Austin Lets Win Slip Away

The St. Louis SC denied the Austin FC their first win of the season with Celio Pompeu’s goal in the third minute of second half stoppage time.  Pompeu beat the odds and brought home a 2-to-2 draw for the visitors. 

Austin played the way fans expected for the first 70 minutes of the match.  But the team appeared to hit a wall, setting the stage for Pompeu’s goal. 

St. Louis dominated the final 20 minutes of the match.  Surprisingly, the statistics say the visitors had a much firmer control for the entire match, out-performing Austin in total shots (17-to-4) and shots-on-target (8-to-2).  St. Louis had a slight advantage in possession (53%) but showed complete control in number of passes (393-to-269) and corner kicks (12-to-5). 

Matt Hedges gave Austin the early advantage in the 14th minute.  The Verde and Black took that lead into the locker room at halftime. 

St. Louis evened the score when Alex Ring fouled Aziel Jackson in the box, setting up a successful penalty kick by Eduard Lowen in the 49th minute. 

Julio Cascante reclaimed the lead for Austin on a brilliant header from the center of the box. 

Austin hunkered down into defensive mode late in the match.  Pompeu’s match-tying goal came from the center of the box with an expected success of 5%.