Carolina RailHawks News Release - www.carolinarailhawks.com
Friday, July 18, 2008
CARY, NC -- The Carolina RailHawks were defeated by the Puerto Rico Islanders 2-0 on Friday night with goals by Josh Hansen and Fabrice Noel all in the first half.
The match saw the return of Jonny Steele to WakeMed Soccer Park for the first time since he left the Carolina RailHawks to go to Puerto Rico. The RailHawks played without injured Mauricio Segovia and were able to utilize Frankie Sanfilippo, who is also returning from injury, only on the second half.
“We controlled the ball most of the game,” said RailHawks Head Coach Scott Schweitzer. “We lacked sense of urgency up top and we made two defensive mistakes and got scored on. We’re only in the middle of the season and we’ll be able to bounce back and make it into the postseason.”
The Railhawks did indeed control most of the play creating chances early on with Hamed Diallo both trying to assist as well as trying to get the ball in the back of the net. But the Islanders took advantage of a defensive mistake early on when Villegas played a through-ball right in the middle of the box for Josh Hansen who easily slotted the ball to the right of Chris McClellan in the 16th minute.
Islanders forward Fabrice Noel found himself in the right place at the right time picking up a ball in the box that RailHawks midfielder/defender Kupono Low was trying to clear away tallying a goal in the 64th minute.
RailHawks forward Hamed Diallo appealed unsuccessfully for penalty calls twice during the match being brought down in the box once in each half of the game. The second one came in the 72nd minute when Nigel Henry clearly brought Diallo down on the right side of the 18 yard box. RailHawks 2nd half substitute Frankie Sanfilippo served a through ball to Diallo who took one touch before being tackled by Henry.
The RailHawks will return to action on Sunday, July 20 at 4:00 p.m. as they host Mexican First Division Rayados de Monterrey in an International exhibition presented by Futbol Tecate and sponsored by Cricket, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, NC Rail and Golden Corral. This match will be followed by the final match of the Carolina RailHawks women Inaugural Season at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for these and all Carolina Railhawks events are available at the LGFCU Box Office, by calling 919-859-KICK (5425), at all Ticketmaster outlets or by visiting www.carolinarailhawks.com.
