Hammerheads De Wilmington – Wikipedia

THE Hammerheads de Wilmington (in English : Wilmington Hammerheads ) are a team of soccer (football) based in Wilmington in North Carolina in the United States, founded in 1996 and dissolved in 2017.

The team has been trained by David Irving since 1998 and plays in the same division as their regional rivals, Charleston, Charlotte, Orlando and Richmond. The Northern Carolina franchise is evolving at the Legion Stadium. The Hammerheads organization aims to bring quality and family entertainment to Wilmington and the surrounding communities. The Hammerheads have often faced Major League Soccer franchises such as D.C. United, the New York Red Bulls but also Premier League teams like Sunderland. The franchise was also successful at the national level, winning the USL Pro League in 2003 and beating MLS teams during the Lamar Hunt Cup 2003 and 2009.

In 1996, the first professional sports team in Wilmington, the Wilmington Hammerheads, was created. Founded by Al Pastore, the team incorporates USISL that same year. After 7 victories and 8 defeats in the regular season, the Hammerheads bowed in the semi-finals of the playoffs. In the second season, they have an empty passage and despite a record of 9 victories and as many defeats in the new championship, baptized D3 Pro League, they fail and do not reach the playoffs. The supervision and management changed in March 1998 when Bill Rudisill, Bruce Cavenaugh, Dale Boyd and David Schroeder take the reins of the club. The team ends 5 ^{It is} From the South Atlantic Division of the D3 Pro League with 8 victories for 10 defeats.

1999 marks a turning point for the franchise with the arrival of David Irving, the club’s transfer to the Legion Stadium and a very convincing start to the season (12 victories in as many matches) to finally finish with a record of 14 wins and 4 defeats and A defeat in the conference final. The Hammerheads welcomed the United States of Soccer in 2000 for the first time with a home match against the New York/New Jersey Metrostars (today New York Red Bulls), then Major League Soccer team, in front of 5,500 people. The Hammerheads lose 2-1 and the club finished its regular season with 13 wins, 4 defeats and a draw, failing in the quarter-final conference. Following the renovations of the Legion Stadium, the franchise plays its matches at UNCW and ends its season in the leading position of the Southern Conference (11 victories, 7 defeats) but failed again in the conference final. In 2002, the Wilmington team bowed in front of the long Island Rough Riders in a match broadcast throughout the country as part of a national championship meeting at the Legion Stadium. They end the regular season with a record of 14 wins, 4 defeats and 2 draws, reaching the Playoff final.

2003 is finally the year of the coronation for the club by winning the championship USL Pro League With 11 wins, 6 defeats and 3 draws. The team also reaches the quarter -finals of the Open Cup, failing in front of D.C. United, Major League Soccer franchise. In 2004, the club welcomed a foreign team for the premiere: Soundland AFC, Premier League team. In the league, the team finished in the first round of the playoffs after 10 wins, 7 defeats and 4 draws in the regular season. 2005 is the year of the organization of 10 years of the organization with an always busy season (13 victories, 7 defeats and 2 draws) and a Playoff semi-final in the renowned division USL Second Division . The Hammerheads face the New York Red Bulls from MLS in 2006 during the fourth round of the Open Cup at home. It is a 3-1 defeat that stops the Wilmington players in their cup course while in regular season, the record is very bad with 4 wins, 7 defeats and 9 draws, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997. The results were exactly the same in 2007 and, in 2008, the club did not reach the playoffs once again.

For its last season of existence in 2017, the Hammerheads become an amateur team which evolves in the first development League, the 4 ^{It is} North American division.

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