SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall men’s soccer team held a lead on three occasions, but settled for a 3-3 tie against Delaware on Thursday night. Sophomore Max Garcia (Jersey City, N.J.) had a stellar night for the Pirates (0-1-1) scoring twice and firing eight shots, six on target.

SHU took an early lead after a free kick by Garcia from 27 yards out bent over the Blue Hens’ (1-0-1) wall and into the net.

Delaware scored the equalizer nine minutes later on a goal by Roberto Gimenez. Evans Frimpong set up the tally with some nice footwork on the outskirts of the goal-box and found Gimenez with some room in the middle. The shot went off a diving Anthony Reichwaldt’s (Lincoln, Neb.) hand and found its way across the line.

After some great scoring chances for the Pirates went awry towards the end of the first half and start of the second, Seton Hall regained the lead in the 71^st minute. Garcia was left on a breakaway and was taken down by UD goalie Brandon Paul, giving the Pirates a penalty kick. Junior Adriano Gabriele (North Babylon, N.Y.) stepped up to take the shot and scored his first of the season on a shot to the right side of the net.

Gimenez assisted on the next game-tying goal after blasting a free kick off that Reichwaldt could not hang on to. The ball came to Kyle Ellis, who scored from close-range to even things up, 2-2, in the 77^th minute.

Garcia struck again with a beauty of a goal in the 87^th minute, which looked to be the game-winner. The attacker started towards the left side of the pitch, and used his strength to create space towards the middle. Garcia hit a strike from 28 yards away that curled perfectly to the upper portion of the net and in.

In the 88^th minute, a Seton Hall foul deep in their backfield gave Gimenez another chance on a set piece. Similar to the second goal, his shot was not held on to and found the feet of Tobias Muller, who scored into a wide-open net.

Both overtimes were wars of attrition with the teams looking exhausted from the back-and-forth 90 minutes of regulation.

The Pirates held an 18-17 lead on shots. Paul and Reichwaldt each made six saves between the pipes. Gimenez notched seven shots (four on goal) to lead the Blue Hens.

Former Seton Hall great Ian Hennessy made his first return to Owen T. Carroll Field as head coach of Delaware. Hennessy is second on the career list in goals (52) and points (134).

Seton Hall will play its first road game of the season at Army on Monday, September 5, at 7:00 p.m.

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