Cary, NC – A relieved Fort Lauderdale Strikers team walked off the dampened pitch at WakeMed Soccer Park with a point. Though they were unable to secure their first ever victory at the home of the Carolina Railhawks (0-6-4 all time), they should be satisfied with the match result after having to endure a 106-minute rain delay where they trailed by a goal.
The day began with good news for the Strikers, as they announced that goalkeeper Josh Ford, on loan from MLS-side Orlando City SC, will remain with the team throughout the remainder of the Fall season; an important addition for a Strikers team that played an exhibition just a week ago with only one healthy keeper of the three on their roster.
The other familiar face making a return for FTL was Coach Günter Kronsteiner, whose team took the field lined up in a 4-2-3-1, mirroring that of Colin Clarke’s starting formation as well. Neither team looked particularly dominate from the start, however Stefano Pinho did find himself alone with Railhawks goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald for what should have been an early goal, but then misfired on the sliding strike which was then cleared away by a defender. Carolina picked up the intensity in the latter portion of the first 45, with Tiyi Shipalane showing off his craftiness as the South African has done so consistently for his team since 2012. Despite the gritty activeness of Josh Ford and his backline, it was the crossbar that saved the Strikers and kept a blast from Blake Wagner out of the goal in the scoreless first half.
Although the Strikers came out the aggressors with a couple quick shots from Victor “PC” Giro, it was Neil Hlavaty that broke the scoring lull first in the 53rd minute for Carolina on an assist from Simone Bracalello, who picked the pocket of Strikers’ Captain/Assistant Coach Ivan Guerrero. The red & gold made a couple substitutions to try and turn things around after some continued dominance by Carolina following their goal, however the momentum shift they so badly needed came in the form of a weather delay in the 75th minute. Lightning forced the teams from the field to back into the locker rooms shortly after 9pm, where they would not return to warm back up until 10:25pm.
Mother Nature’s intervention clearly provided Coach Kronsteiner with some time to appropriately strategize because the Strikers came out of the break in action with a relentless attack that resulted in a 77th-minute goal by Stefano on a perfectly placed touch pass from PC. Both goalkeepers were challenged again following the restart, with Josh Ford barely disallowing the go-ahead goal with his fingertips in added time. After signaling for 3 minutes of stoppage time, the referee ended the game just under that mark and the draw became official.
Both teams have to deal with a quick turnaround, as the Strikers return home to Lockhart Stadium to face week 1-winners FC Edmonton, while the Railhawks look to extend their unbeaten streak to 7 games as they make the trek up to Indianapolis to take the Eleven.
