0:1 Carolina New York van den Bergh 03.28.08 · Preseason

A rocket from Dave van den Bergh's left foot in the first half was enough to give the New York Red Bulls a 1-0 win over the Carolina RailHawks at WakeMed Soccer Stadium on Friday night in the last preseason match for the Red Bulls.

The Red Bulls controlled the run of play from the get-go. In the third minute, Jozy Altidore, playing in his first preseason game for New York in 2008, latched onto a Luke Sassano ball and volleyed it into the arms of goalkeeper Chris McClellan from 12 yards out. Eight minutes later, Altidore intercepted a pass in the Carolina half and passed it to Claudio Reyna, who unleashed a shot from 25-yards-out that McClellan had to tip over.

With the Red Bulls defense holding the RailHawks to just one shot in the first half, van den Bergh gave the visitors the lead in the 27th minute. Reyna swung a corner into the box that was punched out by McClellan. The ball bounced to van den Bergh, who volleyed it from 20-yards-out into the top left corner.

The Red Bulls kept the pressure on and had two opportunities before the break to double their lead. Altidore was left wide open at the top of the box and elected to lob it into an on-rushing Danleigh Borman, who headed it over the bar. Two minutes later, Borman streaked down the left wing before hitting a low cross into Oscar Echeverry's path. Echeverry got to it and it slammed off the underside of the crossbar.

The game settled down in the second half as both teams did not have too many chances on net. Chris Megaloudis came on in the 67th minute and almost made an immediate impact by running onto a van den Bergh ball over-the-top ball, but his shot was deflected away.

Carolina's best chance of the game came in the 76th minute when Martin Nunez, who was on trial with New York earlier this year, broke through on the right side of goal. But Red Bulls goalkeeper Jon Conway was off his line quicky to knock it away. Two minutes later, Wolyniec was able to get to a bouncing van den Bergh through ball and blasted it just over the top left corner.