OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University and No. 21 USAO played to a 1-1 tie after two overtime periods Friday night at Stars Field in a battle for the No. 1 spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference.

With the tie, the Stars (13-2-2, 6-1-1 SAC) remain one game back of USAO in the loss column with one week to play in the regular season.

“It's always a tough game when we play against USAO,” OCU coach Brian Harvey said. “I think they were more satisfied to get the tie than we were.”

The game was sloppy with 29 combined fouls and 11 yellow cards given out.

OCU took an early 1-0 lead when Alex Gang scored his 18th goal of the season in the 24th minute. Peiman Pahlevan recorded the assist with a perfect cross to Gang, who finished for the goal.

USAO tied the game at one each on an own goal in the 26th minute.

The Stars had opportunities to put the game away in both overtime periods. In one sequence in the first overtime, John Dill had a good look at the goal that was saved by the USAO goalkeeper and Steven Short missed wide on the rebound off the shot.

USAO held a 15-14 shot advantage for the game, including a 10-6 lead in shots on goal.

Andy Fitzpatrick turned in a solid performance in goal for OCU with nine saves in the game.

The Stars will look to secure a bye in the first round of the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament with a win at Southern Nazarene on Tuesday night. The match is set to start at 7 p.m. in Bethany, Okla.
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