Sam Fink experienced a range of emotions within a few second-half moments Saturday night as St. Louis FC rallied for 2-2 draw against red-hot North Carolina FC before a season-best crowd of 5,963 at Soccer Park in Fenton.
Fink converted a penalty kick in the 90th minute to secure the draw after having a shot deflect off him as North Carolina took a 2-1 lead in the 81st minute.
âNot good enough. Three points at home is the goal every time,â said Fink, the Edwardsville High product. âItâs good that we were pushing late â nobody put their heads down â but for me personally, my job is to keep the ball out of the goal, not to put it into the goal (for them). ... Tactically, there wasnât too many adjustments at halftime other than lifting the energy. Thatâs what we did and it worked. Just frustrating that we didnât start that way.â
STLFC, which is 0-3-3 in recent league play, is now 5-3-5 in league play. North Carolina is 7-3-5 overall and 3-0-3 in its last six United Soccer League Championship matches.
People are also reading…
The visiting squad came up with the lone goal of a lackluster first half when 6-foot-3 Donovan Ewolo scored on a header in the 32nd minute.
But STLFC pulled even just after halftime as Albert Dikwa, who had entered at the break, picked up his first goal of the season on a well-placed shot to the far corner after receiving a pass from Guy Abend following an STLFC free kick in the 47th minute.
âAbsolutely delighted for Dikwa, that he got his goal,â STLFC coach Anthony Pulis said. âHeâs a fantastic kid, works extremely hard, is hungry to learn, wants to get better. As a forward, people talk about how he hasnât scored for so many games. ... Delighted that he finally got the monkey off his back.â
Another halftime reserve, Kadeem Dacres, was taken down in the box to set up Finkâs late PK.
âOur subs definitely came in and had an impact,â Pulis said.
Not long after pulling even at 1-1, the home team nearly scored again when Kyle Greig whipped a low pass across the goal mouth.
In the 53rd minute, Dikwa tested North Carolina keeper Alex Tambakis with a low shot after receiving a pass from Russell Cicerone. Two minutes later, after running onto a long pass from Fink, Dikwa tested Tambakis with a shot to the near corner.
STLFC keeper Tomas Gomez made a solid save in the 58th minute on a low shot from Ewolo.
In the final seconds, following a scramble in front of the North Carolina net, Lewis Hilton had a chance from the top of the box blocked.
In the 31st minute, each team had a chance. On a fast break, STLFCâs Greig played the ball wide to Cicerone, whose deflected shot was handled by Tambakis. In that same minute, Gomez made a stop on an outside shot by the visitorsâ Steven Miller.
A minute or so later, the visitors grabbed the lead when Ewolo headed in a pass from Miller.
âI think it could turn out to be a really big point for us,â Pulis said. âFirst half, we werenât anywhere near the level we know weâre capable of. Second half was better, caused them some problems.
âItâs an issue when you have such a thin squad â we have 15 healthy field players â and when you go through an Open Cup run like we have, it was quite obvious that there were players out there that needed a rest. But we donât have any options. Weâre asking the same players to do it again and again and again, which is tough.
âThey know they needed to be better in the first half. Second half, it was great because we got a reaction and showed a lot of resilience and character to come back twice against a really good team.â
STLFC will get some much-needed time off this week. Itâs next game is June 30 in Kansas City against the Swope Park Rangers.
TWO LOCALS ON NC
The North Carolina roster includes a pair of players with local ties â former Parkway North High and St. Louis University standout Robert Kristo, who has two goals and an assist while playing in 11 games and making two starts, and Lafayette High product Austin Panchot, who wrapped up a collegiate career at Indiana University last fall. He has appeared in three matches this summer and entered Saturdayâs game late.
OPEN CUP QUARTERSJoe Lyons @joelyonspd on twitter jlyons@post-dispatch.com