PITTSBURGH – The Saint Francis women's soccer team opened its 2015 regular season schedule Friday evening with a 1-1 draw against Pittsburgh on the first day of the Steel City Classic, hosted by Duquesne University. Red Flash keeper
Romina Kunze (Frankfurt, Germany/Carl-von-Weinberg-Schule) finished the night with 26. She came just seven shy of the Saint Francis school record of 33 saves, set by Michelle Sullivan against Niagara in 1991.
The Flash struck for its first goal of the season on senior
Kelly Beegle (Bedford, Pa./Bedford)'s cross to
Allison LaDuke (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe). She fought off a Panther defender at the 18-yard box to beat Pitt keeper Taylor Francis to her left to give the Flash a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.
Pittsburgh tied the score on a breakaway goal with just under 30 minutes to play in the second half. Ashley Moreira found Taylor Price, and she beat Kunze right side to make it 1-1. Two minutes later, Kunze made a great save on Pryce to keep the score tied. She cut the angle down and made a sliding stop on a point blank shot from the left side.
Kunze made another outstanding save with 22:30 remaining. Roosa Arvas shot from 15 yards out on the left wing was headed into the side netting, but Kunze made a diving save, just deflecting the ball wide with her left hand to keep the score even.
Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie, and Kunze made a leaping save midway through the first overtime to deflect the potential winning goal above the crossbar. In the second overtime,
Gabi Morales (Madrid, Spain/Colegio La Inmaculada-Marillac) had a great chance with just three minutes remaining after accepting a feed from
Leah Hardin (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen), but her low shot skidded wide.
With the tie, the Red Flash earned points against Pittsburgh for just the second time in six matches. The other came in a victory over the Panthers during the 2003 season.
"I'm very proud of our team for the way they executed our game plan," head coach
Brenda van Stralen said. "We didn't want to let a team like Pittsburgh get out and run. All the credit goes to our team for following the plan."
The Red Flash will play Steel City Classic host Duquesne on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Saint Francis is in the midst of a four-game road trip to open the season for just the third time in school history.Â
