— The Carolina RailHawks enjoyed a star-spangled banner beginning to their 2015 North American Soccer League (NASL) fall season, building an inalienable lead before seeing out a 3-1 victory over Minnesota United FC at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Carolina and Minnesota drew four weeks ago in the RailHawks’ spring season finale. Since then, Minnesota transferred reigning league MVP Miguel Ibarra to Liga MX outfit Club León, and exiled midfielder Jonny Steele to anywhere but their active roster.

Meanwhile, the RailHawks regained the services of forward Simone Bracalello and midfielder Austin da Luz. Da Luz suffered a broken foot in preseason and Bracalello injured his hamstring in the fourth game of the spring season at Indy Eleven.

Both saw the starting XI Saturday against Minnesota. Bracalello played in place of leading scorer Nacho Novo, who was serving a red card suspension from the June 6 Minnesota match. Da Luz appeared for an injured Mark Anderson.

The pyrotechnics came quickly for the RailHawks. In the 15th minute, Bracalello found himself with space and the ball 25 yards out from goal. When no Loons flocked to close him down, Bracalello uncorked a rocket shot that curled over Minnesota goalkeeper Sammy N’Djock into the postage stamp for a 1-0 lead.

“Kupono [Low] gave me the ball, and at that point I turned and had a lot of space,” Bracalello said. “When you leave me that kind of space, I don’t think twice. I just hit it, and this time it went well.”

Saturday’s match was also Bracalello’s first against Minnesota after spending the last five seasons with the various iterations of the second division club.

“[Facing Minnesota] felt weird a little bit in the beginning,” Bracalello admitted. “And it went perfect like I imagined.”

Two minutes later, a terrific throw-in from Low found Nazmi Albadawi streaking behind the Minnesota back line. Alabadwi’s first-touch backheel chip over N’Djock bounded off the crossbar but onto the waiting feet of Tiyi Shipalane. Shipalane calmly slotted in the rebound for his fourth goal on the year.

A RailHawks defensive breakdown, and nifty backheel pass from Kalif Alhassan in the 26th minute sprang Minnesota’s Kenny Venegas, who gave Carolina’s back line fits all first half. Venegas drove toward the end line before sending a short cross to a waiting Daniel Mendes in the goalmouth. Mendes’ converted sitter cut Carolina’s lead to 2-1 at intermission.

The RailHawks’ pursuit of happiness succeeded again in the 57th minute. A long cross-field switch by Shipalane found an open da Luz on the left flank. After maneuvering around defender Brian Kallman, da Luz blasted a shot that was blocked by N’Djock. However, the rebound also fell to da Luz, who finished his second attempt to put Carolina up 3-1.

“It was a great ball out wide,” da Luz said. “The game was getting stretched, so I had a lot of space. I saw the defender coming across real hard to make up ground, so I decided to chop it back. The keeper made a good save on the first one, but luckily [the ball] came right back, and I tried to stay composed and slide it into a corner.”

Da Luz ended up playing the full 90 minutes in his first game of the year, and his steady effort and performance were noticed by his teammates.

“Austin is a wonderful player, and you always want a player like him on your side,” Bracalello gushed. “It’s not just what he can do with the ball. It’s his mentality and leadership, and I’d have him on any team I play with.”

Carolina seemed to be sailing easily toward a capital Independence Day until the 61st minute. Wells Thompson, having already been booked in the first half, was shown a second yellow card for persistent infringement. Referee Robert Sibiga appeared to forget having issued Thompson a previous booking. After conferring with his fourth official, the referee showed Thompson the red glare of a sending off.

“I thought some of the referee’s decisions were soft,” said RailHawks manager Colin Clarke. “Too many soft yellows puts him in a bad spot, so the next one somebody’s off … I don’t remember how many yellows there, but I didn’t see any yellows. I don’t think it was dirty game, it was pretty clean.”

However, Minnesota failed to capitalize despite playing the final half-hour with a man advantage. Carolina goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald, playing his first match since signing with the RailHawks for the remainder of the 2015 season, was credited for five saves. But he rarely felt threatened during the match’s final third.

Loons’ manager Manny Lagos shouldered the blame his team’s lackluster performance.

“I spoke to the guys in the locker room, and the loss is on me,” Lagos said. “I don’t think we were fully prepared to play today, whether it was the heat, whether it was the opponent, whether it was our own inability to navigate the game like we should and impose ourselves on a team. It’s not a good day for the club, and [there was] a lot of honesty about how we can do better.”

The result was a well-rounded one for the RailHawks (4-5-2, 17 pts.), playing without their leading scorer and down a man for 30 minutes, yet still getting a win over a perennial league powerhouse to hold onto third place in the overall league standings. It’s now a quick turnaround for Carolina, which hosts the Fort Lauderdale Strikers next Wednesday minus a suspended Thompson. Three days later, the RailHawks travel to Indy Eleven for their first road match of the fall.

“There were a lot of positives tonight,” Clarke said. “Now it’s time to build on that and get a great result on Wednesday.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Fitzgerald; Knight, Danso, Tobin, Low; Shipalane, Hlavaty, Thompson, Albadawi (Nurse, 78’), da Luz; Bracalello (Wagner, 74’)

MIN: Ndjock; B. Kallman, Calvano (C), Dias, Davis; Ibson (Moura, 75’), Vicentini; Mendes (Ramirez, 64’), Alhassan (Pitchkolan, 67t’), Venegas; Campos

GOALS

CAR: Bracalello (15’), Shipalane (17’). da Luz (57’)

MIN: Mendes (assist Venegas (18’)

CAUTIONS

CAR: Low (28’), Thompson (42’, 60’)

MIN: Venegas (27’), Vicentini (57’), Dias (89’)

EJECTIONS

CAR: Thompson (60’)

MIN: --

ATTENDANCE: 3,075