The Ocean City Barons finished in a 1-1 draw with the West Virginia Chaos on Saturday night at Carey Stadium. Lee Catchpole (Univ. at Buffalo / Norwich, England) scored his first goal in an Ocean City uniform in the 11th minute, but Pete Kariotis equalized just before halftime with a score against the run of play. Kariotis ended the Barons’ team-record streak of 460 minutes without conceding a goal. It was the second straight draw for the Barons, who remain unbeaten at 5-0-2.

The Chaos were playing their second game is as many nights, after a 2-0 loss to the Virginia Legacy the night before, and started out rather sluggish. Sean Boyle’s (Limestone College / Galaway, Ireland) free kick in the 10th minute forced an acrobatic save from Chaos netminder Tyler Smith. A minute later, Ocean City capitalized when Kyle Evans (Lehigh Univ. / Seaville, NJ) crossed the ball from the right wing to Catchpole on the left, who brought it down and fired it past the helpless goalkeeper for the game’s first goal.

The first half saw the home side control the majority of play, but the Chaos would silence the crowd. Stanton Smith caught the Barons’ defense napping, and sent an outlet pass to Kariotis who broke in on goal. Adam Edwards (Bucknell / Downingtown, PA) came off his line to cut off the angle, but Kariotis put it over his head and into the back of the net.

It was only the second goal allowed by the Barons defense this year, the other coming back on May 19 when West Virginia’s Chris Whalley scored in Ocean City’s 3-1 win in Charleston, WV.

The Barons came out in the second half pushing for the game-winner, but the Chaos were resilient for a team with only two men on the bench. They held off the Ocean City attack, including a run by Ryan Heins (Temple Univ. / Medford, NJ) in the 81st minute. Heins streaked down the left wing from his defensive position, and broke back to the center of the field near the top of the 18-yard box. Once there, he faked a shot with his right, and fired with his left, and Smith had to dive low to his left to keep the ball out of the net.

After an impressive 10-save performance by Smith, he nearly made a blunder at the end. He tried to push a cross over the bar, but nearly put it into his own net. The ball bounced off the crossbar, and off his hand, and over the top for an Ocean City corner kick.

With the draw, the Barons fall to third place in the Mid-Atlantic Division after the Virginia Legacy and the Hampton Roads Piranhas picked up wins the night before.

The next game for Ocean City is next Wednesday when they travel to the Virginia Beach Sportsplex to take on the first place Piranhas at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the match will take sole possession of first place in the division. Next Saturday, they return home to Carey Stadium for their first meeting of the year with the Virginia Legacy. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available at the gate $6 for adults, $4 for kids. Fans not able to attend the game in person can listen to a live audio broadcast through the Barons’ website at www.ocbarons.com.