CARY — More than 2,740 spectators braved the chilly and wet conditions on Saturday night to witness a 1-0 Carolina RailHawks win in the inaugural "Community Shield" exhibition match against the MLS' New England Revolution.

The game started with a marriage proposal from defender Caleb Norkus to girlfriend (now fiance) Danielle Fernandez, who had just finished singing the National Anthem.

Fernandez said "Yes" — much to the delight of those that had arrived to the stadium on-time and the family members she didn't know would be in the crowd.

"I thought I had a clue [of the proposal], and for some reason I thought it was [going to be] tomorrow," Fernandez said, still beaming with delight.

"I just can't believe it. I'm looking at the ring, and I'm thinking thoughts and I'm trying to practice 'fiance' in my head. It's just a lot."

The attack was working early on for the RailHawks, who out-shot the Revolution 5-3 in the first period. One close call came on a Sallieu Bundu header that was cleared inches before it crossed the white line in the ninth minute.

Six minutes later, an unassisted header by Mark Schulte in the 16th minute floated above the outstretched arms of New England goalie Matthew Reis and gave the RailHawks a 1-0 lead that it held going into intermission.

"[Kupono Low] put a great ball in, just got up well, actually Sallieu won the header, and it was kind of a scramble and I found myself underneath it," Schulte said. "I just elevated and tapped it in."

Schulte was one of 16 new players that made their debut in RailHawk orange on Saturday. That number doesn't include midfielder Brian Plotkin, who didn't dress.

RailHawks coach Martin Rennie said Schulte, who like Rennie came to the RailHawks from Cleveland this offseason, is a talented defender who can score when needed to.

"What people saw tonight is he's a very good defender, he's also a big threat in the other box as well," Rennie said.

The last 10 minutes of the game were eventful for the RailHawks, as the Revolution got a good look from Jeff Larentowicz, who sailed his shot too high in the 81st minute.

The Revolution got an even better opportunity in the 86th minute, as a RailHawk miscue set up a one-on-one between goalie Caleb Patterson and the Revolution's Kenny Mansally.

Mansally was denied on a brilliant, last-second save by Patterson.

"Caleb — unbelievable. That's a great save. We had just a little miscommunication on the clear from our corner kick and Caleb just came out well," Schulte said.

"He's a great keeper. We're excited to have him back there, it makes us breathe a little easier."

Patterson had four saves while playing just the second period, while fellow goalie Eric Reed had zero saves in his 45 minutes of duty in the first period as the Revolution couldn't muster a single shot on goal.

"We're really proud of the guys of coming out today and showing that we can play at a high level this early," Schulte said.

In all, Rennie said his team can still get a lot better as the year moves along. The season opener is still a little less than a month away.

"We'll play a lot better than that once we learn a few things. There's a lot to improve on," Rennie said.

"I thought we did well. We're still four or five weeks from the start of the season so I don't think that this is as good as we can play."