DALLAS, Texas – Following a two-hour rain delay, the Houston Baptist men's soccer team was finally able to step onto the soccer field for the first time in 2012. The Huskies tied the 16th-ranked team in the nation, SMU, 1-1 Saturday evening at Ford Stadium.

“It was a good game from both sides with quality soccer played on a wet turf,” said head coach Steve Jones.

SMU scored the match's first goal, which came right before halftime. The Mustangs were awarded a corner kick. The Huskies were unable to clear and the ball went to a Mustang, who kicked the ball into the net.

“We did a much better job finding strikers and winning balls in the second half,” said Jones. “We put more pressure on SMU and we got the result.”

HBU tied the match with a second-half goal by Kristopher Tyrpak, assisted by Zach Pierce. Pierce cut in the offensive zone and sent a beautiful pass to the left side to Tyrpak, who one-touched the ball and floated it over the SMU goalkeeper. Neither team could score the remainder of the match and the match ended tied 1-1.

Zach Harwerth – seeing his first action in two seasons – started the match for HBU and played the first half. Kevin Suarez and Daniel Boyer split time in the second half.

“This was a good result for the boys,” Jones said. “Hopefully it will give them confidence entering our practice week leading up to a tough match with ORU.”

HBU will begin the regular season with two home matches next weekend. The Huskies host Oral Roberts on Fri., Aug. 24 at 7 pm, followed by a meeting with Campbell on Sun., Aug. 26 at 1 pm.