Bulls Close Regular Season With 2-0 Win

[Brad]

Courtesy USF

Bulls Close Regular Season With 2-0 Win

TAMPA, Fla. –  Following recognition for four years of service on the University of South Florida men’s soccer team, senior Simon Schoendorf found goal number seven on the year, as the Bulls defeated the St. John’s Red Storm 2-0 Saturday night at the USF Soccer Stadium.

Junior midfielder Jason Devenish tallied his first score of the year in the second half, which solidified the win. 

The victory locks up the fourth seed in the BIG EAST Red Division for USF, 11-4-2 (6-4-1).  The squad will welcome Georgetown, the fifth seed in the Blue Division, this Wed., Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in first round action of the BIG EAST Championship.

For St. John’s, 9-6-4 (6-3-2), the loss kept it from seizing the Red Division crown.  The Red Storm will head into the tournament as the two-seed, falling one point behind division champ DePaul.

Prior to the game, Schoendorf and classmate Tony D’Oyley were honored as part of Senior Night.  Both players have enjoyed excellent seasons, starting all 17 games.

Offensively, Schoendorf has had the best season of his career.  The Karlsruhe, Germany, native surpassed his personal-bests in points and assists this year, now with nine and 23, respectively.  His first half score tonight off of a centering pass from sophomore Armante Marshall ties his career-high in goals with seven.

Marshall’s assist from the left side was his second this season with the Bulls, following his transfer from Stetson this year.

On the defensive side, D’Oyley has been featured on a line that has allowed only 15 goals all season and helped the Bulls to their seventh shutout of the year tonight.

Freshman goalkeeper Jeff Attinella got the second start of his career and first at home.  The Safety Harbor native stopped two shots en route to his first ever shutout and win.

The match was highlighted by physical play and defensive stands.  The Bulls took just three shots on goal, while St. John’s managed only two.  In the 79th minute, junior Jordan Seabrook looked to have his sixth goal of the year when he fired a bullet from the close right side that Red Storm keeper Neal Kitson was able to deflect to a defender who then cleared the ball.

“This is a big win,” said head coach George Kiefer.  “St. John’s is one of the better programs in the BIG EAST and they were fighting for a league title and I think you have to look back a long time to see when they’ve lost in that type of situation.  I’m very proud of our guys.”

Saturday’s game will be broadcast on Brighthouse Networks’ Catch 47 on Sunday at 6 p.m.

[postmortem]

Hooray for some good news on the Bulls front.

[Brad]

Yeah, i just made that up to lift some spirits around here...

just kidding...