YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. --- Tusculum survived playing the final 30 minutes a man down and came away with a 1-1 draw against 11th-ranked Young Harris College in non-conference men's soccer action Wednesday night.
The Pioneers (0-1-1) were outshot 21-12 by the Mountain Lions (2-0-1), including a 14-4 margin in the second half and overtime, in a match that was marred by 58 total fouls and 12 cards.
Ivan Andabak's goal in the 22nd minute for the Pioneers was countered in the 42nd minute by the Mountain Lions' Mikie Rowe, and the sides played out the rest of the match without any further scoring.
Each team put a shot off the crossbar in the opening 13 minutes, with a blast from the Pioneers' Fabian Proesch striking wood at 11:08 and the Mountain Lions' Alex Jacq following at 12:34. Tusculum got the opening goal at 21:51 as a shot from Oscar Rubio Jimenez was rebounded off Young Harris keeper Alex Iglesias to Andabak, who put home a shot from the center of the box.
Tusculum had some steady pressure as Young Harris conceded corner kicks in the 34th and 41st minutes. However, a cross from Jacq found Rowe from 15 yards away, and he put his second goal of the season past Tusculum keeper Ivan Safranic to knot the score at 1-1 just 3:07 from halftime.
The second half was controlled by the Mountain Lions, as Safranic was forced to make saves on Rowe in the 51st minute and Dani Fischer in the 56th minute. Meanwhile, the Pioneers were shown three yellow cards in a span of four minutes as the foul count continued to increase.
Young Harris appeared to catch a huge break with 9:15 left as a Tusculum player was sent off, leaving the Mountain Lions with an 11-on-10 advantage. However, the Tusculum defense blocked a pair of shots and Young Harris' Seba Andreassen was wide with 90 seconds to play as the match went into extra time.
Safranic was called upon again to stop Rowe midway through the first overtime, while a header from the Pioneers' Sam Hall was off target with 10 seconds on the clock. The lone shot on goal of the second extra period came from Tusculum's Andreas Kvam, but his bid for his third career overtime goal was muted by Iglesias with 3:04 left. Young Harris had three corner kicks in the second overtime, but could not put a shot on goal.
Both Safranic and Iglesias were credited with four saves in the match, as the 33 combined shot attempts yielded just 10 on goal between the two teams. The Mountain Lions had a 10-2 edge in corner kicks, including all seven in the second half and overtime.
Meanwhile, the fouls piled up for both teams through all 110 minutes of action. Tusculum was called for 10 fouls in the first half, 16 in the second half and four in each overtime period for a total of 34, while Young Harris was whistled seven times in the first half, 13 in the second half and twice in each overtime for a total of 24 fouls.
Tusculum had six players carded in the match, while Young Harris had five players booked in the contest. Nine of the 12 cards were shown in a span of 28 1/2 minutes in the second half, with the final one called on Tusculum late in the first overtime period.
The Pioneers return home to take on Lander in a non-conference match on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Pioneer Field.
