OTTAWA, ONTARIO –The Carolina RailHawks (1W-1D-1L, 4pts) were blanked 4-0 and suffered their first loss of the season to the host Ottawa Fury (1W-0D-2L, 3pts) at Keith Harris Stadium on Saturday.
The loss dropped Carolina to fifth place in the North American Soccer League (NASL) standings and ended its recent five-game unbeaten streak since the Fall 2013 season.
A hat trick from Brazilian forward Oliver Minatel paced the Fury to the shutout win in front of a crowd of 2,158 who witnessed the first-ever victory by the newest Canadian expansion club in the NASL.
“Carolina is a team that we respect a lot, but today we came in very focused,” Ottawa head coach Marc Dos Santos said.
“We knew exactly what we wanted from the game, and I thought that we responded very well. Our possession was excellent.”
The RailHawks trailed 1-0 at halftime and weren’t able to even the score while falling further behind throughout the final 45 minutes of play.
“Well, being one-nil down at halftime hurt,” Carolina head coach Colin Clarke said.
“We weren’t good in the first half. They came out; they were ready. We weren’t good enough.”
Carolina returns to WakeMed Soccer Park to face the New York Cosmos on Sat., May 3rd.
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BOX SCORE
LINEUPS:
CAR: GK Fitzgerald, D Low, D Tobin, D Scott, D Stahl (Albadawi, 75), M Elizondo, M Millington (Grella, 61), M Davidson, M Burt, M Martinez (Aaron King, 61), F Schilawski
OTT: GKGorrick; D Maykon (Soria, 41), D Trafford, D Beckie, D Fresenga (Jarun, 61); M Donatelli, M Ryan, M Ubiparipovic; F: Oliver (Dantas, 80), Haworth, Davies
GOALS: CAR: — ; OTT:Oliver (34, 63, 72), Davies (56)
CAUTIONS: CAR: Low (41), Stahl (71) ; OTT:P. Davies (51)
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NASL Standings – Week 3
| P | TEAM | PLD | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | PTS |
| 1 | Minnesota United FC | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 2 | NY Cosmos | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | San Antonio Scorpions | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | Carolina RailHawks | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 4 |
| 6 | Ottawa Fury FC | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Atlanta Silverbacks | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 3 |
| 8 | Indy Eleven | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 2 |
| 9 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 |
| 10 | FC Edmonton | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 1 |