BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Five Campbell University men's soccer players will compete for U23 teams in the Raleigh Area this summer. Ricki Gaez, Scooter Oliver and Eduardo Rodriguez will suit up for the Carolina Railhawks U-23s in the NASL, while Ethan Hall and Logan Paussa will play with the CASL Elite U-23 team in the NPSL.
In addition Justin Franz will play with the Austin (Texas) Aztex in the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (U-23). Patrick Moore is training with the Orlando City Super 20s, while Chirag Shah is with the RVA FC NPSL reserves.
RailHawks assistant coach Dewan Bader will serve as the U-23 head coach, and he will be assisted by Henry Gutierrez and Rick King.
The RailHawks U-23s will build on the foundation built by Bader, Gutierrez and King during their years in the USL Premier Development League. In 2009 with the Cary Clarets, they guided the team to a 9-4-3 finish in the regular season and they made it to the semifinals of the playoffs before falling 2-1 to the Chicago Fire. In 2008, the Cary RailHawks U-23s went 7-6-3 in the regular season, and they also defeated the England's Burnley FC, which went on to win promotion to the English Premier League later that season, in a friendly at WakeMed Soccer Park.
In 2011 the RailHawks U-23's won the USASA U-23 National Championship, scoring 27 goals and allowing only 3 in their 6 game run including the 4 games while capturing the 2-23 South Regionals title. In 2012, the U-23's again claimed the Regional title before falling in penalty kicks during the National Semifinals.
A native of Panama City, Panama, Gaez is coming off a sophomore campaign in which he played in all 19 games and hit career highs for starts (17), goals (8), assists (3), points (19), game-winning goals (3) and minutes (1449). Selected to the all-conference second team by College Sports Madness, Gaez ranked 5th among Big South leaders in goals per game (0.42), 6th in goals and 8th in points per game (1.0). He scored in CU's 1-1 draw at No.-16 SMU and also in the Camels' 2-0 win at No.-17 NC State.
Oliver played in 15 matches with 12 starts, missing 4 outings due to injury during the 2012 campaign. The rising junior from Cary, N.C., played the full 110 minutes in the draw at SMU and provided an assist in a 2-1 win over No.-25 High Point from his holding midfield position.
A rising senior from Cary, N.C., Rodriguez hit career highs for games played (19) and started (18), while playingg an average of 86.8 minutes per outing, primarily at right back as a junior in 2012. The Green Hope High School graduate was on the field for all but 99 minutes (1651 of a possible 1750) during the season.
The Capital Area Soccer League announced the inclusion of the CASL Elite in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) for the 2013 season. Primarily made of former CASL youth players currently playing in the college ranks, and former professional and collegiate players in the Raleigh area, the CASL Elite participates in the Atlantic Division of the NPSL.
CASL's coaching staff is led by former collegiate and PDL coaches Stuart Brown and Rusty Scarborough. The team's management staff is led by former CASL Elite coach, Bill Hanckel, who serves as the General Manager for the 2013 season.
Formerly participants in the United Soccer Leagues PDL division and USASA National Semi-Finalists, the CASL Elite plays its home matches at WRAL Soccer Center. Divisional opponents will include Chesterfield United, Myrtle Beach FC, Virginia FC and RVAFC.
Hall earned second-team all-conference recognition in 2012 after leading the Big South in save percentage (.788), rankin 2nd in shutouts (a career-high 7) and shutouts per game (0.37), 4th in saves (82) and 5th in goals-against average (1.14). The rising senior from Raleigh's Athens Drive High School saved 3 of 5 penalty kicks he faced, including one each in wins over nationally-ranked NC State and High Point.
Paussa joined the Campbell program in January after twice earning All-South region honors as a left back at Division III Greensboro College. He is a former high school teammate of Camels Edu Rodriguez and Michael Wisniewski at Green Hope and club teammate of CU junior Scooter Oliver on the CASL Chelsea USSF Academy team.
A 3-year starter in the Campbell midfield, Franz joined the Aztex for the second-straight summer. Last fall, the Cedar Park, Texas native started a career-high 18 games and finished 5th on the team in scoring with 3 goals and 3 assists. He netted the game-winner in 2-1 decision over UNC Wilmington and also scored in wins over Winthrop and at Gardner-Webb
A rising junior from Winter Garden, Fla., Moore saw action in 12 contests last year, while Shah, a senior from Raleigh, made six appearances during the 2012 season.
Campbell produced a 12-5-2 overall record and finished fourth in the 2012 Big South standings (7-3) last season. The Camels were ranked ninth in the final NSCAA South Atlantic Region poll after defeating two nationally-ranked squad and drawing at No.-16 SMU.
Under the direction of head coach Steve Armas, Campbell went 2-1 against Atlantic Coast Conference schools last season.
