Last Sept. 1, Carolina’s Santiago Fusilier lay in a heap on the artificial turf at PGE Park in Portland. The now-24-year-old midfielder thought he’d sprained his left knee. He soon learned it was more serious, a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

After offseason surgery and rehab, the Argentine has regained his form.

He joined the RailHawks’ starting 11 on June 14 in Miami, and he’s started every match since. He scored his first goal of the season in a 3-3 tie at Rochester on June 20, and he opened the scoring in July 1’s 4-2 U.S. Open Cup loss to Kansas City.

“It’s amazing how you can recover,” said Fusilier, who was born and raised in Buenos Aires and came to the U.S. to play soccer at N.C. State. “I thought I was never going to come back and be fast. But I’m faster than last year.”

Fusilier started seeing time mostly as a substitute late last season. He showed flashes of potential in those limited minutes, darting down the sidelines, dribbling into the heart of defenses with quick feet and soft touches.

“He has the ability to get forward, to get at players, to get down the line,” said Carolina coach Scott Schweitzer. “He wants to score and play attractive soccer. That’s just something he learned growing up. That, and now combined with a team structure, that is what is making him such a dangerous threat on the field.”

Fusilier recovered quickly from his knee injury. He was on the field for the first day of training camp in mid March. He played for the first time since the injury against the New York Red Bulls in the preseason and thought he was back to full strength. But every time he took the field, pain lingered.

“It was frustrating,” he said. “I’d kept thinking I was going to come back early and it didn’t happen. Every time I played, it hurt. Now, it’s good. It doesn’t hurt no more. Both are the same. It’s amazing.”

Though he’s back to 100 percent and seeing significant minutes, he’s still looking to get stronger in one area.

“I need to keep scoring,” he said.

Sanfilippo the sub

Carolina defender Frankie Sanfilippo has appeared in 44 of the RailHawks’ 50 USL-1 and U.S. Open Cup matches. Last week against Kansas City, he experienced two firsts. It was the first time he came off the bench for Carolina, and it was the first time he took the field and was not the RailHawks’ captain.

He checked into the Kansas City match in the 72nd minute for Steve Curfman. In his first 43 appearances for Carolina, he started them all. Last season, Sanfilippo started 26 USL-1 matches and played all 2,340 minutes. He also played all 480 minutes of the RailHawks’ five Open Cup matches. This season, he played all 900 minutes of Carolina’s first 10 games, but he was red carded in the third minute of the team’s 11th match, on June 20 at Rochester.

In that game, goalkeeper Chris McClellan took the captain’s armband from Sanfilippo. He has worn it the five games since, four of which Sanfilippo missed (one for suspension, three because of injury) and the Kansas City match he did not start.

Seeing red

Ryan Solle was red carded in the 108th minute and Chad Dombrowski was sent off in the 120th against Kansas City, representing the fifth and sixth red cards the RailHawks have seen this season. It was Solle’s second ejection of the year, and it was the fourth time in six games a Carolina player has seen red. Of Carolina’s 17 games this season, seven have featured a player from one team being ejected. Solle and Dombrowski will have to wait until next year’s Open Cup to serve their mandatory one-match suspensions.

Odds & ends

Carolina is 2-3 all-time against teams from MLS. … The RailHawks are 6-2 all-time in U.S. Open Cup play. … The loss to Kansas City ended the RailHawks’ home unbeaten streak, and they are now 5-1-4 at WakeMed Soccer Park this year. … Kansas City forward Ivan Trujillo’s 68th-minute goal snapped the RailHawks streak of 248 minutes without allowing a goal. … Claudio Lopez’s 81st-minute goal marked the fourth time this season Carolina allowed the tying or go-ahead goal in the final 10 minutes. … The 2-0 lead was the first time Carolina led by two goals since Sept. 8, 2007, when it defeated California 2-0 to clinch a spot in the USL-1 playoffs. … The Kansas City match marked the first time Carolina squandered a two-goal lead since July 8, 2007, when Montreal came back from down 2-0 to force a 2-2 tie. … The Kansas City match marked the first time this season Carolina lost when it scored first. The RailHawks are 6-1-3 on such occasions in 2008.