It appeared Aberdeen Central was on its way to a third consecutive win to start the season, however a last-minute goal turned a victory into a tie Tuesday afternoon at Brownell Activities Complex.

Sioux Falls Jefferson scored on a header with 34.2 seconds remaining to tie the Golden Eagles 2-2 in girls’ soccer action.

“A couple of the opportunities we had in the second half, we have to find a way to get those in the net,” said Central coach Merle Aske. “But biggest thing is, we’re a little tired now, having three games in five days. The girls just have to be able to work a little harder late in the game to find each other.”

The Eagles scored on a couple of picture-perfect goals. The first came in the first half when Deshani Peters fired a corner kick that Taryn Hettich put in the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the seventh minute of action after the Cavaliers had scored just two minutes into the contest.

The second Central goal came in the second half as Courtney Nipp spotted Kailyn Poppen in front of a wide-open net for a 2-1 advantage.

“The goals were really nice,” Aske said, “it’s just one too few.”

Nipp drove in on the side of the net and as the Jefferson goalie moved over to stop her, she fired a pass to Poppen for the goal.

“I saw Kaylin and I saw that perfect opening, and I saw that goalie was on that far right corner and I knew that it would be better just to pass it off to Kaylin,” Nipp said. “She was perfectly right there. Kaylin’s always right there for me.”

The Eagles had several other prime chances to add an insurance goal, but came away empty, including one shot that hit the post.

That left the door slightly ajar for the Cavaliers, who took advantage of it on a scramble in front of the Central goal in the final minute.

The Eagles ended up with seven more shots on goal in the contest, but the same amount of goals.

“When we’re possessing the ball and moving, it’s hard to keep up with us,” Aske said. “We just have to be able to do that for the entire game. Our legs just aren’t quite there, yet. I think we just gave them a couple of opportunities that we shouldn’t have.”

While Central would have much rather have had the win, it’s still early in the season and there were positives in the contest.

“It’s a little disappointing and frustrating just because we worked that hard,” Nipp said, “but it’s OK, we’ll get them next time.”

Aske said there are just a few things here and there that can make the difference in a tight contest like that.

“I’m not dissatisfied with the game,” he said, “but there’s just little things we have to get better at so that when we get later in the year these games come out on our side.”

Central is off to a 2-0-1 start to the year just five days into the season.

“I’m happy with our team and how we’re looking,” Nipp said.

The Golden Eagles play at Brookings on Saturday before heading to Pierre on Tuesday.

“We get a few days off to put some new things in and to talk about a few things that went wrong, and to try to correct a few things so that hopefully on Saturday we’ll look a little better,” Aske said.

Sioux Falls Jefferson 1 1 – 2

Aberdeen Central 1 1 – 2

First Half

1, SFJ, Emma Behm, 2^nd minute; 2, AC, Taryn Hettich (Deshani Peters), 7^th minute.

Second Half

3, AC, Kailyn Poppen (Courtney Nipp), 49^th minute; 4, SFJ, Behm (Sydney Christopherson), 80^th minute.

Shots on Goal: Sioux Falls Jefferson 11; Aberdeen Central 18.

Goalies: Sioux Falls Jefferson, Onnalee Behm (16 saves); Aberdeen Central, Taylor Thorstenson (9 saves).