HAMPDEN – You witnessed it in the World Cup and it happened again at the Hampden Academy soccer field here Tuesday: a team playing a man short rallies to tie or win a game.

In this scenario, it was the Hampden Academy boys who received a goal from freshman Gabriel Brooks with 4:28 left in regulation to gain a well-deserved 2-2 overtime tie with visiting Presque Isle.

Hampden played a man short over the final 41:54 after Ryan Cowan received a red card for vulgar language.

Earlier in the day, junior midfielder Ali Hathaway’s goal with 26:07 remaining gave the Hampden girls a 1-0 triumph over Presque Isle.

In the boys game, Hampden picked up its intensity after losing Cowan and, despite falling behind 2-1 on Eric Saucier’s second goal of the game with 25:26 left, the Broncos began winning the battles for the ball against the bigger and stronger Wildcats. Hampden generated some good chances to equalize as Presque Isle seemed content to sit back and protect the lead.

“We got motivated to get back into the game. We started going to the ball better. We became more aggressive,” said stopper Brooks, who converted a beautiful Kyle King cross from the right flank. King had an initial cross deflect right back to him before he laid the next one past PI goalie Matt Casavant and onto Brooks’ head.

“I had a man marking me but he moved off me on the first cross and I went to the middle of the penalty area,” said Brooks. “Kyle made a terrific cross. I knew I had a shot. I was alone with the goalie.”

Brooks 8-yard header found the far corner.

“We marked well the whole game but we had one man trying to mark two guys on that,” said Casavant. “I had come too far over on the first cross.”

Hampden had a couple of glorious chances in overtime but Tim Belden and Tim Underwood cleared dangerous loose balls out of the PI penalty area.

Presque Isle, now 4-2-3, dominated the first half and Saucier staked PI to a 1-0 lead when he took a perfect pass from Belden and tucked a 12-yarder inside the post to the left of Hampden goalie Aaron Peppard.

Cowan’s penalty kick tied it later in the half.

Peppard made six first-half saves to keep his team close.

Saucier made it 2-1 6:28 after Cowan’s dismissal when Kyle Keenan’s corner kick came to him and his 18-yard shot changed directions off a Hampden defender and nestled in the right corner.

Presque Isle outshot the 1-3-3 Broncos 26-17, but both goalies finished with eight saves.

“This feels like a win,” said Hampden Coach Waldo Caballero. “Losing a player gave us more incentive and it also gave us more space so we used our short passing game more.”

In the girls game, Hathaway’s goal was a gem. It came off an 18-yard half-volley into the corner to the left of PI backup goalie Niki Masters (10 saves on 24 shots), who was playing in place of the injured Jaime Powers. An attempted cross deflected off a Wildcat defender to Hathaway.

“Coach (Randy Dodge) has had us working on half-volleys and going through the ball all week,” said Hathaway. “I knocked the ball down with my chest and tried to put it in the corner.”

“That was a great volley,” said PI coach Brian Cronin.

Hampden, now 4-3, controlled the game, especially in the second half when the Broncos had the wind.

Wing halfback Bethany Atkins broke up a couple dangerous Wildcat counterattacks late in the game to help preserve the second shutout of the season for goalie Shilo Marden (7 saves on 21 shots). Marden was never severely tested by the 6-3-1 Wildcats.

“The team did a heck of a job. All the shots I had were slow rollers,” said Marden.

“We all knew we definitely had to win this game and that made it easier,” said Atkins.