Men's soccer rallies for 2-2 draw at No. 18 Duke

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

No. 16 SMU Rallies Back To Tie No. 18 Duke In Durham

DALLAS (SMU) — No. 16 SMU rallied back from two goals down to force a 2-2 tie at 18th-ranked Duke, Friday.

In a match that went back and forth, Duke was first to capitalize on their chances, taking a 2-0 lead after 50 minutes.

SMU rallied back on the final stretch to tie the match with goals from Milton Lopez and Daniel Escorcia. Nikola Djordjevic made his second assist of the season for Escorcia's equalizer.

The Mustangs took one point from Durham and are now 2-1-1 in ACC play. They remain in sixth place on the ACC standings with seven points.

How It Happened
SMU and Duke grappled to seize momentum at the start of the match. The Mustangs recorded three shots while the hosts made two in the first 20 minutes.

The match remained frantic through the first half, and both teams created chances without opening the scoreline until the 40-minute mark.

Duke applied pressure in the first half's final minutes with four consecutive shots, scoring the opener with the fourth shot. Jose Ortega scored the opener for the hosts in the 45th minute of the first half, and the Mustangs trail 1-0 heading into the half-time break.

As the match resumed, the hosts doubled the lead in the 49th minute as Adam Luckhurst tapped in a cross from the left wing.

SMU gradually grew into the match at the restart, and while Duke saw multiple goal-scoring chances, Martin Dominguez kept the deficit to two goals with brilliant saves.

The Mustangs found their breakthrough in minute 62 from Lopez's brilliance to reduce the Mustangs' deficit to 2-1. Lopez drove through the middle of the pitch and took a shot to the bottom right corner for his third goal of the season.

The momentum shifted to the Mustangs' side after Lopez's goal, and Escorcia found the equalizer for SMU in the 84th minute.

Djordjevic created the chance with a drive from the right wing before passing the ball at the edge of the touchline. Escorcia was open in the middle of the penalty box to slot the ball to the back of the net for his second SMU career goal.

The Mustangs did not stop after the equalizer. In the final minute, Djordjevic's through ball found Jaylinn Mitchell's run on the left wing.

The winger found space and took a shot to the far corner, but his strong effort was shoved away by Duke's goalkeeper, Wessel Speel, ending the match in a 2-2 draw.

Other Notes
SMU improved its scoring streak to 31 consecutive matches with one or more goals.

The Mustangs remain undefeated in Durham with a 3-0-2 away record against Duke. Their all-time record against the Blue Devils is 5-2-2.

Enzo Panozzo earned his first start and played his first 90-minute match for SMU.

The Mustangs has only lost once this season. The loss was to the current No. 1 ranked Pittsburgh.

Up Next
SMU heads home to host No. 2 Stanford for their fifth ACC match on Oct. 11.