— Sunday afternoon’s preseason friendly between the Carolina RailHawks and Seoul E-Land FC at WakeMed Soccer Park bore all the earmarks of a restaurant soft opening. Most of the decor was in place, the product looked familiar and a seemingly select crowd was on hand to watch the participants haltingly go through their paces.

The official result of the loquaciously-titled 7th Annual Hilton Garden Inn Durham Southpoint Community Shield Match was a 5-4 shootout win by the RailHawks via kicks from the penalty spot following 90 scoreless regulation minutes.

The sometimes ragged affair, otherwise played under optimal Carolina springtime skies, culminated when RailHawks goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre saved Seoul E-Land’s fourth attempt from the spot by Carlyle Mitchell, formerly of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Wells Thompson chipped in the RailHawks’ fifth try to bring home the silver dinner plate.

A ho-hum opening half highlighted by early RailHawks scoring opportunities gradually segued into an uneven second stanza for a RailHawks side sporting roster players merely one week into training camp plus a batch of trialists fresh out of college eligibility.

Meanwhile, Carolina’s game and sometimes savvy opponent was a second division South Korean club entering their first year of existence, managed by former RailHawks gaffer Martin Rennie. This was Rennie’s third preseason friendly against his former club, the previous two while managing the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.

“We’re six days into our preseason,” said RailHawks’ manager Colin Clarke. “Today was the first time we got out on grass because of the weather. I thought there were a lot of positives, particularly in the first half, before we started making subs, there were times when we moved the ball well and created opportunities. Our defensive shapes was very solid, and that’s the one thing we’ve worked on in the early part of this training camp.”

The RailHawks ran out a starting XI of expected regulars, save for newcomers Mark Anderson, Mamadou “Futty” Danso and Chris Nurse. Anderson awoke Sunday morning with a stomach bug, Danso is recovering from a slight groin injury and Nurse remains away on international duty with the Guyana national team.

Clarke says the team expects to add two more signings within the coming week, although he declined to name them. And, as always, a new crop of trialists will rotate in (and out) over the coming month.

Carolina’s preseason continues next weekend as the team will travel to the Charleston Battery. Home scrimmages are scheduled to follow against UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday, March 17 and USL side Charlotte Independence on Saturday, March 21.

In the meantime, Clarke saw today as a suitable start to a RailHawks preseason that kicked off several weeks, if not a month following their North American Soccer League opponents.

“I’m just happy to get them out on the field and playing together.”