W. Soccer Victorious In Miami

[Brad]

Courtesy USF

W. Soccer Victorious In Miami

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Head Coach Denise Schilte-Brown led the University of South Florida women’s soccer team to their first victory of the season, a 3-2 win over Miami Friday night in Coral Gables. The Bulls are now 1-2-1 overall while the Hurricanes drop to 2-2-1. 

The win is Schilte-Brown's first at the helm of the program and USF's first since Oct. 8, 2006, when the Bulls beat Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime. USF had also been held scoreless since that victory over the Panthers last season. 

The USF women's soccer program is now just two victories shy of 100, currently posting an overall record of 98-96-19 in 13 seasons. 

In Friday night's game, Miami started the scoring fury in the 41st minute, but the Bulls answered one minute later, tying the game at one apiece going into the half. To score USF's first goal, senior Autumn Browning out-jumped the Hurricane keeper to head the ball into the net. Junior forward Lindsay Brauer recorded the assist on the play. 

Within the same minute, junior defender Melanie Sutherland collected her second yellow card of the game, which forced the Bulls to play a woman down for nearly the entire second half. 

Browning notched her second goal of the game in the 83rd minute when she corralled a ball in the box, then bent a shot past the UM keeper and into the upper right corner of the net to give USF the 2-1 lead.

Brauer put the Bulls up by two in the 88th minute when she took a pass from sophomore Rachel Jakubowski and fired a shot from the right side, through the keeper's hands. 

Miami fought back in the final minute, scoring in the final 15 seconds, but the Bulls held off the Hurricanes to win the game 3-2. 

"There is a lot of heart on this team," said Schilte-Brown after her first victory as a Bull. "They play for each other and I'm really proud of them."

Three players were in the net for the Bulls throughout the game, as sophomore keeper Mallori Lofton-Malachi came out of the game in the 42nd minute due to cramping in her legs. Freshman Melissa Biber took over goalkeeping duties for nearly four minutes, until an injury forced her to be sidelined and make room for freshman Pasquale Anderson to finish the first half. Lofton-Malachi re-entered the game in the second half, despite continued pain. 

"I'm proud of the girls to keep their head among a lot of adversity," said Schilte-Brown. "Mallori (Lofton-Malachi) and a lot of others players really fought through some painful bumps, bruises and injuries to get our result."

The team will now hit the road for the Florida Atlantic Owls at 3 p.m. Sunday, on FAU Field in Boca Raton, Fla.

The Bulls hold a 6-4-2 lead in the all-time series with FAU. USF is 4-0-2 in home games with the Owls and 2-4-0 when playing in Boca Raton. USF started the all-time series with a 6-2-0 mark before going winless against FAU since the 2002 season, tallying two ties and a pair of losses in the past four meetings. The Bulls are 10-7-3 against Sun Belt Conference schools. In addition to the FAU series, USF Is 3-3-1 against FIU and picked up a 4-0 victory last season against South Alabama. 

USF’s home opener is September 28 when the Bulls face off against the preseason No. 17 Connecticut Huskies at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for that game are $5 for adults, $3 for youth 16-and-under and $2 for groups of 10 or more and are available on www.GoUSFBulls.com or by calling 1-800-GoBulls.  Season tickets are also available.

[Jamie]

How exactly did this team end up with a schedule that has five home games and 12 road games? Every single OOC game is on the road.