Rarely has a tie looked so appealing.
Allen Community College, which had been outscored by a collective 8-1 on back-to-back losses, fell behind early Wednesday against rival Neosho County.
The Red Devils mounted repeated charges through the afternoon, to no avail.
That changed in the 81st minute after Allen’s Javaine Lindsay corralled a shot from Alfie Scandle from the right side that veered left of the target.
Lindsay found teammate Calum Murphy inside the top of the penalty box. Murphy didn’t hesitate, punching in a left-footed shot past the Neosho County goalkeeper for the equalizer.
Suddenly, an afternoon awash in frustration had brightened considerably.
Both teams had scoring chances down the stretch, but nothing came of it as they ended in a 1-1 draw.
“I was proud of the way our guys fought,” Allen head coach Doug Desmarteau said. “It was a physical game. We kept our heads and didn’t get a lot of stupid cards.”
Murphy agreed the draw gives Allen a mental lift.
“There’s no better team to score against,” Murphy said. “We struggled against them last season, and the whole game we were struggling. It was good to get one back.”
The Red Devil women weren’t as fortunate in their matchup.
Neosho took control over a 10-minute stretch in the first half, scoring twice off corners kicks to take a 3-0 lead. Allen adjusted from there, but came up empty before the Panthers scored twice more in the waning moments to win, 5-0.
PART of Neosho’s success — the Panthers were unbeaten in conference play headed into Wednesday’s showdown — is their ability to fire off kicks from long distances, then creating enough havoc underneath to get crucial rebounds.
“We trained on that second ball coming out,” Desmarteau noted.
Still, that exact play led to Neosho taking a 1-0 lead on Calum Niven’s goal less than 6 minutes into the match.
