Texoma FC and Charlotte Independence met for the third time this season, and both teams shared the points after an enthralling match.
Texoma manager Adrian Forbes went with a 3-4-3 for Texoma’s return to league play.
In a first half that turned out to be a rollercoaster, Charlotte came out on the front foot under the direction of former Dallas Burn coach Mike Jeffries. For the first 10 minutes, Charlotte controlled the match and were rewarded with a goal in the 14th minute when Preston Kilwein slipped and gave the ball away. Charlotte capitalized seconds later.
Texoma, trying to find a way back into the match, saw their first shot on goal in the 20th minute when Ozzie Ramos put a header on goal that was collected by the goalkeeper.
A couple of minutes later, Ajmeer Spengler nearly ended his goal drought when he hit the post off a volley from the top of the 18.
Just when Texoma looked as if they were working their way back into the match, Charlotte caught Texoma on the counter and beat Javier Garcia near post to go up 2-0 in the 31st minute.
However, 9 minutes later, after an impressive run by Luke McCormick, Teddy Baker cut the lead in half after a deflection that found its way into the back of the net.
Added time proved to be the ending the eventful first half deserved. While only 2 minutes were added on, in the 46th minute, Charlotte was awarded a penalty. Texoma goalkeeper Garcia kept the ball out of the back of the net to hold the 2-1 scoreline.
On the following corner, Charlotte’s Marou was shown red for violent conduct.
As the 2 minutes added on turned into 8, both teams finally made it to halftime with the 2-1 scoreline.
Going into the second half, Coach Forbes did not make any changes to his starting eleven.
Texoma’s first chance of the second half came after Spengler put a shot narrowly wide in the 57th minute.
Despite being down to ten men, in the 60th minute, Charlotte got out ahead of Texoma on the counterattack and doubled their lead.
In the 66th minute, in an attempt to claw their way back into the game, Adrian Forbes brought on John Paul Jordan and Brandon McManus for Reid Valentine and Preston Kilwein.
Shortly after coming on, Jordan assisted McCormick to cut the lead to 3-2 with 19 minutes left to play.
Texoma stayed on the front foot and in the 82nd minute, substitute McManus, evened the scoreline at 3-3 after a left-footed volley off the side of his foot.
Despite their attacking changes, Texoma was not able to break the deadlock, and the match ended with a 3-3 scoreline.