A first-half hat trick by Toledo Villa's Trace Terry set the tone against visiting Cleveland Force SC but a late goal halted the chance at a victory on June 24 as Toledo stayed unbeaten at home this season in a 3-3 draw.
It comes on the heels of a 1-1 draw against Kings Hammer on June 18, a match in which a late tally by Trace gave Toledo a point in the standings.
Toledo is now 3-2-0 at Paul Hotmer Field with three matches remaining as the playoff chase for the top two spots continues down the stretch.
"We gotta close games out," Terry said after the match on BCSN Sports. "We got a lot to learn, but it's still up there for us, and we're gonna keep on fighting."
Heading into the final weekend in June, Toledo sits in third place (4-2-3) with 14 points while Fort Wayne (5-2-1) leads with 17 points and the draw for Cleveland (4-3-2) keeps it in second with 15 points. Toledo heads to Kings Hammer for its third straight Tuesday match on July 2 before wrapping up their home schedule, hosting Buffalo on July 10 before finishing in Cleveland on Saturday, July 13.
"We want to win, but we have to play like we want to win," Terry added, "These next games, I think we're really going to show that we got something to prove."
Terry got on the board in the 12th minute against Cleveland. Odal Brown's shot from the top of the 18-yard-box careened to Zoltan Nagy's left and Eli Shope was able to put it on net as well and Terry tipped in the blocked shot for the lead. Twelve minutes later, Brown's feed up the middle of Ali Nassar moved Nagy far enough to his left that Nassar could just calmly slot the ball across the goalmouth for another easy tap-in for Terry to put Toledo up 2-0. In the 43rd, Cam Territo bombed the ball down the field from the center spot and Shope was able to one-touch the ball to Terry right in the middle of the goal box for his third of the half, putting Toledo up 3-1.
"I thought we still missed a lot of chances," Terry said. "Even myself. I thought I could have had five myself."
The Force chipped away at the lead, scoring a second time before the half ended to make it 3-2 and Gavin Csiszar scored his second in the 88th minute to force the draw.
Terry said the hat trick was nice, but a late collapse was a damper.
Since beginning the season with two losses, Toledo has gone 4-2-1 since May 25, showing that the team has been able to find a more consistent pace, allowing seven goals in the past seven matches.
Against Kings Hammer on a hot Tuesday evening on June 18, Toledo had the man advantage for the entire second half but couldn't capitalize until Terry scored in stoppage after Kings Hammer took a second-half lead on a penalty kick.
"They wanted it more from the start and I think we took it easy on them after they went down a man," Terry said after that match. "I think the effort from us wasn't there."