RECAP | Scorpions 1, Strikers 1

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers and San Antonio Scorpions played to a 1-1 draw Saturday night at San Antonio’s Toyota Field in NASL Spring Season action. Each side scored in the first 45 minutes, but neither team could find the winner and secure the full three points.

Joseph Nane opened the scoring in the 21st minute, when the midfielder beat Strikers goalkeeper Lionel Brown to the ball and hoisted a shot over his head from just inside the 18-yard box. The play was initiated when Omar Cummings flicked a header to Nane following a cross from Rafael Castillo on the right flank.

Fort Lauderdale knocked on the door several times in the first half, finally garnering the equalizer in the 43rd minute when Stefano Pinho punched in his first goal for the Strikers. Dani Sánchez played the ball into the box to James Marcelin, who unselfishly put the ball on a platter for Stefano to tap into an open net.

Goalkeeper Lionel Brown stopped seven shots in the match, while allowing a single goal in his second straight start.  Brown has now started four matches in his NASL career, three coming against the Scorpions.  The match was his second straight NASL start and first since David Meves fractured his jaw Wednesday during Fort Lauderdale’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match at the Charleston Battery.

Strikers Head Coach Marcelo Neveleff tinkered with the lineup yet again, moving Léo Moura to right back, Shawn Chin to right wing,  and reinserting defender Ivan Guerrero into the starting XI after a two-game absence.

“We were going for it, and they were too,” Neveleff said. ““The point today is going to be a great stepping stone. At the end of the day, we need to win a game.

The game marked Fort Lauderdale’s first match against San Antonio since last season’s NASL Championship Final on November 15, 2014, when they lost a 2-1 decision to the Scorpions.

The Strikers played the final minutes of the contest with a man advantage after San Antonio defender Stephen DeRoux was ejected following a second yellow card in the 86th minute. Fort Lauderdale looked to capitalize on the man advantage, handing an NASL debut to Bruno Nunes, who scored Wednesday, but couldn’t muster the winning goal with the increased firepower.