Tigers Play Nighthawks to 2-2 Draw

CUTHBERT, Ga. -- In a highly competitive contest, the Andrew College men's soccer team and Thomas University (JV) Nighthawks, played to a double overtime 2-2 draw at the Hord Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon. With the draw, AC moves to 1-2-1 on the year.

After a scoreless first 20 minutes, the Nighthawks broke the deadlock on a freekick against the run of play. Andrew created several good chances after that, before unlocking the Thomas defense with a threaded pass from Levi Long into Andy Jean-Pierre for the equalizer in the 41st minute.

The second half would not disappoint with action, as it took only three minutes for the Tigers to take the lead on a header from Jean-Pierre to Bryan Zuniga who slipped a one time finish past Thomas's out-stretched goalkeeper. Both teams would create chances to score, as Jean-Pierre had a near miss in the 64th minute inside the six yard box that went just over. The TU Nighthawks didn't wait long to punish the missed opportunities, getting the equalizer in the 68th minute.

In the 72nd minute, the Tigers would be reduced to 10 men after Levi Long was ejected for his second yellow card. The last 20 minutes would be a stalemate, with both teams not giving anything away defensively.

It would take two overtime periods to determine a draw, as neither team had clear cut chances to take the win.

Head coach Josh Pantazelos said, "Today's game provided our young team with many valuable lessons on how hard it is to win in college soccer. We will watch the tape like we always do win, lose, or draw, and identify the areas we need to improve. I was incredibly proud of our fight for 40 minutes after going down a man. We came up short against Concordia College in double OT two weeks ago, but found a way to get a draw today. It will give us experience to lean on down the road when we find ourselves in a similar situation to know we can dig out a result down a man or in OT."

Andrew College travels this coming weekend for matches against Mississippi Gulf Coast CC (MS) on Saturday and East Central CC (MS) on Sunday.