LACEY, Wash. – The Regis University men's soccer team commenced its 2019 season in the Pacific Northwest with a 2-2 tie to Saint Martin's (Wash.) on Thursday.
 
How It Happened: Following junior defender Danilo Pekovic's red card in the 48th minute, the Saints took advantage of the undermanned Regis squad when junior defender Jose Marquez found the back of the net on an unassisted 1-1 equalizer.
 
The Rangers were undeterred by the Saints' tying goal, however, and retook the lead, 2-1, in the 49th minute of play when freshman forward Anthony Priest found junior forward Parker Klein, who launched the ball from not far into SMU territory and out of reach of redshirt junior goalkeeper Dylan Shaw into the left side of the net.
 
The teams then engaged in a defensive struggle for more than 26 minutes until Saints senior midfielder Sebastian Navarro scored five yards out in the middle of the net upon receiving a pass from junior defender Cayman John. Navarro crossed from left to right to even the score, 2-2, in the 76th minute. This was the final score change in regulation and for the rest of the match.
 
After a defensive tug-of-war in which neither team recorded a shot in the opening 22 minutes, the RU started to find their groove on offense, getting three shots off in just over three minutes. This consisted of a pair of high shots from sophomore defender Sam Gardner, which preceded a shot-on-goal from junior midfielder John Halter.
 
Regis then ended the scoreless tie in the 27th minute when sophomore forward Ethan Willson connected with sophomore forward Kristian Hooker, who kicked the ball off the left post and into the goal to give RU a 1-0 advantage. 
 
Game Notes: Klein (1 G, 4 S, 2 SOG) played only 48 minutes but was effective during the time he was on the field. Hooker (1 G, 1 S, 1 SOG) also played 48 minutes. Halter (6 S, 3 SOG) led all players in both shots and shots-on-goal. Sophomore midfielder Ben Shepherd (3 S, 1 SOG) was on the field for most of the game (104 minutes). 
 
Sophomore defender Nick Mootz, senior midfielder Luca Kother (1 S), Gardner (3 S) and junior goalkeeper Tim Dolan (2 SV) all played the whole 110 minutes.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: The Regis University men's soccer team, which starts the season with a 0-0-1 record, will cap off its season-opening road trip at Concordia (Ore.) (0-0-0) on Saturday with a kickoff set for 2 p.m. MT.