AUSTIN, Texas – Austin Bold FC rallied from a two-goal deficit but was unable to find the winner as FC Tulsa held firm for a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night at Bold Stadium that saw Tulsa’s Dario Suarez strike twice for the visitors and the two Group D rivals leave the two-game series against one another in exactly the same place as they entered it, level on points in the battle for second place in the standings.

Bold FC opened brightly, and in the fourth minute a cross from the left by Ish Jome found Sonny Guararrama in the right side of the penalty area, but the Austin native’s shot slid wide of the far post. The hosts also went close in the 11th minute, but Alasanne Ates Diouf couldn’t quite control a deflected shot by Ema Twumasi as the ball drifted behind the goal line.

After weathering the early pressure, though, Tulsa notched the opening goal as = Suarez’s recent hot streak continued. The Cuban forward slipped in behind the Austin back line to latch onto a through-ball by Rodrigo Da Costa and calmly finished past advancing Bold FC goalkeeper Diego Restrepo for his fourth goal in the past three games.

Suarez struck again in the 37th minute for his seventh goal of the season as he was the first to react to tuck home the rebound after Restrepo got down to save a shot by Ariel Martinez from the edge of the penalty area to the bottom-right corner.

Austin pulled back into the game deep in first-half stoppage time, however, as a handball in the area that blocked a shot by Jome resulted in the hosts being awarded a penalty kick. Guadaramma stepped up and fired low to the bottom-left corner to halve the deficit, then less than a minute later Billy Forbes got a look at goal only for his shot from the right side of the penalty area to fly just high of the target as he shot back across his body.

Bold FC maintained its tempo to start the second half and almost leveled inside the opening three minutes when Guadaramma turned the corner driving into the right side of the penalty area, but his low cross was deflected just wide of the right post. Minutes later, however, a corner kick was recycled by Jome, who found Jermaine Taylor in the left side of the penalty area for a header that Lewis could only parry, and Fabien Garcia was in the right place to finish off the rebound.

The momentum of the equalizer continued to carry the hosts and just past the hour-mark Jome curled a shot from 25 yards just over the top-right corner of the net. Then with 20 minutes to go, Jorge Troncoso broke into space on the right to get onto a through-ball by Baez and delivered a good cross to the back post. Forbes tried to connect on the volley, but his effort took a big hop to substitute Beto Avila, only for his reaction header to go straight into Lewis’ hands.

Twumasi almost put the hosts ahead three minutes later when Forbes set up a chance inside the penalty area, but while the forward’s finish got past Lewis, Tulsa defender Kevin Garcia hustled back to clear before the ball tucked just inside the right post. Avila then slid past his defender on the left side as he ran onto a clearance from Restrepo and into the penalty area with five minutes to go, but Lewis produced a kick-save to keep the youngster from finding the net.

Austin continued to push for a late winner into stoppage time, including a final chance for Forbes that was charged down by a good block. But despite ending the night with a 35-4 advantage in shots, the hosts were unable to find a breakthrough as honors ended even for the second time in four nights between the sides.

USLChampionship.com Man of the Match

Dario Suarez, FC Tulsa – Suarez was clinical in his finishing and completed 12 of 14 passes in addition to his two shots on goal to give the visitors the goals they would need to come away with a point.