MESA, Ariz. – Hope International men's soccer allowed a pair of late second half goals to Benedictine Mesa, finishing in a 2-2 tie on Saturday.
The Royals moved to 2-1-4 on the season and picked up a point in the GSAC standings. HIU is 1-0-1 in league play. The Redhawks are now 4-2-3 and 1-1-2 in conference play.
HIU appeared headed for victory after building a 2-0 lead with goals in the 44th and 62nd minutes. But the Redhawks equalized with scores in the 76th and 89th minutes – the latter coming on a penalty kick goal.
The visitors got on the board right before halftime as Christian Hernandez hit a long cross from the left corner into the middle of the box, where Diego Albanez directed his header into the right corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.
It was the third goal of the season for Albanez and his second in the last three games. Hernandez tallied his team-leading third assist of the year.
HIU doubled its lead at the 61:07 mark as Gio Marin sent a cross from the right side to a waiting Vincent Lopez, who turned his head and connected on a perfectly placed ball into the left corner. Lopez scored for the second straight match and collected his team-high tying fourth goal of the season.
With the assist, Marin notched his first point of the year.
The Royals maintained their 2-0 advantage going into the final 15 minutes of play. But Benedictine Mesa cut its deficit in half with Gergo Varga scoring on an assist from Ryder Padgett.
With the Redhawks pressuring for the equalizer, a scrum occurred in front of the HIU goal in which goalie Berlin Torres and a Benedictine player converged on the ball. A collision took place, with Torres on the ground for several minutes. Torres was called for the foul and whistled for a yellow card, giving a penalty kick to the Redhawks.
Wyatt Schaap replaced Torres, and could not stop Ryder Skolka, who steered his penalty shot inside the right portion of the net.
The Redhawks held a slim 18-17 advantage in shots and a 13-4 edge in corner kicks. The Royals played a man down for the final five minutes when Hugo Gonzalez received his second yellow card.
HIU is next in action on Wednesday, September 24 at Soka. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
