CARY — The Railhawks had their U.S. Open Cup hopes halted at the hands of the USL Second Division’s Wilmington Hammerheads Tuesday night at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. Carolina forward Gavin Glinton scored what appeared to be the game-winner in the 118th minute of play but a quick goal with seconds remaining in overtime sent the game to penalty kicks, where a shocked Carolina team couldn’t pull out a win.

“I don’t think we deserve to win,” coach Martin Rennie said. “I don’t think we played well tonight. Now we have to see how we deal with a big disappointment.”

Carolina fell behind first off a Chris Bagley goal. It was a bad omen for this season’s team, which hasn’t pulled out a win after surrendering the first goal. Hamed Diallo got Carolina on the board five minutes later when he deflected a John Cunliffe free kick past the keeper.

“We went behind twice in the game and came back, which showed character,” Rennie said.

During the second half, the teams were visibly tired and the game opened up. Carolina’s Amir Lowery and Wilmington’s Jerit Thamer traded shots that rang off the crossbar, but the game went into two fifteen-minute overtimes.

Wilmington’s Tim Karalexis scored off a corner kick two minutes into overtime and Brian Plotkin tied it up on the play that followed his subbing in for Matt Watson. Plotkin’s goal, which came in the 98th minute, was a header off a Marl Schulte throw-in.

Though Carolina goalkeeper Caleb Patterson allowed three goals, he was one of the main reasons the Railhawks remained in it in overtime. Patterson made numerous game saving stops to preserve the tie and a short-lived lead.

“I know you don’t usually say that when you give up three goals, but he really did make a lot of good saves for us,” Glinton said. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t walk out of here with a win for him.”

It seemed as though Glinton put the game away with his third of the season. Lowry sent him a pass off another Schulte throw-in, which Glinton headed past Daryl Sattler.

However, with Carolina gearing up for a celebration, Schulte received a yellow card and Wilmington’s Kenny Bundy sneaked behind the defense, tying the game again with under ten seconds left.

“It was a last-minute desperation play,” Glinton said. “They beat us to the ball and lobbed it over Caleb. A bit of bad luck and a bit of us falling asleep.”

Patterson called the goal “horrendous.”

“At that stage of the game, you’ve got to put everyone back there,” Patterson said. “It cost us dearly in the end.

David Paladini started off the penalty kicks for the Railhawks, but his shot was turned aside. John Cunliffe, Gavin Glinton and Brian Plotkin all converted for Carolina, but Patterson’s luck didn’t hold up after the clock stopped as the Hammerheads scored on every attempt.

“You just pick a lane and go,” Patterson said of his thoughts while attempting a save one-on-one. “They got more lucky.”

Schulte had a chance to make up for his earlier penalty but Sattker saw his shot the entire way. The Hammerheads huddled on the field excitedly as their large group of traveling fans screamed.

Wilmington will now advance to play the Chicago Fire. Meanwhile, the Railhawks will look to halt their two-game losing streak this Friday against Austin.

“We need to take this game and move on while still being aware of the mistakes we made here,” Schulte said. “There’s a laundry list of things we can work on, but we’re good players and we need to be focused on game day and be ready to play.”