CARY, N.C. – RailHawks forward Pablo Campos was vaguely familiar with his new team’s rivalry with the Montreal Impact before thrusting himself into it on Saturday night at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Campos’ 35th-minute goal capped the RailHawks’ comeback from an early 1-0 deficit and propelled them to a 2-1 victory. With the win, the RailHawks extended their home unbeaten streak over the Impact to six matches (3-0-3).

“When you beat a time like that, a rival, with so much talk before the game, to get this win as a team was great,” Campos said. “The players start believing in each other, and that’s what we need. …It’s never going to come easy.”

It never does when Carolina and Montreal get together. Saturday’s meeting, the team’s 18th all-time, was the 10th in the series to be decided by one goal or end in a tie. The team’s have also played extra physical with each other through the years, averaging nearly 27 fouls between them throughout their history. Saturday’s match featured just sixteen, and only one yellow card.

Saturday’s match bucked the series’ trend, the RailHawks are developing a new one. After going three and a half years without ever winning a match when allowing the game’s first goal, they’ve now overcome a 1-0 deficit three times since last August.

Montreal took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute when Kevin Hatchi was left unmarked near the top of the penalty area on a corner kick. The ball flew through the area to Hatchi, who struck a half volley in at the near post. It was the third goal the RailHawks have allowed through their first two games, and all three have come on re-starts.

“It’s really frustrating and discouraging to lose the first goal the way we did because we worked on set plays all week long,” said RailHawks coach Martin Rennie. “We completely switched off and a player was left wide open. But we showed great character to come back. Teams that are going to do well are going to have to show character, and we showed that tonight.”

The RailHawks equalized 10 minutes later. In the 21st minute, Brad Rusin nearly tied the game with a screaming header on Floyd Franks’ corner kick, but Montreal’s Idriss Ech Chergui cleared the ball of the line. The RailHawks were able to keep the ball in the area. It eventually fell to Etienne Barbara, and his shot deflected off the back of Nevio Pizzolitto and snuck into the goal. It was his second goal in as many games.

With the match back even, play began to open up.

In the 35th minute, Campos and Matt Watson exploited one of those openings.

Campos dropped a ball back to Watson, curled his run, and Watson played him into space. Campos collected the pass then chipped it over Montreal goalkeeper Bill Gaudette as he charged off his line.

“As I picked up the ball, I was thinking I would play it out wide,” said Watson, who became the RailHawks all-time assists leader (10) on Campos’ goal. “At the last minute, I saw Pablo’s boots. They’re bright green and I caught them out of the corner of my eye. I slipped him into that gap, he took a good touch, and it looked good.”

While the attack looked good, so too did the defense. Montreal was held to nine shots, and goalkeeper Brad Knighton had to make just one save on the night. Montreal forward Ali Gerba, who scored nine goals in 13 games last season, was held without a shot.

“I feel like Brad Rusin and John Krause did a great job defending him,” Rennie said. “Gerba’s very dangerous, so it was nice to keep him off the scoresheet.”

The RailHawks had a week to prepare for the Impact, and the adjustments from Week 1 to Week 2 were evident. They will have a much shorter turnaround before their next match – on Wednesday against FC Edmonton at WakeMed Soccer Park – but Renne believes the team will continue to come together in time.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in these players, and I believe we can do really well this season once we find some rhythm,” he said.

CAROLINA 2, MONTREAL 1

Lineups
MON: GK Bill Gaudette, D Philippe Billy, D Nevio Pizzolitto, D Kevin Hatchi, D Zurab Tsiskaridze, M Simon Gatti (Antonio Ribeiro, 71st), M Amir Lowery (David Testo, 85th) M Luke Kreamalmeyer, M Idiss Ech Chergui (Anthony Le Gall, 68th), F Ali Gerba, F Pierre-Rudolph Mayard
CAR: GK Brad Knighton, D Kupono Low, D John Krause, D Brad Rusin, D Devon McKenney, M Floyd Franks, M Brian Farber (Cory Elenio, 87th), M Matt Watson, M Nick Zimmerman, F Pablo Campos (Stephen Glass, 77th), F Etienne Barbara (Allan Russell, 79th)

Scoring Summary
MON: Kevin Hatchi, 11th
CAR: Etienne Barbara, 21st
CAR: Pablo Campos (Matt Watson), 35th

Cautions
MON: Ali Gerba, 31st

Shots
MON: 9
CAR: 14

Fouls
MON: 8
CAR: 8

Attendance
1,219