No. 10 Pitt men’s soccer team draws with Virginia 2-2

The No. 10 Pitt men’s soccer team traveled to Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia, to take on Virginia on Friday night, and the result was a 2-2 tie between the two teams.

The first half belonged to the Panthers, as Pitt outshot Virginia 6-3 and Pitt forward Valentin Noel opened up the scoring in the 35th minute, after Pitt midfielder Matt Bailey set him up with a pass in front of the net. Then, with 28 seconds left in the half, Noel struck again, putting a shot in the back of the net from the top of the box to make it 2-0, Pitt, at the half.

However, while all went well for the Panthers in the opening stanza, the second half was all Cavaliers, with Virginia forward Leo Afonso scoring in the 54th minute on a penalty kick. For quite some time, it seemed that would be the hosts’ last stand, but after Pitt defender Mohammad Abualnadi was shown a red card in the 88th minute, Virginia defender Will Citron evened the score with six seconds left.

The last-ditch effort by Virginia forced overtime, but nothing would be resolved in the first period of extra time, with both teams reeling off two shots and failing to find the back of the net. And double-overtime would also fail to crown a winner, with the ACC rivals playing to a stalemate up to the 110th minute. And as a result, the game ended in a 2-2 tie.

With the tie, Pitt now sits at 8-4-1 on the season, while Virginia is now 5-7-3 overall. The next challenge for the Panthers will be a matchup with UMass at Ambrose Urbanic Field. That game will get underway from Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. ET on Monday.