Back from his first start since welcoming an addition to his family, Lance Laing scored a brace to lead North Carolina FC to a 3–1 win over Jacksonville Armada FC Saturday night at Sahlen’s Stadium in Cary.

It was the first loss of the season for the Armada (2–4–1, 10 pts.) as NCFC (3–2–2, 11 pts.) leapt over Jacksonville to temporarily sit in second place in the NASL, three points behind Miami FC. San Francisco and New York also won this weekend, so NCFC starts the week in fourth.

Laing, who came into the game with two goals and two assists on the season, wreaked havoc on the Armada defense for over 70 minutes. He became involved early as he found James Marcelin in the 27th minute for an equalizer then rattled off a late goal in the first half and a penalty kick in the second to collect the brace.

But Jacksonville jumped out to a 1–0 lead after NCFC defender Christian Ibeagha was whistled for a foul in the box in the 12th minute. Jack Blake opened the scoring by putting away the PK.

Later, a threat by Laing was met with a hard tackle from Armada left-back Drew Beckie who was given a yellow card for the effort. On the free kick, Ibeagha took the delivery and nearly found the back of the net with his head, but Patterson-Sewell batted it away in the 27th minute.

On the subsequent corner, attempts by Laing and Ibeagha were batted away, but it was Marcelin who took his first touch outside the box and drilled it past Patterson-Sewell to tie the game.

Then in the 41st minute, Laing came up big to put NCFC up with a curling shot that found the top right of goal for his third of the season.

NCFC had some early struggles in midfield with three turnovers in the first 20 minutes, but clamped down and was helped with strong defensive play by Paul Black and Steven Miller with Ibeagha and Marcelin playing up, but falling back in time to assist in the back.

“We had some sloppy give-aways early,” NCFC head coach Colin Clark said to WRAL at halftime.

Laing had another opportunity in the 64th minute. Driving into the box, he was taken down from behind by Beckie, but no foul was called much to the dismay of Clark and the home crowd at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Four minutes later, Laing got the whistle on Beckie and earned the brace with a drilled ball slightly right but past Patterson-Sewell to put North Carolina FC up 3–1.

Austin Da Luz came close with a delivery in the 74th minute with a header, but Patterson-Sewell was up to the task with a diving save, keeping the score 3–1 NCFC.

Laing came off in the 76th minute after notching his third and fourth goals of the season.

His replacement Tiyi Shipalane had an open run in the 81st minute after taking a pass from Albadawi, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

The NCFC defense almost got caught off-guard as Jacksonville’s Charles Eloundou (formerly of the Charlotte Independence) took an open touch inside the box for a score, but it was waived off for offside in the 87th minute.

North Carolina FC will hit the road for its next three games. On Wednesday night, they will take on Carolina Dynamo in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup at Macpherson Stadium in Greensboro. They will return to NASL play with a trip to Puerto Rico FC on May 20 for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff before facing Jacksonville Armada FC at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 28.