CARY — In its second exhibition match of the year, the Carolina RailHawks enjoyed similar rainy conditions and a similarly-sized crowd from its win over the MLS' New England Revolution, but the team suffered a different result as they fell to Honduras' C.D. Olimpia on Friday night, 2-1.

RailHawks coach Martin Rennie said he was pleased with the quality of play, despite both teams playing in a virtual monsoon that "even made the ball hard to see sometimes" according to Rennie.

"Considering they are in the middle of their season and they definitely took the game seriously, I thought we played really well," Rennie said. "We were unfortunate to be behind at halftime and certainly deserved to get back in the second."

Olimpia struck first with an unassisted goal from Roger Rojas in the 32nd minute. Rojas created his own one-on-one with goalie Caleb Patterson just 20 yards from the net after a RailHawk defender slipped down.

Rojas then fired a shot that deflected off Patterson's hand before hitting the top right corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.

"With the conditions, the defender had control of the ball and slipped, and [Rojas] was able to get in on it," Rennie said.

The RailHawks were able to score similarly in the second period, as forward Sallieu Bundu capitalized on a Olimipa miscue in front of the net and punched in a goal in the 56th minute.

"First half I had a few chances and when I came back in the second half I pulled myself together and said 'I need to get a goal,'" Bundu said. "I just need to be patient and any chance I get I need to put it in. [In the] second half, I made use of that chance."

Olimpia coach Juan Carlos Espinoza said that Bundu was "excellent" on the night.

Bundu was perhaps the most active RailHawk on the night getting five shots, four of them in the first half, before his first tally made it 1-1.

"He links the play up, he can play the ball, he can hold it, he can link up and play off people — he's a really good player," Rennie said. "He deserved his goal."

The tied score didn't last long, however, as Olimpia's Jaime Rosales connected on a beautiful curving free kick from just outside the box to take back a 2-1 lead in the 63rd minute.

His shot got enough lift to get over the RailHawk wall, yet had enough bend to slice over and away from the outstretched arms of goalie Eric Reed.

"If you're going to lose a game, then that's a goal worthy of winning any game," Rennie said. "There's probably not going to be many better goals scored on this field I don't think."

Scoring opportunities were aplenty for the RailHawks, who had quite a few good looks mixed in their 11 shots, and most of that was thanks to Bundu creating on his own and for his teammates. By comparison, Olimpia mustered just five shots on the night.

In the fourth minute, Luke Kreamalmeyer missed wide on a rebound even as Olimpia goalkeeper Donis Escober remained on the ground after a diving for the initial stop.

Escober had six saves in the first period and exited the game at halftime with his team in the lead.

Midfielder Josh Gardner was denied from 30 yards out in the 13th minute as Escober leapt to knock the would-be goal over the net.

With seconds left in regulation, Brian Plotkin was turned away by goalkeeper Alvaro Jaunes to preserve the Olimpia win.

Despite the few missed chances, Rennie said Olimpia was a more than worthy opponent, and that his team is where it needs to be at this time.

"You want to get better, you want to get used to playing games, you want to play on this stadium field where you have so many games," Rennie said. "I'd say we're on schedule at the moment. We're still two weeks away from the season and I don't think we're going to play many teams as good as that this year."