Christian Ramirez scored twice in a four-minute span late in the second half as host Austin FC forged a 3-3 draw with San Diego FC on Saturday in a crucial late-season Western Conference match.
The Verde (7-10-10, 31 points) extended their unbeaten streak to eight matches (3-0-5). San Diego FC (8-11-8, 32 points) earned their second consecutive road draw but will lament not taking all three points after building a 3-0 lead 64 minutes into the match.
Austin gave up three goals in a 14-minute stretch after halftime and looked dead in the water. But Ramirez and Brandon Vazquez, who scored the Verde’s first goal to kickstart the comeback, dispelled that idea.
Vazquez scored his first tally of the season in the 73rd minute when he dove to head home a stinging pass into the box by Ervin Torres, with a second assist given to Ilie Sanchez that culled the Verde’s deficit to 3-1.
Ramirez provided more hope when he headed a pass from Jon Bell into the bottom right corner in the 82nd minute past San Diego keeper Duran Ferree after a cross-box pass from Mikkel Desler.
Then Ramirez produced the equalizer as he ran deep in the box to take a feed from Jon Gallagher in the 86th minute and buried the chance into the right side of the box.
The Verde dominated the first half but had nothing to show for it as the game was scoreless at the break. San Diego, which did not record a shot in the first half, came out with a different attitude after halftime.
Anibal Godoy was in the right place at the right time to pounce on the rebound of a pass into the goalmouth by Oscar Verhoeven in the 50th minute to put San Diego up 1-0.
San Diego FC doubled their advantage seven minutes later as the Verde gave up an own goal by Desler. Cedric Bakambu headed a soft shot toward the Austin goal that Desler and Bell tried to clear but instead sent into their net as the pair ran into each other at the near post.
It took just seven minutes for San Diego to score again. Anders Dreyer worked a give-and-go with Bakambu and then sent the return pass to Marcus Ingvartsen for a pretty goal and a 3-0 lead.
Damian Las made three saves for Austin, and Ferree finished with two.
–Field Level Media
