2008 Jul 3

Carolina RailHawks  2 - 2  Seattle Sounders
WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, NC

Carolina: Chris McClellan; Steven Curfman, Mauricio Segovia (Chad Dombrowski 28', Caleb Norkus 81'), David Stokes, Kupono Low; Ryan Solle, Matt Watson, Martin Nuñez (Chris Lemons 89'), Santiago Fusilier (Phillip Long 74'); Jacob Coggins (Connally Edozien 32'), Dan Antoniuk.

Seattle: Chris Eylander; Taylor Graham, Zach Scott, Kevin Sakuda, Michael Rodríguez; Danny Jackson (Jason Cascio 90'), Kenji Treschuk (Noah Merl 85'), Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, John Fishbaugher (Youssouf Kante 55'); Andre Schmid (Nik Besagno 69'), Sebastien Le Toux.

Goals:
12' CAR: Coggins (Antoniuk)
45' SEA: Le Toux
69' SEA: Treschuk (Alcaraz-Cuellar)
87' CAR: Stokes (Curfman)

Additional match reports: RailHawks, Cary News.

Match report from the Sounders:

Another lead late in the match for the Sounders, another disappointing result. David Stokes scored an 87th minute equalizer for the Carolina RailHawks to get the 2-2 draw in Cary, North Carolina.

Goals from Sébastien Le Toux and Kenji Treschuk weren't enough as the Sounders drew for their fifth game in their last six league matches. The Sounders now travel to league leaders, Charleston Battery, on Saturday for the second game of their Carolina road trip.

Coming off an exciting 2-0 win against MLS' Chivas USA in the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday night, the Sounders roster was thin as Josh Gardner and Leighton O'Brien did not travel to heal nagging injuries.

Seattle came out of the gate a little sluggish and Jacob Coggins took advantage, getting on the end of a Dan Antoniuk pass and scoring in the 12th minute to give Carolina the 1-0 advantage.

The goal seemed to wake the Sounders from their sleep and they began to press the action as the half wore on. The always energized Sébastien Le Toux, caused problems in the Carolina backline and created shooting chances for Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar and Andre Schmid around the 30th minute.

But it was the red hot Le Toux, scoring his sixth goal in four matches, who found the equalizer at the end of the half. The play started with Alcaraz-Cuellar off a free kick finding Le Toux in the box; his first shot was saved but he collected the rebound and found the back of the net. The sides went into the half tied at one goal a piece.

The Sounders came out of the break searching for the advantage but didn't find the lead until the 69th minute from Kenji Treschuk. To start the play, Seattle had a man advantage coming down the left side. Cuellar, on-ball, elected not to play the through ball to Kante and crossed in to Treschuk, who headed the ball brilliantly from 10 yards into the back of the net.

With the goal advantage Seattle brought in defenders Nik Besagno and Noah Merl to clamp down on the RailHawks attack, but Carolina created a corner in the 87th and Steve Curfman's delivery found the head of David Stokes for the goal.

It was the second league match in a row that Seattle surrendered a lead late. The Sounders gave up a goal in the 84th minute to the Montreal Impact in their 1-1 draw at Starfire on June 28.

Statistics:
          Carolina   Seattle
Shots:       11         7
Saves:        4         5
Corners:      5         5
Fouls:       12        10
Offsides:     4         5

Misconduct:
34' SEA: Schmid cautioned
56' CAR: Edozien cautioned
80' CAR: Low cautioned

Referees: Lee Suckle; Daniel Burack, Daniel McCoy; Mohamed Najih

Attendance: 5,168