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CLEVELAND - Sometimes a draw in soccer can feel like a triumph and other times a tie can feel like defeat. When the IUPUI men's soccer team stole a draw at Cleveland State on Saturday night (Oct. 13), it assuredly felt like one in the win column for head coach Brian Barnett's squad. 

Sophomore Matthew Skaar tallied his first career goal with just 25 seconds left in regulation, helping IUPUI snatch a rare road point in league play with a 1-1 double overtime draw at Cleveland State. The Jags were on the cusp of yet another road defeat when Fernando Borges delivered service from the right flank to Skaar, who drove a volley past CSU keeper Alex Gyerman for the equalizer. 

In fact, Skaar's bullet was IUPUI's only shot on frame all day. 

"It always feels great to get your first goal, especially in a tough conference game on the road," Skaar said. "Fernando put a great ball in and I just tried to get a good connection on it. It was a good result so hopefully we can keep this momentum up going forward."

IUPUI is unbeaten in the past three league games with a pair of wins and Saturday's draw. The draw kept IUPUI (3-8-3, 3-2-1 HL) all alone in third-place in the Horizon League standings with two games yet to play while Cleveland State (4-5-2, 1-2-2 HL) is on the outside looking in at No. 7 in the league standings. 

"Our guys worked really hard for that one and had a great response in the second half to stop them from maintaining possession in our defensive half," Barnett said. "It would have been nice to generate some more offense, but we did enough to get the point."

IUPUI played from behind for most of the day as CSU's Gabe Pewu put the hosts in front in the game's 14th minute. Pewu snuck a tough angled shot past Quinn McCallion for his fifth score of the year off an assist from Thomas M'Barek. 

Otherwise, the two sides' defenses were the story as quality opportunities were at a premium. 

Sam Gavin hit a free kick just over the bar in the 19th minute after IUPUI drew a foul deep in CSU territory. And CSU's Ben Hryszko tested McCallion with a header in the 76th minute, forcing the rookie netminder to make his best stop of the match. IUPUI pushed numbers forward late in regulation, ultimately resulting in Skaar finding paydirt. 

IUPUI had the first chance in overtime as Cameron Haegele had a shot blocked, ultimately resulting in a Gianni Catenacci corner kick. However, IUPUI was unable to muster a shot attempt off the restart. The second overtime was played primarily in the Jaguars' end of the field and CSU thought they had a winner on a Lawrence Karpeh shot in the 108th minute, but the try was left of target. 

McCallion closed with three saves and junior midfielder Alan Aguilar, who had scored goals in each of the past three games, had a team-high two shot attempts for the Jaguars. Noah Pio had a game-high four attempts for Cleveland State. 

The draw was IUPUI's first road result in league play since playing then No. 8 Denver to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 2, 2015. It was also IUPUI's seventh overtime match of the current campaign as the Jags have gone 1-3-3 in extra time this season. 

IUPUI will return to action next Saturday (Oct. 20) when they take on Wright State at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+. Wright State entered this week ranked No. 25 in the United Soccer Coaches national poll.