WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic University men's soccer team played Gettysburg to a 2-2 draw on Saturday night at Carlini Field in a thrilling back-and-forth affair.

Both teams entered tonight's match undefeated, but it was Catholic who produced the strongest start possible, finding the back of the net after just 40 seconds.

Jack McEvoy cut in brilliantly from the right and fired an effort that produced a decent save out of Gettysburg goalkeeper Kevin Muhir, but Darius Siahpoosh was alive to the opportunity and headed home after Muhir could only parry onto the crossbar.

Siahpoosh went close again just three minutes later when he struck the post.

After the Bullets grew into the game as the half wore on, the Cardinals doubled their advantage in the final minute of the first half. Connor Bailey found Ryan Kelly on the left edge of the penalty area, who struck first-time and curled a beautiful strike into the far corner with just 59 seconds remaining.

Gettysburg found another gear in the second half, and was able to battle back to secure a draw. They scored in the 67th minute through a well-placed header by Connor Fife, and equalized on a dazzling solo run from Athi Msiza 10 minutes from fulltime.

Senior Austin Coron was strong in the Cardinal goal, making seven saves and dealing with crosses and highballs extremely well throughout the match. The Bullets were aggressive on set pieces, placing many of their 10 corner kicks and a number of long throw-ins right on Coron, who commanded his penalty area and won aerial balls all evening.

Junior Ryan Bradby was a key player for Catholic on the night, putting in an excellent shift in a defensive midfield role, breaking up play and winning loose balls throughout the match. Andrew Lowman also looked bright on both sides of the ball, playing the entire match at left back.

Siahpoosh scored his team-high fourth goal in as many matches as Kelly grabbed his first of the season. Gettysburg outshot the Cardinals, 17-11, but Catholic was the more clinical of the two sides, scoring on two of its three shots on target.

Catholic now improves to 2-0-2 and will look to better that record on Wednesday evening, when it travels to Ashland to face the Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.