Sierra may come up short of the Valley Oak League championship, but it’s having a say in where it ends up.

On Tuesday, the Timberwolves knocked rival East Union out of a first-place share with a 2-2 tie at Dino Cunial Stadium despite finishing the game shorthanded.

Already without standout attacking midfielder Aydin Akca, who was out for personal reasons, Sierra (8-2-1 VOL, 10-7-1 overall) lost speedy outside back Christian Gonzalez after he sustained a head-to-head collision with East Union’s Kevin Vasquez. Both players returned to action, though Gonzalez did not check back in until the final minutes.

Making matters worse for Timberwolves, they played the final 12 minutes a man down after a defender earned a double-yellow card ejection.

And they gave up an own goal just four minutes into the match.

Despite it all, Sierra managed to stay competitive all game and even had chances to win it in the end.

“We still did pretty good,” Sierra coach Joe Pires said. “This could have been a whole different result. I’m not happy with the tie, but all things considered, this could have been worse. That (own) goal at the very beginning, we could have gone downhill after that. Instead, we regrouped and stayed together.”

Johan Arroyo scored the final equalizer for Sierra on a direct kick that was misplayed by goalkeeper Nickolas Zavala in the 60th minute. Jose Gonzalez knotted it at 1-1 two minutes into the second half, following a shot from Neddy Ramos blocked by a diving Zavala, who racked up eight saves.

Sierra netminder John Thomson had a more adventurous night. He not only registered 10 saves but also cut off several other scoring opportunities for East Union (8-1-1, 19-3-2). Thomson typically splits time in goal with junior Raiden Meas, but Pires stuck with the hot-handed goalie.

“Him being a senior, we could kind of tell that he was locked in,” Pires said. “With John, he has a little bit more height and he has the bigger kick that allows us to get the ball up front quicker. But today, this was his game. John was out of this world.”

On the final sequence of the game, the Lancers threatened to score the game-winner Efren Ruiz fed a dangerous through pass into the box for Yandel Gutierrez, but Thomson read it all the way and beat East Union’s prolific striker to the ball.

Thomson quickly got rid of it to jump start a counterattack, but Jose Gonzalez’s left-footed strike at the end of it was sliced wide. The game was called moments later.

“As the game went on; definitely more pressure,” Thomson said. “I just kept focused and knew we needed it. Really, just put everything I had out there. Gave it my all.”

Gutierrez tallied his Sac-Joaquin Section-leading 39th goal of the season, connecting with a header on Ben Diaz’s set-piece cross in the 56th minute. The sophomore striker accounted for 16 of the Lancers’ 26 shots. Sierra finished with 15.

“I think Sierra played well — they’re on a hot streak right now,” EU coach Ronnie Green said. “I don’t mind the way we played; I think we made some tactical mistakes. We misplayed balls on the defensive end, but those wouldn’t have mattered if we were able to finish.

“We’re still OK, though. This doesn’t detour us too much. We have big plans for the rest of the season.”

This result leaves reigning champion Patterson (9-1, 10-5-3) alone at the top of the table. Sierra is idle for the rest of this week and caps the regular season next Tuesday, Feb. 10 at Patterson. East Union can have a shot of grabbing at least a piece of the crown, if Sierra comes through with a favorable result.

The Lancers play host to Central Catholic on Thursday and plays their league finale at Manteca next Tuesday.