What began as a battle of tactics devolved into weather watching and a war of attrition. In the end, a midnight cannon blast was all that separated the Carolina RailHawks and New England Revolution as Wednesday evening segued into Thursday morning, and the Revolution outlasted Carolina 1-0 to advance to the fifth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Open Cup games between the RailHawks and teams from Major League Soccer have become a semi-occasion in the Triangle soccer landscape. Even NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson was on hand for Wednesday’s fourth round game, a rematch of the clubs’ semifinals clash in the 2007 Open Cup.

Unfortunately, the latest Open Cup tradition for the RailHawks is inclement weather. As with the previous round’s match against Charlotte two weeks ago, the Hawks-Revs game was halted just nine minutes, 28 seconds into the match. The ensuing downpour delayed the restart until after 10 p.m.

After a 10th minute of play that lasted well over two hours, the best chance for either side during the opening half came in 33rd minute, when a looping cross off the left wing from Austin da Luz found Brian Shriver far post. But Shriver skimmed his open shot over the crossbar.

The teams exchanged half-chances in the second. In the 59th minute, Shriver centered to a sliding da Luz in the goalmouth, but his poke bounded wide. In the 77th, da Luz returned the favor, but Shriver’s one-timer was snuffed out by Revs goalkeeper Brad Knighton.

The remaining bleary-eyed faithful finally saw the Revolution charge to a lead in extra time. In the 103rd minute, midfielder Zachary Herivaux drove lateral along the top of the box into the arch without being closed down by a RailHawks defender. Herivaux obliged, uncorking a blast that flew past Fitzgerald into the upper 90 for a 1-0 advantage.

The desperate RailHawks squandered two terrific chances in the last throes of extra time. In the 117th minute, second-half substitute Alex Perez spun and fired from short range, but Knighton got a paw on the ball to preserve the lead. Then on the final play of the match, Perez nodded a point blank header that bounced into Knighton’s breadbasket.

The RailHawks now go on a brief hiatus until the start of the NASL fall season on July 2 at Minnesota United. Carolina returns to WakeMed Soccer Park July 9 when it hosts the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Fitzgerald, Black, Tobin, Mensing, Beckie, Marcelin, Watson (Perez, 83’), Ceballos (Orlando, 67’), Albadawi, da Luz (Schuler, 98’), Shriver

NE: Knighton, Goncalves, McCrary, Caldwell, Woodberry, Herivaux, Fagundez, D. Smith (Tierney, 80’), Rowe (Kamara, 69’), Hollinger-Janzen (Nguyen 56’), Agudelo

GOAL

CAR: ---

NE: Herivaux, 103’ (Nguyen)

CAUTIONS

CAR: Marcelin, 45’; Beckie, 54’; Shriver, 120’

NE: Woodbury, 55’; Kamara, 85’

EJECTIONS

CAR: ---

NE: ---

ATTENDANCE: 4,147