History
The Hammerheads had one championship in 2003, and were a finalist in 2002, losing to the Long Island Rough Riders 2–1. Wilmington found great success in the US Open Cup in their later years, regularly drawing MLS teams in the late rounds. Their most famous result occurred in 2003 when they drew the Dallas Burn, an MLS team, in the middle of a particularly bad year. They shocked the soccer world by defeating the Burn 4–1 at Legion Sports Complex before bowing out to DC United 1–0 in the quarterfinal round. The Hammerheads regularly drew well over 2,000 fans per game, and had drawn nearly 5,000 for playoff games. On June 30, 2009, the Hammerheads upset the Chicago Fire in the third round of the 2009 US Open Cup 1–0 at home.
The final season of the Hammerheads was one of their most successful, but is also reported to be one of their most chaotic. After the 2009 season the USL explained that they had discontinued their relationship with the franchise owner Chuck Sullivan because "the USL is a franchised based league, where certain requirements must be met and in this case they were not met." The town of Wilmington was awash with rumors of what those requirements were, including reports of players not being paid since mid-season. The franchise was recently purchased by two investors (one based in Jacksonville, North Carolina and the other in Chicago, Illinois).
The team is set to return to the pitch for the 2011 season. The team will participate in the USL Pro League in the 2011 season.
Read more about this topic: Wilmington Hammerheads
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