Men’s soccer fights back to draw against St. Francis

In a game that featured a 20-yard strike for a goal, a 100-minute delay for lighting and a red…

Defender John Cordier helped Pitt stay within striking distance after the team went down a man.

Ryan Samson, For The Pitt News

In a game that featured a 20-yard strike for a goal, a 100-minute delay for lighting and a red card, the Pitt men’s soccer team (1-0-2) earned a 1-1 draw against St. Francis (Pa.) last Saturday afternoon in the Panthers’ home opener at the Petersen Sports Complex.

Pitt started the match attacking and kept the Red Flash on their back heels, junior captain John Cordier pointed out post-game.  The energy of the team’s defense allowed the Panthers to further their offensive mentality, one that has played a crucial part in Pitt’s remaining undefeated thus far in the season.

“Our back line was aggressive and constantly pushed up,” the Panthers defender said. “So I think that definitely kept them on their heels early on.”

However, the Red Flash recovered quickly from the early surge and scored an impressive goal to take the lead.

St. Francis senior Wayne Tiller entered Pitt’s zone and delivered a perfect pass to West Allegheny High School product Nick Kolarac who then secured the ball and fired a shot from 20 yards out.  The shot just missed the outstretched hands of goalie Lee Johnston before hitting the upper corner of the net.

Pitt head coach Joe Luxbacher was disappointed that his team fell behind after dominating the game’s early stages.

“We had early chances and, really in the first 20 minutes of the game, we were all over them,” he said in a press release.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, the Red Flash were able to put the sluggish start behind them. They dominated the rest of the half, enjoying a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Then the thunder and lightning came, delaying the game for nearly two hours before play could resume.

After the delay, the Panthers knew they had work to do.

“We knew we had to come out flying in the second half, and I really think we did,” Cordier said.

Pitt was the aggressor during the first two minutes of the second half. The action culminated in what the Panthers thought was the tying goal, but it was disallowed by an offside call.

“After the second delay, we were able to really force the issue, and we even had a goal that was called offside, but I think we set the tone well after half,” Cordier said.

The Panthers then suffered another setback when freshman Nick Wysong received a red card in the 54th minute.

Despite being down a man, the Panthers had plenty of opportunities to tie the game before finally succeeding when junior Nico Wrobel pounced on a rebound in the 72nd minute to level the contest.

Following the equalizer, St. Francis had two key opportunities, but Johnston would save both to preserve the 1-1 tie.

Luxbacher hailed his undefeated team’s resiliency.

“We played most of the second half and two overtimes a man down, and our guys showed a lot of grit, which they have shown all year,” he said. “Our guys battled back a man down for 65 minutes against a team that had not given up a goal or lost in eight games.”

Johnston also had no trouble finding positives from Saturday’s draw.

“I think we played really well as a whole unit,” the Pitt goalie said in a press release, “and I hope a game like this can give us momentum as we tackle the rest of our season.”

The Panthers will host Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ambrose Urbanic Field in the Petersen Sports Complex as part of the Pitt/Nike Invitational tournament.