The RailHawks’ stellar midfielder Daniel Paladini was named to the All-League USL First Division’s first team, the USL announced today.
Yesterday, the RailHawks’ defender Mark Schulte was named to the second team.
Here’s the complete first team:
- GK: Steve Cronin (Portland Timbers)
- D: Nelson Akwari (Charleston Battery)
- D: Cristian Arrieta (Puerto Rico Islanders)
- D: Matt Bobo (Charleston Battery)
- D: David Hayes (Portland Timbers)
- M: Daniel Paladini (Carolina RailHawks)
- M: Ryan Pore (Portland Timbers)
- M: Ricardo Sanchez (Minnesota Thunder)
- F: Charles Gbeke (Vancouver Whitecaps)
- F: Mandjou Keita (Portland Timbers)
- F: Johnny Menyongar (Rochester Rhinos)
Last night, I posted a forecast of this first team. I got eight (or maybe 7.5) of 11 correct, including the 4-3-3 formation, but my three misses were all RailHawks-related: Cronin was named, not Caleb Patterson-Sewell; two Charleston Battery defenders were named instead of one-plus-Jeremy Tolleson; and finally, Paladini instead of Gregory Richardson. No complaints on the last oneRichardson put up juicier numbers and would have been a league POY candidate had he been in Cary for a full 30 games, but Paladini was the man in the middle all season long and was voted most valuable RailHawk by his teammates.
After Sunday’s season-ending draw versus Vancouver, I spoke to both honorees about their off-seasons plans. Paladini said he hopes to do some training overseas while Schulte dropped a hint about considering retirement. Congratulations to both, and let’s look forward to having them back in orange next spring.
