Orlando City SC raced out to a two-goal first-half lead, but Austin FC took advantage of two Orlando players getting sent off in the second half to fight back for a wild 2-2 draw at Q2 Stadium on Sunday night.
Brad Stuver's mistake a little more than a minute in led to the first Orlando goal, when he dumped a pass directly into Junior Urso's path. Urso laid off to Ercan Kara, who was able to capitalize and get the Lions the early lead. A little more than 20 minutes later, Orlando doubled their lead with Ruan finishing after Stuver saved an initial Mauricio Pereyra attempt.
Austin got back into the match via two yellow cards in quick succession on Rodrigo Schlegel for handballs, the second inside the penalty area at the hour mark. That gave Sebastian Driussi the chance to step to the spot and then score his eighth goal of the season. Then, just six minutes later, César Araujo got sent off for a kick out on Alex Ring, whittling Orlando down to nine players.
The match went full-on MLS After Dark after that, with Orlando able to withstand the momentum swing until deep into stoppage time, when Moussa Djitte snuck in an equalizer.
Goals
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: It was a wild night in Austin with a result that didn’t necessarily help both teams in their ultimate aims, but this was definitely the case of “a point is better than none.” The result left both teams in second place in their conferences.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: The red cards were intense, but set the table for the U22 Initiative forward from Senegal to finally come through for the hosts to take advantage of the two-man advantage.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Driussi got the PK that got the comeback rolling and was excellent throughout the night.
Next Up
- ATX: Sunday, May 29 at LA Galaxy | 4 pm ET (UniMas, TUDN, Twitter)
- ORL: Wednesday, May 25 vs. Inter Miami CF | 7 pm ET (ESPN+) | US Open Cup Round of 16
