The biggest surprise of the 2015 Carolina RailHawks season is that it took over three months for their first midgame weather delay. The meteorological mayhem that usually accompanies summers at WakeMed Soccer Park stayed away until Wednesday night’s midweek match-up against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

A 106-minute lightning delay bisected a 1-1 draw between the RailHawks and Strikers. Carolina held a 1-0 lead as play halted at the 75th minute. But the Strikers’ Stefano Pinho struck back two minutes after play resumed with an unexpected equalizer.

A humid troposphere blanketed a languid first half. The RailHawks showed the most scoring flash. In the 17th minute, Shipalane chested a long ball past the Strikers’ back line, but his left-footed try was blocked by goalkeeper John Ford, who the Strikers just acquired on loan from Orlando City SC. Ford also smothered an angled left-footer by Simone Bracalello in the 22nd minute.

In the 35th minute, Blake Wagner—starting in place of the suspended Wells Thompson—got a high boot to a half-volley atop the box, but his rocket shot caromed off the crossbar.

With storms rolling into the Triangle, the RailHawks came out of halftime looking to score quickly in case of a weather delay. That goal came in the 53rd minute when a Carolina buildup provided Bracalello the ball in the area with his back to the goal. Bracalello calmly laid the Volt orb back to Neil Hlavaty atop the box. Hlavaty calmly one-touched a blast into the goal’s top corner for a 1-0 lead.

A couple of chaotic loose balls in the Strikers’ area nearly netted the visitors an equalizer in the 70th minute. But just as the RailHawks’ defense seemed to wane, play was stopped in the 75th minute as sideways rain and an impressive lightning array blew through Cary.

Once the match resumed at 10:55 p.m., the RailHawks came out flat and tentative. Fort Lauderdale quickly seized the opportunity in the 77th minute. Midfielder PC led Stefano ahead with a hopeful pass. Stefano got behind center back Futty Danso, and before defender Connor Tobin could recover and clear the ball from danger, Stefano poked the ball past goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald to even the score at 1-1.

“We did everything we could to prepare [the team] to come out and start after the delay, but we didn’t start very well,” said RailHawks manager Colin Clarke. “We made some bad decisions with the ball to give them opportunities to tie it up.”

Clarke said some of those mistakes included several untimely giveaways in the RailHawks’ backfield, including Austin da Luz, who was slotted in Thompson’s spot at holding midfielder, a position he rarely plays.

“I love Austin, but I didn’t think he had one of his better passing nights tonight,” Clarke said. “He gave it away too many times, particularly in the last 15 minutes of the game. And he’ll be the first person to hold his hand up.”

While Clarke was disappointed with the outcome, Strikers manager Günter Kronsteiner was delighted to escape Cary with a point.

“If I’m being honest, I was really scared for this game today,” Kronsteiner said. “I’m extremely happy to go home with one point. The home team was better, but they didn’t create a lot of chances up front.”

Kronsteiner was re-hired by the Strikers last week after being let go over the offseason. Kronsteiner led the Strikers to the NASL championship last season.

Kronsteiner said his locker room speech during Wednesday’s weather delay was upbeat, even though he admitted he didn’t believe his team could eek out a draw against Carolina.

“I thought we would never score a goal tonight,” Kronsteiner said. “Of course, you can’t tell your players [that]. So I said, ‘Guys, I’m already proud of you and what you’ve pulled off with half our team not here and against one of the best teams in the league. You’re one goal behind and anything is possible. So we’ll go out and try hard.’”

If anything made the long night worthwhile, it was the sheer, predictable honesty of Kronsteiner’s post-match press conference.

For example, this quote emanated during his answer to a benign question about whether Strikers have the talent to make another playoff run this year.

“We have a limited budget again,” Kronsteiner said. “I thought at first the new owners are the rich ones. I come [back] here and I discover that the player payroll is exactly the same as it was before. None of the players makes serious money. We didn’t even have a goalkeeping coach. I brought back my crew that I had before, and I had to fight with the owners about this. They said, ‘Why do you need a goalkeeping coach?’ I’m sorry, when you play professional and I have to explain why I need a goalkeeping coach, that’s a shaky situation. But they ended up agreeing, and now I have my crew again.”

The RailHawks wore black armbands in memory of defender Futty Danso’s mother, who passed away Tuesday in Africa.

Carolina (4-6-2, 18 pts.), which remains in third place in the combined NASL standings, visits fourth-place Indy Eleven this Saturday. The RailHawks return home the following Saturday, July 18 to host the San Antonio Scorpions.

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Fitzgerald; Knight, Danso, Tobin (C), Low; Shipalane, Hlavaty, Albadawi, da Luz, Wagner; Bracalello (Novo, 87th)

FTL: Ford; Sanfilippo (C), Kling, Smith, Guerrero; Freitas, PC; Chin (Frimpong, 54th), Sánchez (Gonzalez, 69th), Ramirez, Pinho (Blandon, 90th)

GOALS

CAR: Hlavaty (Bracalello) – 53rd

FTL: Pinho (PC) – 77th

CAUTIONS

CAR: --

FTL: --

EJECTIONS

CAR: --

FTL: --

ATTENDANCE: 3,055