Seattle exploits the Railhawks' defense

CARY -- There's precious little time to stew.

All that time has to be saved for finding a way to keep the Carolina Railhawks' playoff dreams alive.

Friday, the No. 8 seed Railhawks dropped a 2-0 decision to the top-seeded Seattle Sounders on defensive lapses at SAS Soccer Park.

The United Soccer Leagues' First Division holds two-game series in the quarterfinals, making Friday's game simply the first half.

The Railhawks are scheduled to fly out for Seattle at 6 a.m. today. The two teams meet again at 9 p.m. Sunday.

The team that scores the highest number of goals in the two games advances to the semifinals. Carolina would need to score at least three goals to advance -- provided it can stifle the USL's top seeded squad at home.

Railhawks coach Scott Schweitzer doesn't see it that way.

"We need to get two," Schweitzer said. "We need to get two and go to the 30-minute game. We're not going to think that we need to win by three. That would be great if we did that, but we're going to play 45-minute games.

"We're going to try to win the first 45-minute game by one goal. We're going to try to win the second one by one goal."

If the Railhawks were to tie Sunday's game, it would go to a 30-minute overtime and then penalty kicks for the right to advance to the semifinals.

Schweitzer said the Railhawks would likely play a different formation than the 4-3-2-1 they used Friday -- perhaps a 4-4-2 to help generate more offensive chances.

On Friday, the Railhawks rarely even had possession in the first half but prevented the Sounders from getting on the board.

But in the 48th minute, Seattle's Zach Scott headed the ball into the left corner of the net after being left unmarked off the far post. Railhawks goalkeeper Chris McClellan didn't have a play on the ball.

The Railhawks created two good opportunities later in the game but Seattle goalie Chris Eylander punched both shots out.

Just minutes after Eylander knocked away Phillip Long's shot, Seattle's Andre Schmid won a breakaway in the midfield and scored to give the Sounders their insurance goal in the 82nd minute.

It was a disappointing performance for the Railhawks, who played in front of the smallest crowd this season -- just 923 fans. The franchise had planned to honor its 100,000th fan, but fell short.

"It's your home field," Railhawks Connally Edozien said. "You want to do well on your home field -- that's what the advantage is. But I'm not sure that we took advantage of that. ...

"Now it's get tougher. We've got to travel to [Seattle] and make that field our home field."