The Hawks found themselves in an unfamiliar situation in Saturday's home game with Portage Central.  For just the second time in its last 33 matches, FHE Soccer found itself trailing by two goals.

PC scored just 4:11 into the game on a freekick service to the top of the 18.  The Portage Central forward rose above Hawk defenders and its goalkeeper to meet the ball with a header into an open goal for a 1-0 lead.

The Mustangs went up 2-0 just 1:41 later, as a Hawk midfielder was called for pushing on a 50-50 ball in the box, resulting in a penalty kick.

Reeling a little bit, the Hawks worked to get their feet back underneath them.  As the game began to settle down again, Senior defender Nick Richard saw loads of space behind Portage Central's back line.  He slid a perfect through-ball between two Mustang defenders to the feet of Brandon Underwood, who beat the goalkeeper 1v1 at the top of the penalty area for his 10th goal of the season.

Just 1:14 later, Jon DeVries struck a free kick at the top of the penalty area that found its way through the Portage Central wall.  The ball took a perfect FHE bounce, landing at the foot of Senior Lucas Fix, who calmly finished for his first goal of the season.

Mother Nature took center stage in the 30th minute when thunder and lightning delayed the match for nearly 45 minutes.  Following the long stoppage, both teams struggled to regain their quality of play, and the game went to halftime at 2-2.

The Hawks played a strong second half, but it was Portage Central who got on the board first in the 45th minute.  A Mustang struck a free kick toward the penalty area from about 50 yards out:  the ball eluded every player on the field, and in the wet conditions, took a massive skip and ended up in the upper corner of the Hawks' net untouched.

FHE again fought back, outshooting their opponent 9-2 in the second half.  Sophomore Matt DeVries received a ball from Underwood on the right flank and made a perfect strike on the ball, sending it on a rope into the far side-netting to equalize for the Hawks in the 68th minute.

The final 12 minutes were a stalemate and the game ended in a 3-3 tie, true to the history of the series between the two sides:  each program has claimed two wins and tallied three ties in the seven games.  The Hawks move to 6-1-2 on the 2010 season and will play OK Gold rival South Christian on Tuesday night.