COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of Pikeville men's soccer team rallied from an early two-goal deficit to earn a 3-3 draw against Columbia International University on Saturday afternoon at Sessions Field in its final Appalachian Athletic Conference regular-season matchup.
The Bears (7-7-3, 5-5-2 AAC) found themselves trailing 2-0 less than 17 minutes into the contest but responded with three unanswered goals to take the lead before CIU (6-7-5, 4-4-4 AAC) found a late equalizer.
The Rams opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Nathan King converted a pass from Ive Celic at the 14:51 mark. Just over two minutes later, Julian Rodriguez added an unassisted goal to extend the CIU advantage to 2-0.
UPIKE continued to push offensively and broke through just before halftime. At 44:38, Mohamed Samake found the back of the net off an assist from Dylan Roberts, sending the Bears into the break trailing 2-1.
The Bears carried that momentum into the second half, leveling the score in the 52nd minute. Roberts finished a pass from Yali Cohen at 51:13 to bring UPIKE even at 2-2.
UPIKE continued its comeback in the 67th minute as Elvis Simiyu scored off his second assist of the afternoon from Roberts, giving the Bears their first lead of the match at 3-2.
The advantage held until the 86th minute, when Rodriguez scored his second goal of the afternoon off a pass from Celic at 85:45 to bring CIU even at 3-3.
Both teams looked for a late winner, but neither could find the deciding goal as the contest ended in a draw.
Roberts led the Bears' offensive effort with a goal and two assists, while Samake and Simiyu each added a goal. UPIKE finished with 15 shots, including eight on goal, compared to CIU's 14 shots and seven on target.
In goal, Alejandro Iglesias recorded four saves across the full 90 minutes of action.
With the regular season complete, UPIKE now awaits its seeding for the AAC Tournament. The Bears will look to carry the momentum from their second-half comeback into the postseason as they prepare for tournament play.
--UPIKE--
