Chattanooga Football Club's Anatolie Prepelita made sure his team didn't come away empty-handed Saturday at Finley Stadium, and he nearly led the hosts to a dramatic win.
Chattanooga FC was ultimately forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against the Savannah Clovers FC, but that secured another point for Prepelita's team to strengthen its position atop the National Independent Soccer Association standings.
With CFC inching closer to its first NISA loss of the season, Luis Garcia Sosa sent in a corner kick that Prepelita headed into the left side of the goal for the equalizer in the first minute of stoppage time at game's end. The 6-foot-4 defender from Moldova nearly had his fourth goal of the season minutes later.
After a long throw-in by Aydan Bowers, Prepelita jumped and spun while heading the ball, which floated into the right side of the goal. However, just before the shot went in, a referee's whistle sounded, resulting in no goal due to a foul on CFC for a push during the play.
CFC is 3-0-2 with 11 points in the league standings.
Savannah (1-2-2) became the first NISA team to score on CFC this year when Zack Hargreaves' penalty kick went just past the outstretched hands of keeper Jean Antoine in the 37th minute. The hosts had several strong runs called offside in the second half, and shots by Markus Naglestad in the 75th minute and Fabian Rodriguez in the 89th just missed.
CFC continues league play when it visits Flower City Union at 6 p.m. on May 20. After that are back-to-back matches at Finley Stadium the following week, against Albion San Diego (May 24) and the Maryland Bobcats (May 27).
Compiled by Patrick MacCoon. Contact him at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.