It was a tale of two halves in Cary on Wednesday night, as the Myrtle Beach Mutiny and North Carolina FC U-23s played to a 1–1 draw at WakeMed Soccer Park. The Mutiny moved to 1–1–1 on the season, while the Baby Dead Whales moved to 0–1–2, still looking for that first win of the season.

On Wednesday though, the first half was all about the attackers, and the second half was all about the goalkeepers and the excellent stops made for both sides.

Both goals were scored in the final 15 minutes of the first half. NCFC U23 got on the board first thanks to a strike from Clayton Sparks in the 33rd minute. It was Sparks’ second goal of the season.

Unlike recent games, the Mutiny were able to hold their own immediately afterwards and not allow a second goal. That cost them against the Charlotte Eagles in their PDL opener.

In the 42nd minute, Nazeem Bartman broke behind the back line and found the back of the net. It was Bartman’s third goal of the season, following his two-goal performance on Sunday against the Carolina Dynamo. Miguel Timm played a glorious ball in to get his first assist on the year. Watch and enjoy.

In the second half, it was the goalkeepers’ moment in the sun as both George Marks and Kenneth Perkinson provided spectators with top-class performances to keep things level at a goal apiece.

The Mutiny’s Perkinson finished the night with nine saves, pushing his season total to 15 saves on the year.

The draw puts the Mutiny in fourth place in the South Atlantic Division, but it’s still early. The team now travels to Newport News, Virginia to face first-year PDL side Lionsbridge FC on Saturday, May 26.

It is the third match for the Mutiny in the last six days.

While Wednesday’s match in Cary was not the goalfest that we saw against the Carolina Dynamo, the fact that the Mutiny were able to keep their composure and snatch a point on the road showed that the team is slowly making strides to get on the right path.

Perkinson will likely start again against Lionsbridge FC, and he will need to be more focused than Wednesday’s match against the Baby Dead Whales: Lionsbridge has scored the second-most goals in the South Atlantic Division with seven.

But the Mutiny have scored the most goals in the South Atlantic Division with eight. Nazeem Bartman has been responsible for three of those and will be the top threat against the Lionsbridge defense.

Bartman fires a shot against Tormenta FC on May 9. (Photo Credit: Ian Livingston Brooking)

It seems that Myrtle Beach have found their offensive stroke and they will look to keep that going and extend their unbeaten streak to three on Saturday in Virginia. If the Mutiny go down a goal, they will have to do what they did this past Wednesday and keep their composure, regroup and find the equalizer (and a potential winner).

Myrtle Beach and Lionsbridge FC kickoff at 7:00 p.m. at Pomoco Stadium.

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