A Tim Kreutz goal just before halftime helped Lansing United grab a crucial point on the road against the Indiana Fire.

Kreutz latched on to a Brian Cunningham cross in the 44’ minute and scored United’s lone goal in the 1-1 draw.

“I saw Brian bomb down the left side and just saw the opportunity to beat my defender to the six-yard box,” Kreutz said. “Brian put a great ball in and I kind of just redirected it hoping that I wouldn’t put it over.”

Kreutz came on as a fist half sub in the 32’ minute after United winger Tyler Pasher was forced to leave the game, suffering form heat exhaustion.

“I came in and just tried to get into it right away,” Kreutz said. “I was watching the first 30 minutes on the bench to see where they were weak and I could kind of pick out that their center backs were a little bit of slow.”

Indiana opened the scoring in the 17’ minute when Thomas Schmitt beat United goalkeeper Zach Bennett on a perfectly placed chip.

“The guy hit a really, really nice chip and put it where he needed to score the goal,” said Bennett, who admitted he thought Schmitt was going to go low in that situation.

United had the advantage in the second half, as Fire midfielder Christian Soto was sent off in the 53’ minute with a red card, which is nearly identical to what happened in the teams first meeting this season. In that game, United midfielder James DeCosemo was sent off with about 30 minutes left in a game for a studs up challenge.

“Same exact thing, they lost a man who was sent off to a red card and they just kind of bunkered in and countered,” Lansing United Head Coach Eric Rudland said. “They were still dangerous on the counter and had some special players.”

Overall, Rudland said he was pleased with the team’s performance.

“I thought we had some chances in the second half when they went down a man and obviously in a game on the road against a top team, we’ll take the point,” Rudland said. “We wanted to be in a spot going into the half where we felt like we could three points and credit to the guys, we put ourselves in that position.”

The game was played under some difficult conditions, as the heat, coupled with the turf caused some problems for the players.

“We had guys not only with the heat and their lungs, but their feet,” Rudland said. “Guys had blisters and their shoes were a bit of an issue as well. Credit for the guys for battling through it.”

United currently sits in third place in the Great Lakes West Conference, with five games remaining, three points behind conference leading Indiana and two behind second place Detroit City.

“This was a pivotal game,” Rudland said. “With them being up on us in the league, I thought our guys responded well.”

United heads down the home stretch with four of their five remaining games at home, while the Fire will play all four of their remaining games on the road.

“Their results away from home aren’t great, so that bodes well for us and our spot in the league,” Rudland said.

With the team playing its next game at home on Sunday against FC Buffalo, the players are excited to play in front of the home crowd and on the grass surface.

“We wanted the three points but we are looking forward to getting back home and playing Buffalo on Sunday and hopefully get three points in front of all of the fans,” Kreutz said. “It seems like we go on these long road trips and when we come back and it’s just that much more exciting.”