BERLIN, Ohio. - Amish Country United played host to Mansfield Liederkranz SC on Saturday, June 11 at Hiland High School. The two teams played to a 2-2 draw.
After a good start to the first half for the Amish, it was the visitors who capitalized on a defensive giveaway to open the scoring. In the 27th minute, Alex Depperschmidt jumped on a loose ball and drove the ball to the edge of the box, before firing a hard shot past Amish Country goalkeeper Wyatt Freeman to give Liederkranz a 1-0 lead. Then, just four minutes later, Liederkranz got a corner and Dylan Metz rose above the crowd to head the ball into the net to double the visitors' lead. The Amish has several good scoring chances, but Liederkranz goalkeeper Aurel Toska was denying the hosts any chance of getting back into the game. Going into halftime, the score was 2-0.
The Amish came back out for the second half with a little more fire and were persistent in their press, as they searched to get back into the game. This constant pressure paid off as in the 68th minute, a Metz pass back toward his own goalkeeper resulted in an own goal. This gave the hosts life as they were now 2-1 down with a little over twenty minutes to play.
ACU continued to press on and look for the equalizer. The Amish began to get more and more opportunities late but nothing seemed to quite go their way, until the 90th minute. With what was going to probably be ACU's last attack of the game, Henry Perkins dribbled in from the top of the box and played a defense-splitting pass in to Josh Ragon. Ragon's first touch was terrific and put him in toward goal. However, Liederkranz defender Jonathan Czerwony impeded Ragon's progress and the ACU forward went down and the referee pointed for a penalty. Perkins calmly converted from the spot, completing the Amish Country United comeback. The referee soon blew for full time and the game ended 2-2.
The NOSL's week six brings back divisional play as Amish Country United (1-2-2) will host South Division rivals Greater Columbus FC (4-0-1) next Saturday, June 18 at Hiland High School for an 11:00 a.m. kickoff.
