SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The battle of the top teams in the men's soccer Mountain East Conference standings lived up to the hype. Notre Dame College scored first, with a penalty kick, before No. 8 University of Charleston tied the game, four minutes later. The contest ended in a 1-1 draw, on Sunday.

Charleston was on the attack early and made Notre Dame's goalkeeper, senior Daniele De Angelis, work extremely hard. Near the end of the seventh minute, in the span of nine seconds, Eduardo Iranzo and Ploutarchos Alonefti each took a shot that sent De Angelis diving to the turf, knocking the ball away.

The Falcons took advantage of a mistake by Charleston in the 25th minute. Senior Giulio Bellei took the ball into the box, working his way toward the UC goal. A defender knocked him over and a foul was called. As he has done for much of the campaign, junior Niklas Ringdahl Bohlin took the penalty shot and gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead over the nationally ranked Golden Eagles. Bohlin now leads the team with six goals on the year.

That lead did not last long, however, as Charleston found some space to run and set up a great opportunity against the Notre Dame defense. The ball was passed several times as UC closed in toward the goal. Ettore Ballestracci had the ball on the right side of the box but had a defender in front, so he passed back to Alonefti, who struck and scored.

In their first matchup this season, on September 15, NDC and Charleston went into the halftime break scoreless, but on Sunday, all the scoring took place in the first 45 minutes.

A noteworthy moment in the game happened in the 55th minute when Charleston's Nathan Howell was given a second yellow card and subsequently, a red card. He was ejected and the Golden Eagles only had ten players on the pitch. UC continued to play well as the teams went scoreless in the second half.

The Falcons have become accustomed to playing in overtime, as three of their last five games have reached OT. On the other hand, Charleston had not played in overtime this season.

Over the 20 minutes of overtime, Charleston took three shots, with two of them being shots on goal. NDC was held to one shot. Neither team could score before the scoreboard reached triple zeros.

Interestingly, the Falcons' last regular-season tie with Charleston came on October 20, 2016.

"We are pleased with our point today," said head coach Carl Nolan. "It was a very hard-fought game, against a very good opponent. We had a few changes to make to accommodate injuries and fatigue, but the players handled it really well."

De Angelis faced 13 shots and made five saves, both season-highs. Charleston's keeper, Alvaro Unanua Dean, saved two shots.

Next up for the Falcons is a trip to Frostburg State University, on October 26. The game is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.