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 A day after a lopsided loss, Eau Claire Aris FC returned to Bollinger Fields looking to make amends Sunday.
They did just that, as French forward Renaud Sicard scored and Australian goalkeeper Troy Osborne made five saves in another fine performance in a 1-1 draw against the Milwaukee Bavarians in a National Premier Soccer League Midwest Division match.
"They were ready today," Bavarians coach Andrea Davi said after Aris became the first team to take a point off his team – one night after losing to the Madison 56ers 9-0.
Sicard, who plays at NAIA Marian (Ind.), gave Aris (1-3-1) the surprising lead with his third goal of the season, crashing in to knock a corner kick by UW-Platteville recruit Hunter McMahon (Onalaska) over the line. Davi said that got his team's attention.
"From the second that they scored, we were in it. It was like a wake-up call," he said.
Marquette's Amilcar Herrera (Milwaukee Riverside) equalized for the Bavarians, driving a shot from about 20 yards out into the upper right corner for his second goal in as many nights.
"No chance for the goalie," Davi said of the blast.
But that was the only shot the Bavarians (3-0-1) would get past Osborne.
The Iowa Wesleyan keeper, who was praised by 56ers coach Jim Launder for his play despite Saturday's scoreline, earned more plaudits on this day.
"He had some great saves," said Davi, whose team was without four regular starters due to injury or illness and saw UW-Parkside forward Cyril Simmons come off with a leg injury.
"Some situations we just made it too hard on ourselves to score and some situations were just unlucky. ... We could still be playing now and still not score. Sometimes you have those days."
While he wasn't thrilled with dropping two points, Davi was pleased his team didn't allow Aris to pull out a late winner – the home team defended throughout the second half, but had two potentially dangerous counter-attacks in the final 5 minutes.
"I told my guys that last year we would have lost this game," he said. "But we have a tie. The best thing out of it is we didn't lose. We're still unbeaten. So we have to take it from there."
The Bavarians are back in action Saturday night against the Quad City Eagles (3-1-2), who moved into first place in the NPSL Midwest with a 1-0 victory over the St. Paul Twin Stars on the road Sunday.
MILWAUKEE BAVARIANS LINEUP: David Check; Luke Davey (Kinkade Lo), James Ashcroft, Andrew Krenzien, Collin Monahan (Tim Lencina); Tim Stadler (Shay Douglas); Sebastian Jansson, Niklas Boedts (Ryan Whitehead), Amilcar Herrera, Charlie Hoover; Cyril Simmons (Mark Ciszewski).
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