The Carolina RailHawks will open thier 2010 season with back-to-back home matches against AC St. Louis on April 10 and against the NSC Minnesota Stars on April 16
The
Carolina RailHawks-CASL fundraising soccer clinic that was to be held Saturday
at WakeMed Soccer Park has been postponed due to the inclement weather forecast
PORTLAND –
Before
Saturday night, the Portland Timbers hadn’t scored a goal on the Carolina
RailHawks in 370 minutes, a streak that included all three matches during the
2008 season.
In just less than 80
minutes Saturday, the Timbers scored twice.
Behind a fifth-minute
goal from Brian Farber and an 83rd-minute insurance strike by Ryan
Pore, Portland dealt the RailHawks a 2-0 defeat before 6,742 at PGE Park,
ending Carolina’s season-opening four-match unbeaten streak.
“I think, from the perspective
of how we performed, we played quite well,” said RailHawks coach Martin Rennie.
“We outshot them 14-8, which away from home is good. I think sometimes, there’s
so many draws in the USL, you just want to go for it. It just wasn’t meant to
be. I’m sure we’ll bounce back.”
Like they did in
Thursday’s scoreless draw against Portland, the RailHawks (3-1-1) took 14 shots
but were unable to put one in the net Saturday. That was in large part due to
Timbers goalkeeper Chris Seitz, who followed up Thursday’s six-save effort with
a masterful nine-save performance Saturday.
Only two players
(defender Mark Schulte and midfielder Amir Lowery) appeared in Rennie’s
starting 11 Saturday who also were in the starting 11 on Thursday, and the lack
of cohesion was evident in the match’s early going.
Portland (1-1-1) spent
the first five minutes on the attack, and wasted little time breaking through.
In the fifth minute,
Pore played a nice cross to the back post, and Farber beautifully headed it in.
It was just the second goal Portland has every scored against the RailHawks in
seven all-time meetings, and it marked the first Timbers goal against the
RailHawks on their home field.
Farber’s early goal was
the first the RailHawks conceded since their season-opening match on April 11,
a span of 338 minutes, 19 shy of the club record for longest shutout streak.
And it was the first time in any of their first five matches that they found
themselves trailing.
The RailHawks nearly
drew the match even during first-half stoppage time. After Kupono Low’s
screaming free kick was saved by Seitz, defender Brad Rusin’s header on the
ensuing corner kick smashed off the cross bar.
In the 55th
minute, defender Jeremy Tolleson set up forward Sallieu Bundu from six yards
out. Bundu turned and fired a shot on frame, but Seitz denied the RailHawks the
equalizer once again. On the ensuing corner, Bundu took the ball down at the
back post, but his attempt from inside the six went over the frame.
“On the road, you tend
to find a lot of things go against you,” Rennie said. “We hit the bar and had a
couple chances where we should have done more.”
In the 83rd
minute, on a late counter attack, Pore took a pass from George Josten, then
slotted the ball past Eric Reed for an extra Timbers goal.
Though the RailHawks
went to Portland hoping for more than one point in the two matches, the trip
was not a lost cause by any means. Despite Saturday’s loss, the RailHawks are
still in first place in the USL First Division. And the RailHawks can look ahead to next their
match – against Charleston at WakeMed Soccer Park on May 9 – knowing they own a
perfect record against the Battery (6-0-0).
“Definitely, we wanted more
than one point,” Rennie said. “But from my perspective, I’d rather go and try
to win. One win is equal to three draws. So many games in the USL are draws. In
certain circumstances, it pays to go for it. You do that, you leave yourself
open, and that cost us this game [Saturday]. But I think it’s better to go for
it. What I said to the guys was, had someone said, after five games, you’re
going to win three, tie one, lose one and be on top of the league, would you
accept that? Definitely.”
LINEUPS
CAR:GK Eric Reed, D Devon McKenney, D Mark Schulte,
D Brad Rusin, D Jeremy Tolleson (John Gilkerson, 88th), MF Amir Lowery,
MF Kupono Low, MF Matt Watson (Gavin Glinton, 67th), MF John Cunliffe,
F Andriy Budnyy (Josh Gardner, 77th), F Sallieu Bundu (Hamed Diallo,
58th)
POR:GK Chris Seitz, D David Hayes, D Cameron
Knowles, D Scot Thompson, D Mamadou Dansu, MF Brian Farber (Antou Jallow, 89th),
MF Johan Claesson (Keith Savage, 58th), MF Tony McManus, MF Ryan
Pore, F Mandjou Keita (Jason McLaughlin, 68th), F George Josten
(Alex Nimo, 88th)
SCORING SUMMARY
POR: Brian Farber (assisted
by Ryan Pore), 5th minute
