Wilmington Hammerheads Earn First Points Of Season, Tie Harrisburg City Islanders

Sitting at 0-3, Wilmington Hammerheads coach David Irving said, "With the next two on the road, it was important we didn't lose."

While they couldn't tally their first win of the season, they did play to a 1-1 tie and earned their first point of the 2008 USL-2 Season.

After allowing a defensive breakdown to cost them in just the seventh minute, the Hammerheads were on the short-end of a 1-0 score. Irving said, "It really was a terrible goal to give up."

Harrisburg had another golden opportunity in the twelfth minute and continued to have the better scoring opportunities throughout the opening half.

But after regrouping at intermission, the Hammerheads were able to create some offense for themselves. After having a great scoring chance in the 52nd minute, their hard work was rewarded just two minutes later when Trey Alexander came up with the ball, amidst a scramble twelve yards in front of the Harrisburg goal, and drilled it into the upper 90.

With momentum and the Legion Stadium crowd of over 2,000 on their side, the Hammerheads controlled play and had several good chances down the stretch, but could not get the go ahead goal. "We were more on a mission, more offensive minded," Coach Irving said of the second half surge.

So while the Hammerheads, now 0-3-1, got their first point of the season, a win certainly would have been nice. Irving said of Saturday's game, "We can take a lot of positives, but I'm a little disappointed we didn't get all three [points] ... but it is a step in the right direction."

After road games against the Real Maryland Monarchs on 5/24 and the Richmond Kickers on 5/31, Wilmington will return home to host three consecutive home games, the first coming on June 7th when the Pittsburgh Riverhounds come to Legion Stadium. Coach Irving sees Charlotte and Crystal Palace as the class of the USL-2, but said everyone else is "nip and tuck." These next three games will be fairly critical, although early in the season, as the Hammerheads face the teams immediately ahead of them in the league standings.

-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT