Red Wolves attacker Steven Beattie sends a pass downfield in Chattanooga’s 2-2 draw with Forward Madison FC on Saturday night at Chattanooga Christian School’s David Stanton Field in front of an announced 1,400 fans.Recovering well from a midweek letdown in its U.S. Open Cup debut, the Chattanooga Red Wolves Soccer Club fought to a 2-2 draw with Forward Madison FC on Saturday night at Chattanooga Christian School.
The first half featured brilliant ball movement and tempo pushed by Chattanooga’s Ualefi dos Reis, Tony Walls and Josue Soto. Footwork was crisp, and so was the first score.
A well-placed cross from Walls to the left post was controlled, and Soto connected to the middle with a charging Conor Doyle for a goal 90 seconds in.
“We started brilliantly,” Red Wolves SC coach Tim Hankinson said. “I thought Ualefi had great control and Soto was buzzing around the field. Tony did exceptionally well, too, and helped set up a great goal early.”
However, bad luck in the second half prevented the Red Wolves (2-3-2) from earning three points in the USL League One standings, as it was their second straight draw in league play.
Just more than a minute apart in the 54th and 55th, Forward Madison (2-2-2) leaped ahead with two goals that were not seen coming.
A cross from the far left sideline struck the far right corner of the post and hit off a Red Wolves defender for an own goal. Soon after, another quick score for the Wisconsin team came from Josiel Nunez.
“You are going to give up a goal once in a while, but it’s all about how you refocus,” Hankinson said. “That’s where leadership comes in. We have to be able to reset and re-inject energy so everyone is on their toes. We can’t be thinking about what just happened, and we will address that.”
Responding to a major shock, Eamon Zayed was strong in the air as Steven Beattie helped set up the second header scored by the Red Wolves.
In just three minutes there were just as many goals scored with the match knotted at 2-all in the 56th, which is where it would remain after five minutes of stoppage time.
Helping hold down the back line for Chattanooga was veteran defender Collin Falvey, who made his season debut for the club after helping coach the first handful of games.
Falvey turned away several attacks for Forward Madison and played all 90 minutes in his first full game in more than 10 months.
“We have to keep improving our play and give our best for Chattanooga,” the 33-year-old Falvey said. “It’s on me and some of our older guys who are maybe finishing out our careers to work with these younger players. I felt like we did enough to win, but we had unlucky bounces against us.”
Shots in the draw were tied 12-12, while Soto, Ualefi, Walls and Zayed all completed more than 87 percent of their passes.
After falling by three goals to USL League Two’s Tormenta 2 earlier in the week in the U.S. Open Cup, the Red Wolves now have two wins and two draws at home without a loss.
Chattanooga will travel to FC Tucson next Saturday in Arizona and then will return for a two-game home stand against Greenville Triumph SC and Toronto FC II.
The Lady Red Wolves will make their season debut against Peachtree City MOBA on Sunday night at CCS, with kickoff at 7:30.
CFC postponed
The Chattanooga Football Club’s National Premier Soccer League season opener at Inter Nashville FC was postponed Saturday due to bad weather. The match will be played at 8:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 3.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.