Garden City, N.Y. - Holding a 3-2 lead with less than six minutes to play in regulation, the fifth-ranked Adelphi University men's soccer team opened up the season with a 3-3 draw against a top-10 ranked opponent in LIU Post on Thursday evening at Motamed Field.

Morten Wenaas of the Pioneers was granted a late penalty kick in the 84th minute, which he snuck past Raymond Leto to tie the contest and contribute to the final tally.

After 90 minutes of regulation, the Panthers (0-0-1) and the Pioneers (0-0-1) played two frames of 10, but both teams were unable to net a game-winner, ending the non-conference battle under the lights.

James Thristino started things off for the Panthers, getting the hosts on the board in the fifth minute of action. A long ball from a defenseman allowed him to head towards the goal, drawing LIU keep Hessner Hansen out, far enough to bury it in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. The remainder of the half went by unblemished with the Brown and Gold holding a 5-4 advantage in shots with equal save numbers on both sides. 

A header off a corner kick from Lukas Ostermann managed to be the equalizer in the early going of the second half, assisted by Harry Pearse, and less than a minute later another corner from the Pioneers led to the visitors' second goal. After several attempts at the goal, Charlie Ledula took a header off the rebound into the net to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage with most of the half left to play.

However, Adelphi newcomer Andre De Giorgi landed a header in goal from a free kick off the boot of Joseph Sanchez to knot the game at two apiece, with the hosts taking the lead on an awarded penalty kick for John Stojcevski in the 77th minute. Throughout the second half, both sides of the game became physical, as LIU Post was issued four yellow cards to Adelphi's two.

Both overtime periods went by with each team taking a shot in each frame -- however, Hansen stopped a shot in each to keep the Panthers at bay. Leto completed his first career start for the Brown and Gold with six saves. 

The second day of the Adelphi Alumni Invitational will take place on Saturday, Sept. 2 as LIU Post returns to take on American Int'l at 3:00 p.m. with the Panthers taking on Dominican College in the nightcap, slated for 6:00 p.m. 

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past eight seasons, has collected 23 regular season conference titles, 25 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.

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