INDIANAPOLIS/ WEBCAST—For their third trip to the Hoosier State, the Carolina RailHawks found a welcome as warm as pizza at a wedding reception. However, over 80 minutes of ineffective, injury-filled play by the visitors culminated with a surprise late-game score by Carolina’s Blake Wagner to salvage a 1-1 draw from the jaws of apparent defeat.

The RailHawks ran out their first altered starting XI of the young 2015 season. Leading scorer Nacho Novo didn’t make the trip due to an injured groin and hamstring, and defender Connor Tobin didn’t get the start due to his own hamstring issue. In their place were offseason acquisitions Simone Bracalello and Futty Danso (more on them soon). Moreover, spark plug Ty Shipalane began the match on the bench as Kupono Low got his first runout this year at left back and Wagner shifted forward into the midfield.

But any RailHawks positional and substitution strategy quickly flew the coop. In just the 9th minute, a low cross by Indy midfielder Don Smart found the lower extremity of sliding Carolina center back Daniel Scott. The opposition orb deflected off Scott and into nylon for an own goal and early 1-0 Indy Eleven lead.

Matters regressed further when Bracalello hobbled off with an apparently contagious hamstring injury in the 27th minute. He was replaced by recent acquisition Bradlee Baladez, who has trained with the RailHawks since preseason but only officially signed with the club this week. Then in the 31st minute, Danso’s quest to complete a half of soccer this year hit another snag when he also exited the match due to injury.

Carolina held sway over the passing drill competition over the latter stages of the first half. But the only scoring threat came from a Mark Anderson side shot flashing through the box in the 36th that Indy goalkeeper Kristian Nicht easily smothered. Indeed, the sole silver lining was that the RailHawks only trailed by a goal entering intermission.

“We had some harsh words at halftime,” said RailHawks manager Colin Clarke. “Our first 20-25 minutes were awful.”

Shipalane finally came on in the 55th minute in place an ineffectual (and possibly injured) Nazmi Albadawi. In the 64th minute, Anderson again found the ball at his feet in the box, but his left-footer rippled the side netting.

Meanwhile, Indy Eleven spent most of the second stanza taking target practice. Dylan Mares let one fly high in the 61st. In the 77th minute, an error by Carolina goalkeeper Hunter Gilstrap triggered three rapid-fire attempts by the home side that were somehow parried away, one by Tobin and another by Gilstrap.

But as so often happens, the team not taking their chances bore the brunt of fate’s fickle finger. In the 85th minute, Shipalane drove down the right wing—a RailHawks ghost town during his first half absence—and delivered a soaring cross that found an unmarked Wagner along the far post. Wagner calmly settled the ball, then roofed his angled equalizer.

The RailHawks (1-2-1, 5 pts.) return to WakeMed Soccer Park next Saturday, May 2 to host the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.