FORT WORTH AND TULSA FINISH WITH 1-1 DRAW

The Fort Worth Vaqueros tied the Tulsa Athletics 1-1 after a late penalty kick on a cool Tuesday night in Fort Worth.

The game was delayed thirty minutes for lighting which helped many of the fans watch the final minutes of the U.S. Woman’s National team in the World Cup.

When the game got underway, Tulsa nearly scored thirty seconds into the match, but a diving Arturo Sanchez save kept the score level. Fort Worth wasted little time as well as Diego Sanchez opened the scoring in the fifth minute as he was able to put one in the corner off a pass from Tyler Humphrey. For the first twenty minutes of the game, Fort Worth controlled the ball and forced many dangerous opportunities to build on their lead. Tulsa started to calm down after that and fought hard to get back in the game, but the Fort Worth defense stood strong. Fort Worth nearly had a chance on a free kick, but the shot sailed high over the goal.

The half ended with Fort Worth ahead 1-0 as both teams fought hard.  It got extremely chippy towards the end of the half, which was a small sample of what is about to happen in the second half.

The chippiness of the first half carried over into the second as both teams continued to fight hard as the physical play continued to get rougher. In the 67th minute, a fight broke out between the two teams, which resulted in four cards given out with one of them being a red card to Tulsa’s Jake Schmoker, putting the Athletics down to ten men.

The rest of the game was Fort Worth controlling the ball with their best chance coming early in the second half when a free kick went just wide and making sure that they did not blow the lead late and keeping the shutout.

Tulsa’s first chance of the second half did not come until the 81st minute as a Tulsa cross went over everybody. Fort Worth nearly added one in the 85th minute when Jorge De Leon made a few moves, but the shot went straight to the Tulsa goalkeeper. Fort Worth had another cross in the box in the 87th minute, but the Tulsa goalkeeper made a diving save to keep the game at 1-0.

In the 90th minute Tulsa was able to get a goal on a penalty kick from Sante Riveros to tie the game 1-1. This is where the game ended after over six minutes of extra time.

The Vaqueros are now 2-4-4 on the season and the Athletics are now 4-4-3 on the season. The game ended with nine cards total. Eight yellow cards and one red ended the wild, wild game that had a little bit of everything for the soccer fans.

Fort Worth is back in action on Thursday in a home match against San Antonio Corinthians, a quick turnaround for the Vaqueros. Tulsa’s next game is home versus the Houston Regals on July 4th.