Jamaica, N.Y – The St. John’s and Pittsburgh women’s soccer team battled to a 1-1 double-overtime tie this evening at Belson Stadium. The Red Storm are 2-5-1 overall and Pittsburgh is now 2-3-1.

The Red Storm pulled out to a 1-0 lead in the first half when sophomore Kaitlin Schmidt (Centereach, N.Y.) knocked in her second goal of the season. Junior Dominica Reina’s (Frankfort, N.Y.) shot hit the crossbar and bounced back into play, when Schmidt gathered the rebound and shot the ball off of a Pittsburgh defender. Schmidt shot her second attempt into the back of the net through two Panther defenders, giving the Red Storm a 1-0 lead at the 22:59 mark, a lead which remained into the second half.

Nine minutes into the second half, Lauren McGrory (Hauppauge, N.Y.) had a goal to the upper right corner of the net disallowed, as she fouled a Pitt defender on her shot attempt.

The Panthers battled back and in the 61st minute of action, tied the game at one. Kristina Francois dribbled the ball in front of the Red Storm goalmouth and headed for the goal line on the left side of the net. In a last attempt to block Francois from the open goal, St. John’s senior defender Claudia Rubino (Montreal North, Quebec) slid into the side of the attackers feet and was called for a foul, resulting in a Pittsburgh penalty kick. Jennifer DeLaHoz connected on the penalty kick, tying the game at one and forcing the game to overtime.

In the first overtime period, each team had strong scoring opportunities. Pittsburgh, in the first few minutes of overtime, took a shot from the 18-yard line towards an open net that sailed wide. In the 91st minute, Holly Ryder (Plantation, Fla.) and Courtney Rett (Valley Stream, N.Y.) took back-to-back shots that were blocked by Pitt defenders in front of the goal. The second overtime period was dominated by defense, forcing the game to end in a draw.

Gabriela Franco (Brentwood, N.Y.) finished with four saves in the net for St. John’s, while Jamie Pelusi had five for the Panthers.

The Red Storm are back in action at home on Tuesday, September 23. Kickoff against Stony Brook is slated for 7 p.m.