CLAREMORE, Okla. – Rogers State men's soccer (0-1-2) battled to a hard fought 2-2 draw against No. 7 Midwestern State (1-0-2) in a midday matinee on Thursday.
 
"Against the No. 7 team in the country, we are happy to get a draw and get a result," said Head Coach Derek Larkin. 'So far this season, we have proven to ourselves with a young team that we can play at the highest levels. The next step is putting together a full match and cut down on our mistakes."
 
Both Brandon O'Rourke and Marcos Vasallo found the back of the net in the win for RSU. Declan Viljoen (0-1-2) had a solid afternoon in goal as he only allowed two goals but made six saves.
 
After a feeling out process for both teams in the first several minutes of the game, the Hillcat offense began to apply pressure on the Mustang defense and began to find success in the attacking half of the field. In the 13th minute, O'Rourke found some space and fired in a shot to give the home team an early 1-0 lead. Later in the 24th minute, an MSU defender was called for a handball in the box, setting Vasallo up for a penalty kick that he drove home to bottom right corner of the goal to take a 2-0 advantage. However, in the 28th minute, a Mustang attacker fired a shot off the left upright but an errant kick by the RSU defender trying to clear the ball sent it into the net, allowing MSU to pull within 2-1 going into the half.
 
In the second half, the Mustangs formed an attack in the 53rd minute that saw them fire a shot off Viljoen's outstretch glove and sneek just under the crossbar to equalize things at 2-2. From there, things ground to a defensive standoff for the remainder of the match as neither team was able to get much going in the way of offense to force the draw.
 
The Hillcats will be back in action on Saturday, September 14 as they play host to longtime in-state rival Oklahoma Christian. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.