LEBANON, Tenn.--Cumberland Men's Soccer uses a second-half penalty kick to get the equalizer and draw with No. 18 University of the Cumberlands at Lindsey Donnell Stadium Wednesday afternoon. 

Cumberland (8-4-3, 2-1-2 MSC) earns their second-straight draw over a ranked opponent, tying with No. 5 Lindsey Wilson and No. 18 Patriots now. The draw keeps Cumberland in fourth in the Mid-South Conference standings with just one match left against No. 12 Bethel next Tuesday.

It was a slugfest from the beginning, a lot of physical play and contested balls that kept the pace moving back and forth. In the first half, the Cumberlands dominated the ball and kept it on Cumberland's half of the field majority of the time.


The Patriots fired nine shots in the first half, just two were on target, while having seven corners. 

The Cumberlands finally pushed through to break the scoreless tie in the 44th minute. Two Patriot players collided while taking the ball toward the box. The ball bounced to the top of the box where two Phoenix then collided and spit the ball out to a streaking Mario Fernandez towards the goal. Fernandez went back post to score the shot and swing the momentum to the Cumberlands, 1-0, at the half. 

The second half, Cumberland finally got some offense and rhythm in the game. The Phoenix took more shots than the Patriots in the second half, 5-to-3. 

On a corner kick in the 78th minute, the Phoenix benefited from a foul called in the box as the ball sailed into the box. The foul allowed senior John Azar to step up and bury the shot in the net to tie it at 1-1.

10 minutes later, Cumberland again had a shot at goal when the Cumberlands committed another foul, but this one a yard outside of the box. Azar again had a crack at it, but missed the post to the right trying to bend it around the wall. 

Both sides had a couple of opportunities left in the game, but none better than Cumberland's in the final 10 seconds. Cathal Coyne played a long attack over the top and the Patriots tripped up Philipp Schmidtke. This gave Cumberland one last shot at putting the ball in the box to make something happen, but the Patriots nullified the opportunity. 

The Phoenix will have one last regular season game on the season as they take on No. 12 Bethel in McKenzie on Halloween Night at 7:00 p.m.