FLORENCE, SC – Francis Marion University midfielder Antonio Garda scored in the 23rd minute, but Lenoir-Rhyne University answered with a second-half goal as the two squads battled to a soggy 1-1 deadlock, Wednesday night (Oct. 29) in non-conference  men's soccer play.
 
Francis Marion, now 8-3-4, will play its final regular-season match on Saturday at Chowan University, with kick-off set for 7 p.m.  The Patriots need a tie or win in the contest to claim the outright East Division championship in Conference Carolinas.
 
On Wednesday, both squads took eight shots, with the Patriots holding a slight 3-2 edge in corner kicks – all of which came in the opening 45 minutes.
 
FMU senior goalkeeper Ian Milla finished with three saves, while his counterpart Tomas Fontes made two stops.
 
In the second minute, a ball was played over the top to FMU forward Matteo Benistant who corralled it and shot from 20 yards out, but Fontes came off his line and made a save that resulted in a corner kick.  In the ninth minute, Patriot forward Elian Aguilar Valencia sent a dangerous cross into the 6-yard box where it was headed over the crossbar by a Bear defender for another corner.
 
The Francis Marion goal came at 22:26 after a turnover in the LRU defensive end.  Garda gained control of the ball and chipped a 16-yard shot over Fontes into the far upper netting.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne did not register a shot until the 30th minute, but in a span of 44 seconds, Bear forward Oskar Dahlberg sent two headers toward the Patriot goal, one that forced a leaping save by Milla and the other that sailed over the crossbar.
 
Another turnover by the Bears led to a long shot by FMU midfielder Mario Buelga that was stopped by Fontes at 34:28.  In the 39th minute, LRU's Aaron Garrote sent a header toward the left post that Milla stopped.
 
The equalizing score came at the 59:30 mark when a bounding ball into the penalty area was volleyed home by a streaking Garrote from eight yards out.
 
None of Francis Marion's four shots in the second half were on frame.  The Patriots did have a final opportunity with a 33-yrad free kick with 22.1 seconds remaining.  However, Othmane Karoumi's shot went high and over the crossbar.