— A new-look North Carolina FC took to the emerald expanse of WakeMed Soccer Park Saturday afternoon to face the green and gold-clad Tampa Bay Rowdies. On this St. Patrick’s Day, however, the luck of the Irish shone on the viridescent visitors, as the Rowdies christened the 2018 USL regular season with a 3-1 victory over NCFC at Sahlen’s Stadium in Cary.

It’s a result you wouldn’t surmise judging by a surprisingly sanguine Colin Clarke after the match.

“Overall, I was pleased with a lot of stuff we produced today,” said the NCFC manager. “I was disappointed with the result and how that worked out, but I thought for the first 20-25 minutes of the game, we were very good. We could have scored two or three goals, and a few of those big moments went against us.”

Although North Carolina FC held a possession advantage early and often, the Rowdies first cracked the scoreline in the 23rd minute. After a Carolina giveaway near midfield, Leo Fernandes raced unassisted past assorted NCFC defenders before calmly finishing his angle shot across goalkeeper Alex Tambakis for the 1-0 advantage.

“I’m disappointed with the first goal, a bad giveaway in the middle of the park when we were a little stretched,” Clarke recounted. “We didn’t defend the guy who scored well enough.”

North Carolina FC drew even in the 38th minute. Left back Peabo Doue curled a cross that clipped off forward Marios Lomis before finding Steven Miller far post. Miller settled the sphere before firing across the face of Rowdies keeper Cody Mizell to equalize, 1-1.

But a minute later, referee Guido Gonzales Jr. whistled a penalty against NCFC’s Austin da Luz for taking down Tampa Bay’s David Najem along the outer edge of the area. With NCFC still protesting whether the foul occurred in or outside the box, the venerable Georgi Hristov stepped to the spot and roofed his penalty kick, and the Rowides carried a 2-1 lead into intermission.

“From what I hear, the penalty wasn’t inside the box,” Clarke said. “[W]hether it was or wasn’t given, you can’t make that foul in that position, whether it’s outside or inside the box.”

Amid a flurry of second-half substitutions, both squads gave their opposing goalkeepers multiple moments in the limelight. Mizell finished with seven saves, while Tambakis earned three, including a couple of top-shelf saves to keep the home side within a goal. But the Rowdies put the match to bed in the 90th minute when midfielder Jack Blake buried a rope from 22 yards out to account for the 3-1 final score.

“You got to give credit to Tambakis. He kept their team in the game a little bit,” Mizell said. “We finally killed it off in the end with the third goal to finish the game.”

“That’s why I’m here, I’m here to make saves and help the team,” Tambakis said. “I’m here to give directions to everybody and try to help them, try to be positive in the back and just bring the team forward.”

Again, Clarke was rather jaunty about the circumstances surrounding the final margin.

“We’re chasing, we want to get something out of the game,” Clarke explained. “You going to have to survive some stuff at the back. I thought Alex [Tambakis] was great today making saves and coming up with some big moments. But that’s the chance you take. It always looks a lot worse at 3-1, but we had to go after it and takes some chances.”

More expectedly, Rowdies manager Stuart Campbell shared Clarke’s optimistic appraisal of the contest, particularly with each team’s double-digit shot attempts.

“It was two really good teams that played soccer the right way, both very attack-minded,” Campbell said. “You saw the chances that Carolina created, and I thought for an away team we created an absolute barrel-load of them. I’m delighted we were able to come away with three points.”

That said, Campbell reserved particular praise for his defensive core, which kept Carolina at bay despite unrelenting pressure.

“We know how good a team Carolina is from the little bit of scouting we were able to do from preseason,” Campbell said. “They have some threats wide and also centrally. I thought all our guys defended great … The attackers always gain all the plaudits, but if you look at our defensive shape and organization, I thought it was excellent.”

“It was tough, but our defense was strong,” Leo Fernandes added. “[Defender] Neil Collins was a beast back there.”

North Carolina FC’s attendance of 4,197 is a hair’s breadth above the club’s 2016 home opener (4,159) but demonstrably below last year’s season-opening tally of 6,058.

“I thought the supporters were superb today behind the goal,” Clarke raved. “They never stopped, and we want to make them happy and put some points on the table, particularly here at home. We now have two tough games on the road, so we’re looking to pick up points.”

North Carolina FC (0-0-1) departs for two consecutive away matches at defending USL champion Louisville City FC and the Richmond Kickers. Carolina returns home on April 7 to host Indy Eleven.

In the meantime, the message from the NCFC gaffer is best summarized as "Don’t worry, be happy."

“I’m as positive as I can be after a 3-1 defeat,” Clarke said, “because I saw a lot of great stuff [today].”

BOX SCORE

NCFC: Tambakis, Taylor, Danso, Harrington (W. Fernandes, 89’), Doue, G. Smith, Fortune, Miller, Bekker, da Luz (Luxbacher, 76’), Lomis (Rios, 66’)

TBR: Mizell, Najem, Gorskie, Collins, Portillos, Schäfer, Blake, Cole (Rozeboom, 75’), Nanchoff (Guenzatti, 73’), Hristov, Fernandes (Graf, 88’)

GOALS

NCFC: S. Miller, 38’ (Lomis)

TBR: Fernandes, 23’; Hristov, 41’ (PK); Blake, 90’ (Guenzatti)

CAUTIONS

NCFC: Danso, 17’

TBR: ---

EJECTIONS

NCFC: ---

TBR: ---

ATTENDANCE: 4,197