When RWB Adria players arrived at SAS Soccer Park for a walk-through training session Tuesday morning, several players stepped out of their team vans puffing on cigarettes.

Once the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup first-round match began later in the evening, it didn’t take long for the Carolina RailHawks to smoke their Chicago-based amateur adversary.

The RailHawks scored five minutes into the contest and steamrolled their way to a 4-1 win — their first ever in the nationwide competition.

“It was good for us to score some goals and start putting the ball in the back of the net because we’ve had chances to do that in other games,” said Carolina midfielder Jonny Steele, who had two assists. “The U.S. Open Cup is a big tournament and for this team to go far in it is a statement.”

Adria, which was making its first U.S. Open Cup appearance since 1996, didn’t pose much of a challenge to the RailHawks. Despite their success in Illinois amateur competitions and the U.S. Adult Soccer Association, they were clearly overmatched.

Adria didn’t generate a decent scoring chance in the first 45 minutes, while Carolina ’s oft-impotent attack proved quite prolific.

In the fifth minute, Carolina ’s Joey Worthen tallied the game’s first goal. Worthen broke in 2-v-1 with Steele on the Adria goal. As Steele beat the last Adria defender and pulled goalkeeper Adnan Gazibara off his line, Steele laid the ball off to Worthen, who easily finished for his first goal as a RailHawk.

“Jonny got the ball, took a look up and just played a great ball,” Worthen said. “He put it right on my foot and I just had to put it in.”

Sixteen minutes later, Anthony Maher thought he’d scored on a diving header, thanks to a perfect cross from Steele, but Maher was judged offside and the goal came out of the net — the second time this season that’s happened to him.

The RailHawks went up 2-0 in the 31st minute, when Steele played a ball from the right flank, and Connally Edozien found his way through a crowd and headed the ball in.

Edozien struck again three minutes later — the second time in two matches he scored twice.

Edozien picked off a lazy pass 40 yards from goal, was played through by Maher and he easily beat Gazibara to put the RailHawks up 3-0 — the largest lead they’ve enjoyed in their first season of existence.

Carolina got another goal in the 64th minute when defender Caleb Norkus pushed up from his left back spot and picked off a pass near midfield. He played it ahead to Marcio Leite, who played it into space for Norkus. Norkus proceeded to break in alone on Adria’s goal and slipped the ball into the net to put Carolina up 4-0.

“We wore them out a little bit, and that left some gaps. I was able to bring it up through one of those spaces. [Leite’s] touch is so amazing, I’d knew he’d give it right back. He set it up perfect and I was able to take it,” Norkus said.

Things continued to go down hill for Adria in the 71st minute when forward Sladan Filipovic, who entered the match in the 64th minute, was shown a red card after fouling Carolina’s Kupono Low near midfield. Adria lost a second player, Sinisa Alebic, to a red-card infraction in the 89th minute when his tackle on Carolina’s Chris Carrieri outside the box was deemed too reckless.

The lead proved too comfortable for the RailHawks, though. They lacked the urgency and precision they demonstrated in the first half for most of the second. That lack of focus allowed Adria to break down the Carolina defense.

Adria got on the board in the 76th minute when Chris Carrillo hammered home a loose ball at the top of the box to bring the score to 4-1. In the 82nd minute, Joey Carver hit the post.

“We lost our way in the second half,” said Carolina coach Scott Schweitzer. “Granted it’s hard to play against a team when you realize you’re that much more talented than them. They came in and played well. They kind of played exactly how we thought they’d play. But we’ve got to be better at the end. There’s no way we should give up a goal. It’s almost like we don’t care enough about giving up goals.”

Carolina will play its second-round Open Cup match on June 26 at SAS Soccer Park against the Milwaukee Bavarians, an amateur team.

“To be in the oldest tournament in the U.S. is a phenomenal thing to be a part of,” said Schweitzer, who won the 1999 tournament as a player with the Rochester Raging Rhinos. “To win that game then maybe host an MLS team would be awesome for our fans. Or for our fans to travel and watch us play an MLS team would be awesome. The Open Cup, you really start to play for your community. You really start to play for something on a higher level.”