Eddies’ central defender Paul Hamilton was named to the squad, which was announced by the league on Tuesday. The centre back was named defensive player of week in mid-May and led the team in minutes played, with 2,024.

Neither the Carolina or FC Edmonton put on defensive clinics in a 2-2 draw which saw Eddie Kyle Porter trade braces with the RailHawks’ Nick Zimmerman.

“You get to a point in the game where we score, we have taken the lead, we are dominating possession,” said Porter. “And then it was like we just dropped. And the game just changed. And then they get the goals, and the winner came so late, there was no chance for us to come back.”

The RailHawks won the game on penalties after the Whitecaps’ Davide Chiumiento scored a last-gasp equalizer. It was 2-2 after 90 minutes, but the RailHawks were perfect in the penalty shootout, while the Whitecaps were just two for four.

At the start of the NASL season, you’d have predicted that any 2011 match between the Carolina RailHawks and the Montreal Impact would be a top-of-table clash. Only the RailHawks have kept their part of the bargain. When surveying the Impact’s 2-0 road loss to Carolina Sunday, you would be excused for assuming that the RailHawks were preparing to jump to MLS next season while Montreal was, well,just a bad team.

This Friday night, FC Edmonton will try to do what no other NASL club has done so far this season. Stop Etienne Barbara. The Maltese striker has 12 goals in 10 games so far this season. He’s only been held off the scoresheet once so far this NASL campaign. And, in that game, he set up both Carolina goals.

The fact that Lance Parker supplanted Rein Baart — the Dutch veteran who had been FCE’s No. 1 to this point — in goal for Wednesday’s Nutrilite Canadian Championship semifinal second leg in Toronto wasn’t really a surprise. But what was surprising that Baart wasn’t even dressed. Jaswinder Gill had the back-up duties last night. And the club confirmed Thursday that Baart’s absence from the starting lineup and the bench was a coach’s decision. There wasn’t an injury situation.

FC Edmonton finally looked like an expansion team. After two wins to start the club’s first NASL season, the FC Edmonton couldn’t finish its chances, and were left red-faced in conceding two bad goals to the Carolina RailHawks in a 2-0 loss.

While the tornadoes that touched down in the Raleigh area earlier today may have kept some fans away from WakeMed Soccer Park, the weather did not put a damper on the Carolina RailHawks, who defeated the Impact 2-1, handing Montreal its second straight loss to open the NASL season.