The South Whidbey and Everett high school soccer teams settled for a 2-2 tie in the season opener at Lincoln Field Tuesday, March 13.

“It was a competitive game with neither team really showing much of an advantage,” South Whidbey coach Emerson Robbins said.

The Falcons scored first in each half and the Seagulls answered, scoring the tying goal in the final minute.

South Whidbey’s Michael Lux opened the scoring when he “somehow willed the ball in right at the mouth of the goal,” Robbins said.

Battling slippery, wet conditions, a Falcon defender mistakenly headed a ball backward and the Seagulls’ Francisco Mendoza took advantage, hitting the net from 30 yards out with a “beautiful crossing ball” for an “unstoppable goal,” according to Robbins.

In the second half, South Whidbey’s Graham Colar was fouled in the box and converted the penalty kick to put the Falcons back in the lead.

Mendoza scored off a free kick just outside the 18-box near the end of the contest to knot the match. It was “an amazing shot that bent over the wall and under the cross bar,” Robbins said.

Robbins lauded the play of co-captains Lake Smith and Ari Rohan on defense and Lux’s offensive effort.

South Whidbey meets another Wesco 3A team, Oak Harbor (0-1-1), in its home opener at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 15.