In 450 minutes of preseason soccer last year, the Carolina RailHawks scored four goals and didn’t win any of their five games.

In their 2008 preseason opener Friday, it took the RailHawks 55 minutes to match last year’s scoring output and 90 minutes to surpass that win total.

Forward Jacob Coggins scored twice and forward Joel Bailey added one in the first six minutes, and the RailHawks cruised to a 5-0 win over UNC-Greensboro.

The five goals are the most Carolina has scored in any game, and the margin of victory was the largest it’s ever enjoyed.

No one was ready to declare the RailHawks the prohibitive favorite for the upcoming USL First Division season as a result, but putting the ball in the net as frequently as they did Friday certainly gave them cause for some excitement.

“Three goals in six minutes, that’s definitely a confidence builder. We know we can score,” said captain Frankie Sanfilippo. “This was definitely a huge thing for us.”

But the RailHawks still have a ways to go.

Among the areas Coach Scott Schweitzer said his side needed to improve on was its fitness, keeping its shape and better maintaining possession.

After taking the early 3-0 lead and creating a handful of other bonafide scoring chances, the RailHawks got away from building the attack out of the back and the midfield and forcing things that weren’t there.

With time and focus in training, they should work themselves out.

“It doesn’t matter if you got away with it. There’s no place for it, not here,” Schweitzer said. “We need to work. At any time, hard work can beat talent. We need to work hard. We need to be disciplined. We need to do the right things. We should be excited as players, but there’s a long way to go.”

The RailHawks’ first goal was one that Schweitzer would love to see more often, and one he characterized as textbook.

It started with central defender Chad Dombrowski playing a ball wide right to Sanfilippo. He carried it up the flank for a few touches before playing Martin Nunez into the corner. Nunez then took a few touches before playing a ball across to Coggins at the far post. Coggins then dumped it back to the near post, where Bailey easily slotted it into the net in the second minute.

“It was a good build-up,” Bailey said. “Martin played it into Coggins. He didn’t even look up. He just played it, through the defender's legs actually, and I was just there. I just had to put it in the back of the net. Good play, good goal and a good way to start things off.”

Three minutes later, Coggins scored the first of his two goals.

Carolina’s David Lilly ripped a shot at the far post from 20 yards out. UNCG keeper Chad Janda saved it but gave up a rebound, and Coggins had no trouble finishing it off.

A minute after that, Nunez curled a corner kick into the box, and the 6-foot-5 Coggins climbed above the crowd and headed it in with ease.

“He’s like 6-5. He made a run, and I tried to play it to the top of the six, and he got the goal,” Nunez said.

Schweitzer gave most of the first half to his starters before subbing them out over the final 15 minutes of the first half. In the second half, mostly training camp trialists took the field, and they left a positive impression, too.

“There’s a battle for the last couple spots, that’s for sure,” said Schweitzer, who has about a half dozen roster spots still open. “Some guys did well enough to earn starting spots tonight. But you have to look at the whole thing and know we still have a long way to go.”

Marc-Herold Gracien gave the RailHawks a 4-0 lead in the 55th minute. He flung the ball from the right flank toward the far post, and it dipped just under the crossbar and into the side netting for a goal.

Twenty minutes later, in the 75th minute, Nathan Zuzga caught a break when the ball deflected off a UNCG defender right to him. With the goalkeeper out of position, he easily tucked the ball in the goal.

Next up for the RailHawks is an exhibition with the Campbell University men’s soccer team Tuesday at WakeMed Soccer Park before squaring off against MLS’ New York Red Bulls on Friday.

They’re hoping some of the positivity from the win over UNCG carries over to next week.

“It’s always good to score goals and win games,” Bailey said. “It’s going to have a positive impact on the team’s morale. We’re just trying to gel now, and this is a good result for us.”