After a 40 minutes of a lightning delay, the match between Tyrell Burgess and Reading Rage and the Northern Virginia Royals, got underway at the Exeter’s Don Thomas Stadium.
Both teams had their chances, but lightning suspended play at the 62:28 mark. After a 2 & 1/2 hour delay, the match was called at 1-1, giving the Rage its first draw of the season.
Reading’s unbeaten streak stands at four games since dropping the first game of the season, but the Rage wishes it was a four-game winning streak.
Alex Horwath had a lot to say about that. The Royals keeper made 10 saves — nine in the first half — breaking up several golden chances for the Rage.
His most impressive save came at the 41:53 mark, when he denied Rage leading scorer Adam Gazda, who took a cross from Burgess and fired it on net.
Horwath was there, just as he was less than 30 seconds later, stopping a shot from Burgess and the rebound opportunity by Gazda.
In first-half stoppage time, Burgess sent a bending free kick on goal and Howarth dived to his right to make the save and corral the rebound.
The only time the Rage managed to get one past him was in the 29th minute, when Jon Ports sent a pass across the box to Fleetwood grad Josh Sanders, who had plenty of net at which to shoot. Horwath was out of place as the pass from Ports went through a crowd of defenders and set up the game-tying goal.
Northern Virginia, which fell 2-0 at home to the Rage last week, made it 1-0 in the 15th minute when Oscar Berrios picked up a rebound and pushed it past Rage goalkeeper Jeremy Vuolo.
Royals midfielder Irad Young took the initial shot from a sharp angle to his right of the goal. It deflected off of Vuolo and out to Berrios, who wasted no time making it 1-0.
Northern Virginia only had five shots in the game — all in the first half — and only three were on goal.
Reading, on the other hand, had 14 shots and was called offside five times in the first half, spoiling several scoring opportunities.
The Rage was getting set up for their second corner kick of the game when the first lightning bolt struck in the vicinity. The referees immediately suspended play.
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