The Cary Clarets of the Premier Development League (PDL) fell in the national semi-final to the Chicago Fire on Saturday by a 2-1 score in Des Moines, Iowa — completing the most successful season in the franchise’s history.

The Fire took a 1-0 lead into halftime before Cary evened it 1-1 in the 63rd minute off a penalty kick by Zack Shilawski. It stayed even until overtime, with Chicago taking a 2-1 lead in the 95th minute to hold on for the win.

While the Fire advanced to the PDL Championship, to be played on Aug. 8, it was the end of the road for the franchise formerly known as the Carolina RailHawks U23’s and Raleigh CASL Elite.

Coach Dewan Bader, in his second year with the team, said it was good to look back at how far his team was able to go this year.

“Our expectation was to get to the final game, but we lost to a very good Chicago Fire team as well,” Bader said. “Although we’re disappointed, we’re very happy that we’ve made it to the last four out of about 65 teams.”

The Clarets took out hosting Des Moines Menace in the quarterfinals on Friday by a 1-0 score, thanks to a Nicholas Grossman goal in the 70th minute.

“Friday night’s game was a remarkable effort, considering especially that we flew out Friday morning at like 7 [a.m.], flew into Kansas City then took at three-hour bus ride into Des Moines and played the home team at 7:30 at night,” Bader said.

Cary finished the regular season 10-4-2 in PDL play, which was good for third in the Mid-Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference.

The Clarets were comprised of a number of current college players — most of them local — including Schilawski, a former Cary High standout now at Wake Forest where he was a first-team All-American last year.

“At the beginning of the year I asked Zack to be our captain because he's been with the PDL team longer than anybody else,” Bader said. “I was impressed with everything that he did and I think he had a very good summer.”

Bader said everybody on this year’s team stepped up when called upon, adding that he rarely used the same lineup more than one game in a row. He added that he gave even playing time to all players, and that his group was fun to be around all summer long.

“What we aspire to do is helping these guys move on to the next level. Pretty much everybody in our group is aspiring to be a professional after this,” Bader said. “We bring our experience as pro players and help teach them the game, how it’s going to be played at the pro level, try to advance some things with them.”

Bader said he hopes this year’s results bring more fans out to Middle Creek Park to see next year’s team.

“These guys, most of them are going to be pros in years to come, and hopefully next year [people] can take advantage of that by coming out to games,” Bader said. “The level of play is excellent.”