— On May 27, 2015, fans of the Carolina RailHawks awoke anticipating their team’s entry into the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup that evening. Carolina’s opponent was the newly-formed Charlotte Independence of the United Soccer League, with a fourth-round visit to the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer awaiting the winner.

The U.S. Open Cup had become a perennial rite for the RailHawks. The club won eight of their 11 Open Cup matches over the previous three years, including five victories over MLS competition (three wins against the LA Galaxy and two over the erstwhile Chivas USA). Carolina advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2013 and 2014 U.S. Open Cups.

But everything changed for RailHawks supporters, players and officials on May 27 before their morning coffee finished percolating. That morning, the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal indictments against 14 FIFA and soccer marketing officials, including Aaron Davidson, president of Traffic Sports USA, Inc., the RailHawks’ owner. The DOJ also unsealed guilty pleas entered two weeks earlier by Traffic Sports International and Traffic Sports USA.

The surreal scene later that night saw television trucks beaming from WakeMed Soccer Park, but not to cover the Open Cup match. With the RailHawks’ future abruptly cast into disarray, the team lost to the Independence, the first time Carolina had been ousted in their opening match of a U.S. Open Cup competition.

A year later, the RailHawks have a new owner and outlook. Triangle tech entrepreneur Steve Malik purchased the club from Traffic Sports last October, ushering in a new era of good feelings. This new era enjoys its first taste of U.S. Open Cup action this Wednesday when the RailHawks again host the Charlotte Independence beginning 7:30 p.m. at WakeMed Soccer Park. The winner will host the New England Revolution on June 15 in the tournament’s fourth round.

Are the RailHawks ready for the Independence this year?

“God, I hope so,” RailHawks assistant coach Dewan Bader says, with a hint of rueful exasperation.

The U.S. Open Cup is the tie that binds the American soccer pyramid. The single-elimination competition, first held during the 1913–14 soccer season as the National Challenge Cup, is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the U.S. and one of the oldest open soccer tournaments in the world. The 2016 U.S. Open Cup is the 103rd edition, initially contested by 91 clubs from the three professional leagues sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation—MLS, the NASL and the USL—as well as amateur clubs in the earlier rounds of the tournament that must qualifying through their respective leagues.

Charlotte’s loss last weekend at Orlando City B snapped a seven-game unbeaten streak in USL play. Meanwhile, the RailHawks haven’t found a victory in their last four NASL matches, after starting the 2016 season with four wins on the trot. But if history is any guide, the RailHawks’ league results aren’t necessarily a predictor of their Open Cup performance. In 2012, the team had no wins in their opening 10 games of the NASL season, before earning two straight victories in the Open Cup, including a win over the Galaxy. Eight days before the RailHawks ousted Chivas USA from the tournament in 2014, Carolina was throttled by FC Edmonton 6-1.

“Any time you go four games without a win, the demeanor of the team changes a little bit,” Bader admits. “We need to get that confidence back. But we’re a talented group.”

The Independence (5W-2T-3L) are currently fifth in the USL’s 14-team Eastern Conference. Their roster includes a couple of former RailHawks in Jun Marques Davidson, who started for Carolina in 2010 and 2014, and Enzo Martinez, who spent two seasons with the RailHawks in 2013 and 2014.

Martinez is one of three players pacing the Independence’s offense with three goals and an assist through 10 games this year. Brian Brown netted five goals in 24 appearances for Indy Eleven in 2015, while Caleb Calvert is in his second season on loan to Charlotte from the Colorado Rapids.

Coming off a bye week, the rested RailHawks (4W-1T-3L) figure to trot out a full-strength lineup tomorrow, even with a home NASL match scheduled this Saturday against the Jacksonville Armada. After all, the stakes aren’t just a measure of revenge against Charlotte for last year, another home game against a MLS opponent, and reclaiming the magic of the U.S. Open Cup. It’s a chance for the RailHawks to exorcize the final demons of May 27, 2015.

Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup match between the RailHawks and Charlotte Independence will be streamed live at CarolinaRailHawks.com beginning at 7:30 p.m.