Men’s soccer: Rainy home opener ends in draw

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

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) Saturday afternoon in the Panthers’ home opener at the Petersen Sports Complex.

Pitt started the match attacking, but the Red Flash recovered quickly from the early surge and scored a great goal to take the lead.

St. Francis senior Wayne Tiller entered the Pitt zone and delivered a perfect pass to local West Allegheny High School product Nick Kolarac, who secured the ball and fired a shot from 20 yards out that 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.

The Red Flash held off the Panthers for the rest of the half, taking a 1-0 lead into the break.

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

Following the delay, the Panthers suffered another setback when they lost freshman Nick Wysong to a red card in the 54th minute.

But the red card seemed to energize Pitt, and 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.

Johnston then made several key saves at the end of regulation and in the two overtime periods to preserve the result for Pitt.

Luxbacher hailed his team’s resiliency against a team that hadn’t allowed a goal all season before Saturday.

“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.”

Check out this week’s Pitt News for a more detailed recap of the draw with comments from some of the Panthers.