While a tie was the not best result, it was one Warren Central coach Trey Banks could live with.

Pearl’s physical presence nearly wore down the Lady Vikes at Viking Stadium Friday night, but three saves in the final five minutes by goalkeeper Katie Humphries allowed WC to escape with a 1-1 draw.

Pearl (3-5-1) outshot the Lady Vikes (7-4-2) 8-4 in the second half and got its only goal with 12:30 left when Taylor Smith’s 35-yard free kick bounced off the high post and straight down to the feet of teammate Anna Worsham, who nudged it home. The Lady Pirates got three more shots at taking the lead but Humphries stopped the shots to preserve the tie.

Banks was upbeat afterwards.

“For the first time this season, we showed a lot of heart,” Banks said. “We fought to the last minute. The physicality of Pearl was wearing on us, but we held firm. While we’re disappointed that we didn’t win, we did hold on for the tie.”

Lindsey Burris, who had a brilliant assist on WC’s lone goal, said the Lady Pirates turned into gremlins when the ball went live.

“They were really nice, like after the game, but when the ball was in play, they were mean,” Burris said. “They were very aggressive. Just about everyone on our team got shoved down at one point.”

Taylor Hanes, who scored WC’s goal after receiving Burris’ lofted crosser, nearly got in a rumble in the second half with Pearl’s Alexis Bulman. Both players received yellow cards from umpire and former Vicksburg High player Daria Lawrence.

“I never do that,” Hanes said of her rising anger after being pushed by Bulman. “But yeah, they were really aggressive.”

Warren Central dominated play in the first half behind the speed of Burris and Hanes. The Lady Vikes got four shots on goal in the first 17 minutes. Burris had the best opportunity when her top of the box offering got stopped by Karli Blakely.

Five minutes later, Burris beat Bulman to the left wing and sent a cross that found Hanes wide open in front of the net.

Pearl bounced back in the second half with five shots on goal in the first 12 minutes. Two went high and a free kick was lost behind the defense, but then got knocked away at the last minute.

(B) Pearl 2, WC 1

The short-handed Vikings (9-2-2) were in survival mode against the visiting Pirates. Warren Central played without two starters, Michael Mason and Jade Pollack, and later had its two best players, Oscar Kjellberg and sweeper Alberto Capeleto, go down in the second half.

Kjellberg, who scored Warren Central’s goal at the 28:12 mark in the second half, finished the game. Capeleto went out with an ankle sprain with seven minutes left and did not return.

The injuries were a concern for Viking coach Greg Head.

“We expected they would be physical and that worried me because we had two hurt and we didn’t want to lose anyone else before Vicksburg next week,” Head said. “Alberto going down was really scary. With Jade and Michael out, we had to move some people around.”

Pearl (1-4-2) took advantage with two first-half goals from Nathan Miley and Johan Marian. The Pirates finished with 27 shots on goal to WC’s 12.

WC keeper Baxter Richardson had eight saves.