— The North Carolina FC hasn’t seen postseason play since 2012, Colin Clarke’s first year managing the then-Carolina RailHawks and the fourth consecutive season Carolina had made the playoffs. The closest Carolina came since was 2013, when it finished one point behind the Atlanta Silverbacks for the NASL’s spring season title, which under the league rules at the time denied Carolina the right to host and, ultimately, play in the championship final.

North Carolina FC held a chance to make the NASL playoffs with a win over the San Francisco Deltas Saturday night at WakeMed Soccer Park, in front of a season-high attendance of 7,344. Although North Carolina and San Francisco ultimately drew 1-1, the result—for reasons explained below—inches NCFC very close to their first postseason berth in five years.

“It was a battle against a team you can see why they’ve only lost once away from home all year, which is pretty remarkable record,” said NCFC manager Colin Clarke. “I think you saw a little bit of our grit and steel tonight, and there were a lot of hard-nosed tackles out there, a lot of competitiveness, and probably a fair result at the end of it.”

North Carolina FC struck first in the 30th minute off a beautiful service from Dre Fortune, a pinpoint curling cross that found Austin da Luz streaking towards the far post. Da Luz deposited the volley in stride for a 1-0 lead.

After knocking at the door for the next 30-plus minutes, the Deltas equalized in the 68th. Reiner Ferreira’s point blank shot was saved by NCFC goalkeeper Macklin Robinson, but the rebound fell to the head of Pablo Dyego, who nodded in his sixth goal this year to knot the score at 1-1.

An attacking flurry punctuated the remaining 20 minutes. Fortune found an open shot in the area in the 72nd minute, but San Francisco keeper Romuald Peiser made a tremendous kick save. Meanwhile, the Deltas put seven of their 18 shots on frame for the match, but Robinson saved six shots to preserve the draw.

Both Clarke and Deltas’ manager Marc Dos Santos agreed that the draw was a fair result. The draw guarantees San Francisco the second seed in the four-team NASL playoffs, and with it the right to host their semifinal match.

“We were expecting the first 20 minutes to be fast and intense,” Dos Santos said. “It was two teams playing for a lot: us playing for a win that still gives us a chance as the fall season championship, and Carolina playing for the playoff spot. After Carolina’s goal, the second half opened up more. We were more in Carolina’s half trying to get the tying goal, and Carolina was a team playing more for the counterattack. It became an open game where either of the teams could have won.

“If we were in the middle of the season, there’s no chance we would have been open like that in the last 10 minutes. The draw or a loss was more or less the same for us, although the point guarantees us the right to host the semifinal. But we came here to win, and I’m proud of the guys.”

It’s a tremendous accomplishment for the Deltas, who were not only a debut expansion team this year, but also face credible reports that the team will fold after this season. Dos Santos spoke frankly after the match, and said it’s a testament to his team that they’ve overcome all these adversities to not only finish second in the 10-team NASL, but also amass a 7-8-1 road record.

“People don’t understand, with the rumors of us not being a club next year, you need to have a lot of personalities and strong locker room,” Dos Santos said. “We have that. Seriously, it’s been very tough on our guys mentally. They had to battle through a lot of doubts, including the technical staff. But we’re finding a way. You’re talking about us playing 16 regular season games on the road, traveling from one side of the country to the other, and we only lost one game on the road, in Miami.”

While North Carolina FC didn’t clinch a playoff spot Saturday, the draw inches it closer to the postseason. The New York Cosmos and Jacksonville Armada must both pass NCFC with only two games left for each to play, but the Cosmos and Armada play each other Sunday. If New York defeats Jacksonville or the teams draw, North Carolina clinches a playoff berth. Even if Jacksonville defeats the Cosmos, NCFC’s sizable tie-breaking goal differential over the Cosmos still all-but assures North Carolina of their first playoff spot in five years.

Indeed, Saturday was one of those late-season oddities, where the road team was pushing for three points, while the home team wanted the win but approached the waning moments of the match with caution in order to avoid a loss.

“They were going for a fall championship, and mathematically a win would have put us in [the playoffs],” Clarke ruminated. “But we know a tie is good and a defeat is not what we want, so how much do you push, etc.”

North Carolina FC (11-11-9, 44 points) closes out their regular season next Sunday, October 29 at Indy Eleven. Regardless of tomorrow’s result between the Cosmos and Armada, Clarke says his team will be wanting a result at Indy for various reasons, including the fact that earning the third seed in the playoffs at least gives NCFC a chance to potentially host the championship final. And, of course, there’s the unhappy memory of the spring of 2013.

“It’s never done until it’s done,” Clarke said. “We’re as comfortable as we can be. There are a lot of things that can happen that mean we don’t get in. But we go to Indiana next week, and we want to get a result there because we haven’t gotten one there in quite a while.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

NCFC: Robinson, Black, Tobin, Marcelin, Moses, Fortune (Glenn, 90’), Akinyode, Miller, Albadawi, da Luz, Gorne (Schuler, 63’)

SFD: Peiser, Burke, Attakora, Hopkins, Lubahn (Teijsse, 89’), Ferreira (Jordan, 85’), Stephens, Gibson, Heinemann, Dyego, Dagoberto (Bekker, 75’)

GOALS

NCFC: Da Luz, 30’ (Fortune)

SFD: Dyego, 68’

CAUTIONS

NCFC: Marcelin, 5’; Gorne, 59’

SFD: ---

EJECTIONS

NCFC: ---

SFD: ---

ATTENDANCE: 7,344