CARY, N.C. – Guyana’s Gregory Richardson made a name for himself last fall when he scored a hat-trick against the New England Revolution while he was playing with the Trinidad & Tobago club Joe Public. Now with the RailHawks, Richardson is growing his legend.

The Guyanese forward scored three goals on Sunday and led the RailHawks to a 4-0 win over Miami at WakeMed Soccer Park. It’s the third hat-trick in RailHawks’ history and the first one to occur on their home field. In his three games since signing with the RailHawks three weeks ago, Richardson has scored four goals.

“It’s good to get a hat-trick in my second game,” he said.”  I just like scoring goals.”

The win was the RailHawks’ 10th of the year, setting a new club record for wins in a season.

The four-goal margin of victory is the largest the RailHawks have ever enjoyed in a USL-1 match, and the four goals scored are the most Carolina have ever scored on a league foe.

“It’s good to finally open a team up and beat a team 4-0,” said Carolina midfielder Luke Kreamalmeyer, who scored Sunday for the second straight game. “It gives us some confidence.”

Both teams took the field with heavy legs Sunday, since the temperatures throughout the match were in the mid-90s and they both played on Friday night. As the match played out, it was evident the RailHawks (10-5-3) were better equipped to handle the circumstances.

Carolina outshot Miami 17-6, and the Blues (7-8-3) put little to no pressure on the RailHawks’ defence, who earned their 10th shutout of the season.

“I knew we’d be tired because of the heat and I knew they’d be tired because they played on Friday just like we,” said Carolina coach Martin Rennie. “So I wanted to really force the game and get in their half and work hard, and I thought they would tire. And they did.”

The RailHawks’ offensive outburst comes on the heels of a poor performance on Friday in Charleston and a 2-1 win over Vancouver a week earlier where the RailHawks saw scoring chance after chance miss its mark. On Sunday, the only reason Carolina didn’t score more often was because of the efforts of Miami goalkeeper Pat Hannigan, who posted five saves.

“We worked a lot on finishing and we’re going to keep working a lot on finishing,” Rennie said. “Ultimately, it’s down to the players. We’ll go to a higher level if they can finish.”

Richardson got things started in the 39th minute. On a counterattack, Joseph Kabwe laid a ball off to Richardson as he ran in from the left flank, and Richardson neatly tucked it into the goal.

The Blues, however, came right back and appeared to have tallied the equaliser a minute later. Connally Edozien and Carolina goalkeeper Caleb Patterson (one save) arrived at a ball at the same time and Edozien headed it in the goal. But the goal was disallowed because the referee ruled that Patterson had possession of the ball before Edozien headed it out of his hands.

Four minutes later, Kreamalmeyer put the RailHawks ahead 2-0. After taking a pass from Sallieu Bundu, Amir Lowery broke in on the Miami goal one-v-one with Hannigan, who came off his line to challenge. Hannigan knocked the ball off Lowery’s foot, but it popped up in the air and out to Kreamalmeyer at the top of the box. The Carolina midfielder coolly took the ball out of the air and placed it in the back corner of the goal.

“I saw Amir take a touch from behind, and I just ran towards the ball,” Kreamalmeyer said. “It just came to me. I was fortunate to be in the right spot.”

Richardson got his second of the afternoon in the 64th minute. He took a pass from Daniel Paladini and made a masterful run with the ball that left a slew of defenders in his wake then hammered a shot past Hannigan.

Richardson completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute on a penalty kick. The penalty was awarded after Mark Schulte was taken down in the box on a corner kick. Richardson stepped to the spot and smashed it in.

“He can score on his own and set them up. At this level, there are not too many guys like that,” Rennie said. “It’s hard to get those guys, but it’s good for us to have him.”