Luciano Acosta scored on a penalty in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time to help FC Cincinnati secure a 1-1 draw against host CF Montreal on Wednesday.

Cincinnati (17-4-8, 59 points) was awarded the penalty after Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois took out Dominique Badji on an aerial ball at the top of the 18-yard box. Sirois was shown a yellow card.

Montreal (11-14-4, 37 points) settled for a draw for the second straight match.

It was a quiet first half, with the two sides each recording three shot attempts, none of which were on target.

Junior Moreno had a chance to give the visitors the lead in the 14th minute, curling a shot from distance that went wide of the net.

Cincinnati started to find its game as the half progressed but couldn’t break through. In the 24th minute, Brandon Vazquez brought the ball down low to the right of the goal area, but his pass attempt was blocked by Joel Waterman. Sirois came off his line to snare a pass attempt from Santiago Arias for Aaron Boupendza in the 34th minute.

The visitors came close to breaking the ice in the 41st minute when Arias’ header off a corner by Acosta grazed the right post.

Kwadwo Opoku put Montreal ahead 1-0 in the 53rd minute. Lassi Lappalainen sent a short pass up to Opoku just past midfield, and the 22-year-old hustled up the pitch. Cincinnati midfielder Obinna Nwobodo missed on a tackle and Opoku got above the arc before firing a left-footed strike into the left side of the net.

Cincinnati came within inches of netting the equalizer in the minutes that followed.

In the 59th, Boupendza took a pass from Alvaro Barreal for a header that went over the net. Then, a few minutes after Waterman blocked yet another Vazquez attempt, Yuya Kubo took a feed from Barreal at the top of the 6-yard box, but the ball hit Sirois’ outstretched arm and deflected up and into the crossbar in the 68th minute.

–Field Level Media