SPARTANBURG, SC – Forward Javier Bello registered the tying score with 3:57 remaining when he headed in a long service from Luis Villarreal to rally Francis Marion University to a 3-3 tie with regular-season champion Converse University, Wednesday evening (Oct. 19) in Conference Carolinas men's soccer action. 
 
Francis Marion sees it overall record move to 6-5-5 overall and its conference mark to 5-2-3.  With the new NCAA rule of no overtime during the regular season, the five deadlocks is the most in the 47-year history of the Patriot program – besting the old mark of four set in 2013 and 2020.
 
FMU will conclude its regular season on Saturday with a 7 p.m. Senior Night match against Erskine College.  The Patriots still retain an outside shot of finishing second behind Converse (10-1-4, 8-0-3), but will have to win Saturday and get the benefit of other results.
 
Bello's equalizer came after Villarreal served the ball in from 30 yards out near the left sideline.  Bello made a run across the top of the 6-yard box and headed the ball into the right side of the Valkyrie goal.  It was his team-leading eighth goal of the season.  Villarreal was the hero on Monday when he notched the match-winning score in a 1-0 victory at Belmont Abbey College.
 
Francis Marion outshot Converse 12-9, with each squad earning five corner kicks. 
 
FMU goalkeeper Andrea Scapolo, coming off back-to-back shut wins, made three saves, while Converse's David Windmiller also recorded three stops.
 
The Valkyries took a 1-0 lead on a score by Felix Frenz in the 23rd minute.
 
FMU's Alvaro Zamora and Matias Morales executed a perfect give-and-go sequence off a free kick that ended with Zamora burying a 26-yard blast at the 29:34 mark to even the match at 1-1.  It was Zamora's 19th career score as a Patriot.
 
Less than two minutes later, at 31:17, Francis Marion midfielder Hugo Jonsson collected a loose ball near midfield and dribbled into the penalty area when he unleashed a 16-yard laser that sailed into the left side of the goal for a 2-1 Patriot advantage.
 
Converse quickly reversed the score with a pair of goals by Hayden Gensler in the opening 10:09 of the second half.  The score remained 3-2 until Bello's goal in the final four minutes.