As home openers go, this one was saturated with disappointment.

The two teams, which met in last year’s league championship, played 10 minutes of the first half before lightning interrupted the game for the next hour and 50 minutes.

The Islanders went up 1-0 in the first half on a 20th minute goal from Josh Hansen. During intermission, the merciless rain came back to further soak the 400 or so people who weathered the elements.

The RailHawks appeared to have salvaged a draw in the 86th minute as reserve Etienne Barbara converted the penalty to make it 1-1. But with about 30 seconds left in stoppage time, Puerto Rico broke through with a Jay Needham diving header off a corner kick to seal the win.

"It’s just a sickening blow," RailHawks coach Martin Rennie said.

The RailHawks were out-shot 16-9 for the game -- including nine on goal. Knighton, who had seven saves, was tested almost immediately after play resumed, and he stayed busy the rest of the night.

Hansen’s goal for the Islanders came when the RailHawks failed to cleanly clear a ball out of the box.

"It’s tough when you’ve got a rain delay to keep everyone on the same page mentally," Knighton said. "We started the game off really well, we were buzzing for the first 10 minutes and the weather really disrupted our tempo."

As of often one of soccer’s ironies, the RailHawks seemed to pick up the pace after going a man down.

Midfielder Jonny Steele -- in his first game back with Carolina after being an opening day starter on the first RailHawks team in 2007 -- will miss the next two league matches after his studs-out tackle on Puerto Rico’s Scott Jones earned him a straight red card in the 58th minute.

Steele’s tough play previously earned him the nickname "JailHawk."

"I didn’t think it was a red card, the referee gave a yellow card and then the referee reacted and gave him a red card," Rennie said. "That was inexperience from the officials, but it happens sometimes."

The RailHawks appeared poised to finish with a tie when forward Etienne Barbara, who entered the game in the 79th minute less than 24 hours after he arrived in Cary for the 2010 season, drew a foul in the box.

Barbara, the returning scorer for the RailHawks who had two goals in last year’s season opener, had been playing in Malta previously but was allowed by his club to return to the RailHawks at any time.

He boarded three flights on his trip back to the Triangle, totaling almost 16 hours of flying and getting in near midnight on Friday.

"Because of the time difference, I didn’t sleep at all. I really wasn’t prepared for a game," Barbara said.

Barbara would not divulge his strategy on how he scored the PK. He stutter-stepped towards the goal before going for the top right corner.

"I cannot tell you that," he said. "Goalkeepers read this."

Rennie, who started seven offseason additions, maintained that this year’s team will take a while to gel as a unit.

"Judge us in a few weeks. Once we get together and we get fit and guys get collected I think we’ll be really strong this season," Rennie said. "It’s hard to judge anything tonight. But what I did see is that we showed good character and determination, but we have to play better."