A week after the Laredo Heat suffered their worst loss from their National Premier Soccer League tenure, the team avoided another heartbreak as they drew against the Fort Worth Vaqueros FC 1-1 to open their two-match road trip Thursday.

Fort Worth broke the scoreless tie in the 52nd minute thanks to an own goal by Laredo. The Heat didn’t get discouraged though as Jeremiah Egujie tied the game at one apiece in the 78th minute. The goal was Egujie’s second of the season, good for second on the team behind Ivan Sakou who leads with three.

With the tie, Laredo (3-2-1) remains in fourth place in Lone Star Conference South Division with 10 points while Fort Worth (4-0-1) stays in third with 13. The Vaqueros entered Thursday’s matchup at No. 3 in the latest National Premier Soccer League power rankings while the Heat were No. 35, according to the league’s website.

The result was the first time this season that Fort Worth didn’t score more than two goals in a game. The Vaqueros entered the matchup averaging three.

Last season, Laredo had Fort Worth’s number as it went 2-0 against the Vaqueros. The Heat defeated their conference foes 1-0 in last year’s regular-season finale and 3-1 in their playoff opener.

The game saw goalkeeper Marc-Antoine Huzen make his first start with Heat as he replaced Carlos Herrera in the net. In five starts this season, Herrera surrendered seven goals. Huzen joined the Heat after starting for Eastern Oklahoma State College last year.

In his debut, Huzen had a handful of impressive saves to help the Heat avoid their second straight loss. Ryan Birchfield and Edgar Torres also made their Laredo debuts.

The two teams were evenly matched throughout. Laredo and Fort Worth traded early chances in the opening minutes of the contest. The Heat had the first good look of the match in the 21st minute off a header attempt by Sakou. However, the Vaqueros’ goalkeeper was in position to stop the shot.

Sakou had another chance in the 31st minute, but Fort Worth was again in a position to block the attempt. Fort Worth almost broke the scoreless tie in the 36th minute, but its shot sailed over the crossbar.

After a scoreless first half, the Vaqueros struck first off a throw-in attempt. Fort Worth threw the ball into the box. While the toss sailed high of the intended forward, luckily for the Vaqueros, the ball bounced off a Heat defender’s backside and rolled into the open net.

The own goal didn’t affect Laredo’s performance as it stayed on the offensive. Birchfield gave the Vaqueros goalkeeper a scare in the 70th minute. Then five minutes later in the 75th, Laredo had yet another opportunity to tie the game. However, its shot barely missed the goal.

The Heat finally knotted the game up at one apiece in the 78th minute as Egujie scored on a counter attack while Fort Worth’s keeper was out of position. Both teams had several chances to take the lead in the final 10 minutes of play, but neither could find the back of the net.

Laredo will complete its road trip at 7 p.m. Saturday against the Denton Diablos. The Heat are familiar with the Diablos as they handed Laredo its first ever NPSL regular-season loss. The Heat hung with Denton in their first matchup but ultimately fell 2-1.

gkroeger@lmtonline.com

Twitter: @gkroegs