"I sent the Armada against men, not God's winds and waves".—Philip II of Spain

On this month in 1588, the Spanish Armada, still reeling from their defeat at the Battle of Gravelines, fell prey to westerly winds and the rocky Ireland coastline on their voyage back to Spain. By the time the Armada returned home, the vaunted fleet had lost a third of its ships and approximately 20,000 sailors.

It wasn’t a rout Saturday evening as the Jacksonville Armada sailed into Cary to face the Carolina RailHawks. But with the outer bands of Tropical Storm Hermine still spiraling over WakeMed Soccer Park, Carolina did something they haven’t done since July 16 and only four previous times this year: held their opponent scoreless. A first-half goal by Tiyi Shipalane proved the game-winner as the RailHawks ground out a 1-0 win over the Armada. Indeed, two of Carolina’s now five shutouts this year have been against Jacksonville.

“We all know defensively we haven’t been great,” said RailHawks manager Colin Clarke, temporarily exercising the fine art of understatement. “I thought we were good tonight. We worked a little bit on one-on-one defending this week, and got back to some hard-nosed, ‘me-against-you and you’re not going to score situations.’”

A lackluster first half saw injured Jacksonville goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo withdrawn in the 38th minute. Five minutes later, Caroline christened the scoreline when Nazmi Albadawi airmailed a pinpoint ball over the top to Tiyi Shipalane streaking through the center channel. The speedy South African chipped the half volley over substitute goalkeeper Sean Lewis and found cord to give the RailHawks a 1-0 advantage heading into intermission. It is Shipalane’s third goal this year and Albadawi’s league-leading ninth assist.

“We knew [Jacksonville] held a deep line and they spread out,” Shipalane said. “It was just a matter of getting good timing and a good ball. Naz played a great ball, and I was able to run in between the two center backs. I saw the goalkeeper was way off his line, and I didn’t want to complicate myself. I just picked a spot and hopefully measured it right, and it went in.”

From there, the RailHawks relied on a revamped starting XI designed to plug the leaks in the most porous defense in the NASL. Recent acquisition Mickey Daly was slotted alongside Connor Tobin at center back, while James Marcelin assumed his more familiar position of central midfielder. Meanwhile, regulars Brian Shriver and Austin da Luz served as second-half subs.

The RailHawks held 58 percent possession for the match while outshooting the Armada 14-7.

“It would have been an injustice if they had scored the last couple of minutes off a shot deflected, flies from the corner you can’t do anything about,” Clarke said. “We deserved the three points.”

Jacksonville manager Mark Lowry, who assumed command last month after Tony Meola was relieved of duty, said tonight’s match—his first loss since taking the managerial reins—was a tale of two halves, including a shift to a 4-5-1 formation for the second stanza.

“In the first half, we were too tentative in our play going forward and defensively, we allowed the RailHawks just a second or two too much on the ball,” Lowry said. “And those inches and seconds make a big difference. In the second half, we corrected one or two things tactically, and I felt we started to create chances, and I felt we were good for a draw when you look back on the game.”

Carolina's victory comes a week after it was pelted with six goals by the New York Cosmos in a 6-1 defeat. Shipalane says this week’s alterations were as much about attitude as personnel.

“After giving up six goals, you’re going to have to make some changes,” Shipalane said. “You’re going to have a new strategy of how you’re going to stop those goals. Big ups to the back five, they were on top of their game. They communicated well, they kept the ball, they didn’t make any silly mistakes—maybe one or two, but we were able to get behind and pick everybody up. We didn’t get down on each other this time around.”

The RailHawks (8-5-8, 29 pts.) climb to fifth place in the overall NASL table, seven points behind Minnesota United but with two games in hand on the Loons. Carolina remains in Cary next Saturday with it hosts the foundering Ottawa Fury.

“We sat down and said, ‘OK, we have 12 games left, that’s our season right now. Let’s start a brand new, 12-game season,’” Clarke said. “All we can do is make sure we’re on top of that table after these 12 games and see where that takes us. First game of that season was tonight, and we won and got three points. So we move on to next week.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Sylvestre, Miller, Daly, Tobin, Black, Shipalane (Shriver, 90’), Marcelin (Beckie 67’), Watson, Albadawi, Fondy, Bravo (da Luz, 80’)

JAX: Gallardo (Lewis, 38’), Burke, Navarro, Ruthven, Wallace, Lagerblom (Dixon, 78’), Scaglia, Barrow (Eloundou, 66’), Steinberger, Johnson, Keita

GOALS

CAR: Shipalane, 43’ (Albadawi)

JAX: ---

CAUTIONS

CAR: Albadawi, 68’; Lagerblom, 74’

JAX: Wallace, 50’; Keith, 70’

EJECTIONS

CAR: ---

JAX: ---

ATTENDANCE: 4,156