Ryan Kummer knew he had a beat on the backline.

With less than a minute remaining on the clock and Glenbard East trailing 2-1 to St. Charles North, the junior forward knew he needed to get behind the defensive line to force one into the net.

And after seeing junior defender Erick Barrera looking to the middle with the ball, he knew it was the perfect chance.

“We practice making our runs across all the time,” Kummer said. “On that last one, I saw Erick, and before the game he told me that if he saw me he was just going to play it, and he did just that.”

Kummer ended up putting a foot on the cross, shooting it into the bottom corner of the net with 35 seconds remaining to help the Rams secure a 2-2 tie against the North Stars on Thursday night.

“That was just awesome,” Kummer said. “We had some adversity throughout the game, but we kept pushing. And everyone went crazy after we tied it up.”

The Rams (4-2-1) went down 2-1 on a goal from North Stars junior Oliver Longosz with 9:58 left on the clock. But Rams coach Josh Adler said he was proud of his guys for not hanging their heads and instead waiting for the exact moment to take a shot on net.

“When you find your moment, which sometimes can be far and few, you’ve got to be able to find that moment,” Adler said. “I thought they stay organized and caught them off guard a little bit and were patient to try and capitalize when we had the opportunity.

“This was really a positive thing. There’s always a good tie and a bad tie, and this was a really good tie for us.”

The Rams got on the scoreboard first in the contest in the 36th minute of play. After drawing a foul in the box, junior midfielder Johan Olivero buried a penalty kick to the left side for a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime.

That lead was short-lived come the second half, with senior Nolan Schoenholz netting an equalizer for North just 56 seconds into the second the half.

“That first half was not to the standard of play that we expected from the group,” North Stars coach Eric Willson said, “but the response that we had to start the second half was great.

“To come back and not only get an equalizer, but to take the lead as well is a positive from this.”

The North Stars (4-3-2) continued their offensive attack throughout the second half, with Longosz finally giving them the advantage in the 71st minute off a laser from the left side of the goal into the top corner by the far post.

“I was just trying to go for goal to try and get the win,” Longosz said. “I was trying to get it back post to beat the goalie. It’s what I was trying to do all game.”

The North Stars were also without senior defender Ashton Goettel on the backline. But even without the captain, Willson was proud of how his makeshift defense – that included sophomore Henry Dodd and freshman Alex Darie – played on the night.

“Obviously, Goettel brings an element of being a rock and leader in the back,” Willson said. “That being said, once the backline got comfortable, they played a fantastic game for being a makeshift backline that hasn’t really played together.”