Photo by Jean-Yves Ahern/USA TODAY Sports

By RYAN TOLMICH

Through 85 minutes, it appeared that Montreal Impact forward Marco Di Vaio was on his way to fittingly ending his career by scoring the game’s lone goal.

However, D.C. United had other plans, as the Eastern Conference leaders snatched a draw at Stade Saputo due to a late equalizer from Fabian Espindola. Despite earning a point, D.C. United are now locked into the league’s third overall seed, as both the Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy finish the regular season with more points.

Espindola’s equalizer came in the 86th minute as the D.C. United forward finished from long distance.

After pushing a short corner to defender Samuel Inkoom, Espindola received the ball on the right side before driving across the top of the box. Given plenty of space by the Impact defense, Espindola took the chance to fire past goalkeeper Jon Busch, who hopelessly dove as the ball trickled in to the right side of the net.

The D.C. United goal canceled out what would have been a storybook finish to the career of Di Vaio, whose finish was the 34th of his MLS career.

The Italian forward, who is retiring after a 22-year career, scored the opener in the 22nd minute, sending the appreciative Stade Saputo crowd into a frenzy.

In typical fashion, Di Vaio timed his run perfectly, beating an offside trap to get on the end of a pass from midfielder Dilly Duka. Di Vaio’s run saw the Italian get in all alone on goalkeeper Bill Hamid before finishing with a rocket to Hamid’s right.

The draw earns the Impact their 28th point of the season as the club settles for a last place finish. Meanwhile, D.C. United secure their 59th point, two behind the Galaxy for the second overall seed heading into the MLS playoffs.