BENSON - One was the eighth-place team in its conference, while the other was unbeaten, untied and in first place of its conference.

Yet Fuquay-Varina and West Johnston battled to a 2-2 tie in a non-conference girls soccer match Wednesday night.

Twice the Bengals – which are ahead of only Lee County in the Tri-Nine Conference standings – took the lead only to have the host Wildcats (10-0-1) come back to even the score.

The second equalizer came when West Johnston’s Brittany Talbot ran down the left side and found wide-open Rachel Adams heading down the right wing with just under 13 minutes left to play. Adams, a junior, let fly to the far post where it hit the back of the net and helped to keep the Greater Neuse River Conference leaders from suffering their first loss of the season.

Fuquay-Varina coach James Mountford said he took away a lot from the tie. He hopes the result will build some confidence for the Bengals’ stretch run and search for a playoff spot.

“The second half may have been the best we played all season long,” Mountford said. “When you play a team like West Johnston and you do some things well, you can hopefully build on that.”

Fuquay-Varina took the lead in the first half on a counterattack on which Ellie Barnes broke free to put the Bengals out in front.

After an Olivia Johnson goal tied the game at one apiece, the Bengals came out strong to start the second half.

Barnes again edged the Bengals out in front when she pounced on a loose ball in the box off of a corner kick, and rifled home a shot that gave Fuquay-Varina a 2-1 lead early in the second.

The Bengals (2-7-2, 1-7-1), still hoping to compete for the final playoff spot in the Tri-Nine, provided an opportunity for West Johnston coach Danielle Cloud to drill home one last lesson from the night.

“Talking to them and making them know that if we want to keep going to the next level, we need to play teams like this,” said Cloud of the balanced Bengals. “It shows them what other talent is out there.”