holding midfielder and Fitzgerald at goalkeeper proved to be the catalyst that propelled the RailHawks to eight points over their final four games, including two of their three spring season victories.

The return of Bracalello and da Luz gives Carolina added attacking punch. Both are now fully training, although a slight groin strain da Luz suffered last week could delay his 2015 debut.

Clarke says he continues to explore options to expand and improve the roster.

Connor Tobin, Carolina’s captain for most of the spring, believes that the grit of this RailHawks squad compensated for their injury-riddled slow start to the season.

“I think a lot of people were looking at the play on the field and it wasn’t as fluid as it has been in previous years,” Tobin said. “By no means, especially at the beginning [of the spring season], did we play great soccer. But in every game, whether we played well or not, we were right there. So there’s a little bit more edge that we’re going to battle to find results.”

The RailHawks’ fall campaign will start thick and fast. Following Saturday’s game against Minnesota, Carolina will be back at WakeMed Soccer Park Wednesday to host the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Three days later, the RailHawks travel to face Indy Eleven.

Can the RailHawks make the playoffs and finally win an elusive league championship? Stay tuned ...