Pitt men’s soccer draws with Delaware 3-3

The Pitt men’s soccer team took on Delaware at Ambrose Urbanic Field on Monday night and found itself in a dogfight with a dangerous team that appeared much improved since 2018, when the Panthers bullied the Blue Hens in a 6-1 win. This time around, they found themselves in a back-and-forth affair that went into double-overtime and ended in a 3-3 draw.

Delaware got on the board first, as Blue Hens defender Timo Hummrich was fouled and successfully converted a penalty kick in the third minute. However, Delaware returned the favor, fouling Pitt and setting Panthers defender Sito Sena up with a penalty kick that he drove into the back of the net to level the score at 1-1 in the 22nd minute. Sena would score once more under the same circumstances nine minutes later, providing Pitt with a 2-1 lead it would ride into halftime.

Panthers star Edward Kizza tacked on a third goal early in the second half, and Sena was once again involved, as he was credited with an assist. However, that would be Pitt’s final goal of the match, and it would prove insufficient to pull off a win, as Delaware scored twice more, forcing two overtime periods that ultimately failed to break the 3-3 deadlock.

”It was gut-wrenching, to be honest with you,” Pitt head coach Jay Vidovich said during a postgame interview. “But hats off to Delaware. It was a tremendous comeback from them to tie it up. We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”

With the draw, Pitt remains unbeaten at home early in the season, and its record sits at 1-2-1. Kizza is also off to a hot start with four goals in four games and is on pace to top his 2018 goal total of 15. Kizza and Pitt will look to remain unbeaten at Ambrose Urbanic Field on Friday, when the team hosts Wake Forest in its ACC opener at 7 p.m. ET.