De la Fuente’s 2nd-half goals help Chargers earn draw with No. 12 Heartland

GALESBURG — Facing a ranked opponent for the second straight match, the Sandburg men's soccer team staged a second-half rally to earn a 2-2 draw against Heartland on Sunday afternoon at Kleine Field.

The Chargers (5-2-3), coming off a 3-1 win Thursday over No. 10 Prairie State, got two goals from Rodrigo De la Fuente to come back from a 2-0 halftime deficit against the 12th-ranked Hawks.

Heartland appeared to be in control after scoring twice in the middle stages of the first half. The Hawks' first goal came from Mario Fairweather on a rebound in the box in the 17th minute. In the 24th minute, Nick Hardiman took a shot that rattled off the crossbar and bounced down. The officials ruled the ball crossed the goal line before bouncing back into play, giving Heartland a 2-0 lead.

In the 49th minute, De la Fuente worked his way down the right wing, cut back to his left, evaded four Heartland defenders and buried a left-footed shot from the top of the box to get Sandburg on the board.

De la Fuente added the equalizer in the 68th minute. Heartland's keeper couldn't corral a long ball played into the box. It bounced off the keeper and deflected off De la Fuente, who found himself with an open goal and put it away to tie the game at 2-2.

The Chargers played the final 16:31 with 10 men after Diego Branco Martinez was sent off with his second yellow card, but Heartland couldn't capitalize on the advantage.

Lucas Sa de Albuquerque Maranhao made seven saves before leaving with an injury in the second half and giving way to Mario Gonzalez Luena, who stopped both shots on goal he faced.

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Noon Wednesday at Wisconsin-Whitewater at Rock County

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