Air Force Plays South Dakota Mines to a Draw, 1-1

USAF ACADEMY – The Falcon men's soccer team battled from behind to play South Dakota Mines to a draw at one. Air Force, with its third positive result this season, is now 1-4-2 heading into the final week of non-conference play.

The Falcons continued to show improvement in possession management and offensive opportunities as they outshot the Rockers, 13-12, marking the third-straight match with 13 shot attempts.

The first strike of the game was tallied by SDM's Erik Castanon in the 37^th minute. Sawyer Reuckert serviced Castanon from the far corner leading to the strike in midair. The Rockers held the lead heading into the halftime break.

In the 49^th minute SDM's Zach Peroff was issued his second yellow card for unsporting behavior putting the Hardrockers down a man for the remainder of the match.

In the 83^rd minute, Atilla Toth scored the equalizer with help from Air Force assists leaders and co-team captain Oliver Becker who chipped the ball to Toth. Toth, now with two goals this season, finished near post with his left foot just outside the goal area.

Air Force controlled the possessions for most of the remainder of the match but was unable to score a game-winner before the time expired.

Oliver Becker led Air Force with a career-high four shots, two of which were on goal. Toth, Sean Odle, and goals leader Marcos Goni attempted two shots each. The Falcons' key defenders team captain Andrei Bulakou, alongside Brayden Benner and Oliver Wagner clocked 90 minutes of action in the effort.

C3C goalie Brody Smith made five saves on the match while counterpart Abdo Salem Abdullah recorded six saves.

Next up, the Falcons fly East to close out the non-conference schedule against Penn and Navy, September 20 and 23, respectively. Action is scheduled for 7pm ET for both matches. AF has played Penn just once before, falling 2-1, in 2012. The last time AF met with Navy, the Falcons downed the Midshipmen, 2-0, in Annapolis.

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