Instead, the Railhawks fell into old traps — losing for the fifth time in six matches to the Islanders and being undone defensively on set pieces, which led to two Islander goals and giving them the 2-1 win.

"We need to make sure that on set plays we're attacking the ball, we're beating the guy that we're marking to the ball," Railhawks coach Martin Rennie said. "Making sure the little practical things we're working on, we really need to be really sharp with it."

Carolina's bright spot of the game came in the 40th minute off a throw-in. The ball landed in the box off Mark Schulte's throw-in and bounced between defenders and attackers like a pinball before landing at the feet of Lowery, who slammed the ball into the upper left corner past the Islander goalie.

"The ball went over my head at first, but then as I turned it set up nicely for me and I just hit it," Lowery said.

But only three minutes later, the Islanders struck back. Former Railhawk Jonathan Steele found the ball after a free kick from the left sideline that maneuvered its way through a crowd before being stuck in the lower corner by the instep of Steele's foot.

And while the Railhawks dominated possession for most of the first half, outshooting the Islanders 8-5, scoring chances were more limited in the second half.

"In the second half I think we were in their '18 just as much, we just didn't execute as much."

The Railhawks defense stuck with Puerto Rico's speedy forwards, but were killed by set pieces — the Railhawks' bugaboo in recent losses. The Islanders' second goal came in the 63rd minute, when Carolina goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell blocked a free kick only to be done in on a rebound by Peter Villegas who stuck the ball in the upper left corner.

"Again we struggled on set pieces, so we have to find a way to do better for ourselves there," Schulte said.

Schulte plans on meeting with the rest of the defenders this week to figure out what his team has been doing wrong on free kicks. After shutting out six teams in a row, the Railhawks have given up eight goals in the past four matches.

But for Rennie, the defensive problems are not a matter of talking about them — the team has tried that. What is needed is execution.