The Greens nearly opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Cato poked the ball away from the defender and found Deshorn Brown. Brown tried to pick out the top corner, but his right-footed shot just missed the goal.

In what would have been a contender for goal of the week, Rafael Garcia, Omar Gordon and Callum Ross linked up with a fantastic sequence of one-touch passing before Garcia’s shot from 10 yards out sailed over the bar in the 30th minute.

The Monarchs found the back of the net in the 37th minute, but the goal was disallowed. Schmitt got on the end of a free kick from Noah Powder and glanced his header past Cody Laurendi, but the linesman’s flag went up for offside.

Four minutes before halftime, Christian Ibeagha got his head to a corner from Cato, but the defender couldn’t keep it on target.

The defensive battle continued well into the second half until Cato broke the deadlock in the 71st minute. Gordon spotted Cato making a run through the SLC defense and played a perfect through ball. Cato controlled and chipped the onrushing Andrew Putna to put the Greens ahead.

OKC looked set to leave Taft Stadium with all three points, but the Monarchs equalized with virtually the last kick of the game. In the third minute of added time, Konrad Plewa got on the end of a cross to force a save out of Laurendi, but Schmitt was there to score the rebound.

Energy FC are back at Taft Stadium next Saturday, May 25 to take on Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m, and ticket information can be found at energyfc.com/may25 or by calling (405)235-KICK.

This Post-Match Recap is presented by Southern Nazarene University. Learn more about SNU’s MASMA program here.

Scoring Summary:

OKC: 0-1, Cato 71

SLC: 1-1, Schmitt 93’

Disciplinary Summary:

OKC: Yellow Card (R. Garcia, 34’)

OKC: Yellow Card (Watson, 36’)

Real Monarchs SLC Starting XI: GK: Andrew Putna; D: Andrew Brody (c), Noah Powder, Konrad Plewa, Stanley Okumu, Pierre Delentz (Masta Kacher, 80’); M: Justin Portillo, Maikel Chang, Joshua Heard (Pablo Ruiz, 80’), Ricardo Avila (Damian German, 85’); F: Tate Schmitt

Substitutions Not Used: James Moberg, Kalen Ryden, Kyle Coffee, Evan Finney

OKC Starting XI: GK: Cody Laurendi; D: Alvin Jones, Christian Ibeagha, Atiba Harris (c), Mekeil Williams, M: Je-Vaughn Watson, Callum Ross, Rafael Garcia, Cordell Cato (Christian Eissele, 90’), Omar Gordon (Kyle Hyland, 89’); F: Deshorn Brown

Substitutions Not Used: Bryan Byars, Alexy Bosetti, Kal Okot, Josh Garcia, Amer Sasivarevic