DALTON, Ga. - With the history and circumstances stacked against them, Faulkner (4-2-2, 2-0-1 SSAC) rallied to pick up certainly the biggest draw, and arguably the biggest result, in program history Wednesday night at Dalton Stadium, drawing No. 2 Dalton State (7-0-1, 1-0-1 SSAC) 2-2 in Southern States Athletic Conference action while playing a man down for the last 47 minutes of the match on the road against a team that has not lost at home since 2019.
Faulkner fell behind early in the 14th minute when Jesus Huitanda scored for the Roadrunners. 11 minutes later Leonardo Seixas scored to double the home lead for a team that had conceded just twice in the first seven matches of its season and had allowed multiple goals only twice in the last 30 matches.
Tiago Miki and
Leo Freire continued their blistering forms on the attack in the 32nd minute as Freire found Miki who scored for his third consecutive match in his third straight start. Miki joined the starting lineup for the first time to start conference play and has scored in each match with two game-winning goals to his credit. Freire's assist is his sixth assist of the season and his 10th as an Eagle, tying him for third all-time with Didier Atse. Freire has an assist in the last five matches and 10 goal contributions through eight matches this season.
In the 43rd minute, Higor França was shown a second yellow card and the Eagles were forced to play a man down for the remainder of the match. However, Faulkner buckled down and waited for the right moment to strike. That moment came with time winding down as
Julio Cesar intercepted a Roadrunner backpass at midfield and took a couple of dribbles before firing a 45 yard rocket up and over the keeper stunning the No. 2 team in the country with an equalizer with just two and a half minutes to play. Cesar's goal was his 12th as an Eagle and ties him for eighth all-time for Faulkner with Pedro Moura and also the aforementioned Didier Atse.
The match was fairly reminiscent of the 2016 SSAC semifinal that also saw Faulkner go down 2-0, play most of the match down a man, and have a long range strike from a player with the surname of Cesar to tie the match.
The draw is the first result Faulkner has gotten against Dalton State, having lost the previous 11 matches. It is only the sixth time in 40 matches that the Roadrunners have not won at home. Faulkner had never earned a result against a top-10 team with the highest ranked opponent that the Eagles took points from was last year's 4-1 win on the road against No. 18 Life.
Faulkner runs it back with (RV) Life Saturday afternoon in Marietta, Ga. at 4 p.m.
