Rockville, MD – The Howard Dragons made a late comeback attempt, but ultimately fell to the conference leading Montgomery Raptors in a thrilling 2-1 match.

It took the Dragons just three minutes to challenge Raptors goalkeeper Christian Andrade as Anthony Perez Rodriguez (Columbia, MD/Hammond) ripped a shot from long range that was palmed away by Andrade.

Montgomery responded strongly with a barrage of shots at Howard's freshman goalkeeper Kevin Villalta (Silver Spring, MD/Springbrook) who started for a second consecutive game and made a couple of key saves early in the first half.

It was the Raptors who broke the deadlock late in the first period as a pair of players came off the bench to make an impact with Carlos Contreras setting up Tomas Diama for his second goal of the season.

The Raptors doubled their lead just out of the break as Diego Campos scored his second of the season from Alex Villatoro to give Montgomery a 2-0 lead after 48 minutes of play.

Howard was able to pull one back in the 72nd minute when Anthony Salmans (Laurel, MD/Reservoir) got to the end line and crossed it to Daniel Fuentes (Clarksville, MD/River Hill) who was able to hit a one timer into the net from point blank range for his seventh goal of the year.

Eze Ruben (Laurel, MD/Laurel) had one last chance to tie the game with just seconds left, but his shot went just wide of the goal as the Raptors were able to squeak out a victory to hold onto the sole lead of the conference standings.

The Dragons will face another tough conference opponent as they travel to Anne Arundel for a regional rivalry on Tuesday, October 2 at 6 PM. The Riverhawks are currently tied for fourth in the conference with a 3-1 record and are 4-1 overall with wins against Chesapeake, CCBC Catonsville and Cecil along with a loss at CCBC Essex.

Howard defeated Anne Arundel 2-0 in the 2017 season with Fuentes earning an assist in the contest and Bradford making four saves in the shutout.