BOX SCORE PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Sept. 1, 2012) – In a game plagued with over an hour in lightning delays, the Saint Francis University men's soccer team tied with Pittsburgh 1-1 Saturday afternoon.
“This was a strange game and strange day with all the lightning delays and adversity we had to face,” head coach
Michael Casper said. “At the end of the day we have to be better with our finishing and final quality to put teams away. Give credit to Pitt for battling back but hopefully this is a lesson we can learn and be better in the future.”
Similar to the game the other night against another Big East team Cincinnati, junior
Nick Kolarac (Pittsburgh, Pa./West Allegheny) got the Flash (1-0-2) on the board first with his second goal of the season. In the 37
th minute of the first half, Kolarac took a pass from
Wayne Tiller (Magnolia, Del./Caesar Rodney) and delivered a strike from 20 yards out that went top shelf on the right side of the cage.
Starting keeper
Daniel Valcicak (Herndon, Va./Gonzaga College) preserved a one goal lead going into the break after the Panthers (1-0-2) offense pressured the senior net minder with eight shots. Things looked good for Saint Francis until Pitt drew even at one in the 71
st minute. Nico Wrobel kicked in a rebound in front of the goal, thus ending SFU's consecutive shutout run.
With the score set at one a piece at the end of regulation time, these two teams went into overtime for the second time this season. Between both of the 10 minute overtime periods, the Flash outshot the Panthers 4-2 but neither squad could find the back of the net as the clock ticked down to the final zero.
Valcicak, who played all 110 minutes, finished the match with nine saves, a season high thus far. The Red Flash ended their day with 18 shots in all as compared to the Panthers 15 total shots. In all four yellow cards and a red card to Pitt's Nick Wysong were issued and 28 fouls were called between both squads.
Saint Francis returns home for its next contest, Friday Sept. 7 at 4 p.m. versus Howard at the Stokes Soccerplex.
