The Carolina RailHawks started their two-game road trip with a 1-1 tie against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The RailHawks remain undefeated in the 2012 NASL season with their third consecutive tie, good for 4th in the overall standings (0-3-0, 3 pts). Brian Shriver came through with a goal in the 66th minute, for his second of the season, on an assist from Mike Palacio. The Rowdies responded with a goal in the 70th minute from Tsuyoshi Yoshitake with an assist from former RailHawks forward, Dan Antoniuk.

The RailHawks put together valiant defensive effort, coming up big when it mattered. Ray Burse had another impressive outing, finishing the match with 8 saves.

“We came away with a point on the road. We had to weather a storm to earn it, but it is important to still be undefeated and securing points on the road,” said Head Coach Colin Clarke. “We had a few chances and we were able to score a goal. Unfortunately we let them score quickly, but overall I saw a lot of positives and now we have to focus on our next game on Saturday.”

Both teams struggled to find possession in the first half, resulting in few scoring chances. In the 40^th minute, a Rowdies corner kick resulted in their best scoring opportunity of the half with a fury of four shots on goal. The last play of the half was a RailHawks corner kick that found its way to the goal before being saved on the goal line by the Rowdies.

In the 66th minute, a cross by Palacio found Shriver open at the back of the box.  After chesting down the ball, Shriver ripped a volley into the side netting to beat Rowdies goalkeeper Jeff Attinella. The Rowdies responded quickly with the equalizer in the 70th minute from Yoshitake. A Rowdies cross found the head of Antoniuk, who delivered the ball back across the mouth of the goal to find Yoshitake.

The RailHawks will continue on to face the Puerto Rico Islanders on Saturday at 7:30 PM. The game will be shown live at www.CarolinaRailHawks.com.  The RailHawks will return to action at WakeMed Soccer Park to face expansion-side San Antonio Scorpions on April 28th at 7:00p.m. Tickets for the match can be purchased online at www.CarolinaRailHawks.com or by calling 919-459-8144.

LINEUPS

CAR: GK Burse, D Shields, D Krause, D King, D Low (c), M Zimmerman, M Lowery, M Elenio, M Palacio (Shipalane, 72), F Garey (Ortiz, 77), F Shriver (Da Luz, 90)

TBR: GK Attinella, D Sanfilippo, D Rodrigues, D Arango, D Yamada, M Campbell, M Hill (Antoniuk, 65), M Savage, F Mullholland, F Amersley, F Yoshitake (Clare, 79)

GOALS

CAR: Shriver (Palacio) 66;

TBR: Yoshitake (Antoniuk) 70;

CAUTIONS

CAR:

TBR:

SHOTS

CAR: 10

TBR: 22

SAVES

CAR: 9

TBR: 3