The Carolina RailHawks put forth an inspired effort Friday night, but their hard work was the only reward they received, rather than the result they deserved.

Despite outshooting Puerto Rico 21-7, relentlessly attacking unlike any point in the young season and outplaying the Islanders for the better part of the night, the RailHawks endured their second straight 0-0 draw at SAS Soccer Park and third straight tie to start the season.

“Not good enough, to be honest,” Carolina coach Scott Schweitzer characterized the start to the RailHawks' inaugural season. “We need to win at home, and we need to tie or win on the road. We’re unbeaten, but we need to win. Right now, that’s the focus. We need to get Ws.”

But Carolina can’t get a win if it doesn’t score.

The RailHawks have scored just one goal in their first three games and are in the midst of a 262-minute drought without a goal.

“We need to finish,” Schweitzer said. “We worked on getting into the box. We worked on getting the ball wide and getting crosses. The boys responded to what we worked on all week. Now it’s putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Frustrating as scoring is proving to be, it’s not for a lack of trying, as the 21 shots Friday attest.

Unlike the April 25 goalless snoozer against Atlanta, Carolina (0-0-3) had its fair share of scoring chances against the Islanders (1-1-2) and were intent on putting one in from the get-go.

But the RailHawks were stonewalled by Puerto Rico goalkeeper Josh Saunders at every turn. Saunders made six saves on the night – three of which appeared to be surefire Carolina goals until he came out of nowhere to tip the ball away.

“He probably saved three out of the back of the net that nobody saves in this league,” Schweitzer said. “He wasn’t [USL-1] Goalkeeper of the Week last week for nothing.”

Carolina forwards Connally Edozien and McColm Cephas made several dangerous runs and had a handful of great scoring chances that simply didn’t go their way – more out of bad luck than a lack of a finishing touch.

In the 40th minute, Cephas headed a cross from Frankie Sanfilippo to the left-hand corner, but Saunders leapt across the goalmouth and got a hand on the ball to make the save.

Five minutes later, in first-half stoppage time, Edozien beat Saunders to the far post on a diving header, but Puerto Rico’s Petter Villegas cleared the shot off the line to keep the match scoreless at the half.

“At this point, we’re almost doing everything right except hitting the back of the net,” said Carolina midfielder Chris Carrieri, who snapped out of an early season funk and proved dangerous on the right flank all night.

In fact, the RailHawks even put one in the net, but it was taken off the board when forward Anthony Maher was whistled offside.

In the 58th minute, Maher scored on a diving header – set up by a pinpoint cross from Sanfilippo. It wasn’t until after Maher and his teammates celebrated that every one noticed the far side linesman was holding his flag up, signaling offside on Maher.

“It wasn’t meant to be,” said Maher, who checked into the game two minutes before nearly putting the RailHawks up 1-0. “It was definitely exciting. We celebrated like it was a game-winning goal, but the refs took it away from us. That’s the way it goes in soccer. You get some calls like that. You can’t dwell on it.”

Though the scoreless draw left several RailHawks disappointed, one positive they must take away was the fact that their defense was superb again – that’s two straight shutouts and 0.33 goals allowed per game. They didn’t let Puerto Rico’s forwards get any threatening chances, either. Though the Islanders forced Carolina goalkeeper Chris McClellan to make five saves, none were terribly strenuous.

“All of us are veterans,” said Caleb Norkus, who was converted from a forward to a left back during the preseason this year. “Frankie, [David] Stokes, Chad [Dombrowski] – I can’t speak highly enough of them. I’m just happy to be a part of that unit.”

Three consecutive draws weren’t how the RailHawks envisioned their three-game homestand to start the season. Though they played especially well in two of the three, playing especially well didn’t translate into what everyone measures as success – victories.

The RailHawks won’t have to wait long to try and get that elusive win. They return to the pitch Saturday for their first-ever road game against the first-place Atlanta Silverbacks (1-0-2).

“We definitely should’ve won the game [against Puerto Rico],” Carrieri said. “We’ve got to keep our heads up. We’ve got a game in 24 hours.”