Henrique Gallina leads the way with two goals in a bittersweet victory over the Owls.
TAMPA (Nov. 5, 2021) – The University of South Florida men’s soccer team took care of business on Friday night, and did what it needed to do, pulling out a 3-1 win over Temple in the regular-season finale for both schools. Unfortunately, for the Bulls, they didn’t get the help they needed from SMU, who fell to Memphis, 4-1, eliminating the Green and Gold from contention for the American Athletic Conference Tournament, to be held in Tulsa next week.
South Florida trailed Memphis by three points coming into Friday’s final match and needed to defeat the Owls and have the Tigers lose to the Mustangs on Friday to finish fourth and secure the final tournament spot. The Bulls would have advanced to the postseason by a tiebreaker over the Tigers, having defeated Memphis, 2-1, on Oct. 15.
South Florida finishes the season 6-7-2 overall and 4-5-1 in The American, while the Owls end the season 2-12-2 and 0-10 in league play.
The Bulls showed tremendous urgency to get on the board first and did just that when Henrique Gallina (Atibaia, Brazil) took matters into his own hands, in the 3’, sending a bender into the far corner of the goal off his corner kick.
Despite not having won a match in The American all season – and looking to not become the first team in at least 34 years to go winless in conference play – Temple got on the board in the 20’ when Andres Charles-Barrera found the ball on his foot after it was pin-balling around the box, and beat Kazuna Takase (Tomoto, Japan) with the equalizer.
Just five minutes later, however, Jeffrey “JT” Copper (Tampa, Fla.) served up a precision offering to Segun Afolabi (Austell, Ga.) who went high above the defense and directed a header past Goodwill Agbaadem with what was the eventual game-winner. It was Afolabi’s second goal of the season, both winners.
Gallina gave the Bulls some insurance when Temple was called for a penalty in the box, leading to South Florida’s first penalty kick of the season. The Brazilian native stepped up to the spot and sent a laser to the left post and into the back of the net in the 61’. That was all the Bulls needed and were never challenged by the Owls during the final 45 minutes of play.
Gallina was a man on a mission during the match, recording eight shots, including seven on goal in 79 minutes of play.
Takase had four saves on the night for his fourth win of the year and improved his record in the last six matches to 4-1-1.
Scoring Summary
USF – Henrique Gallina (Unassisted; 3:04)
Temple – Andres Charles-Barrera (Mike Eijgendaal; 20:18)
USF – Segun Afolabi (Jeffrey “JT” Copper; 25:01)
USF – Henrique Gallina (Penalty kick; 60:38)
1 2 F
USF 2 1 3
Temple 1 0 1
Shots: USF 19, Temple 13
Shots on Goal: USF 10, Temple 5
Saves: USF 4, Temple 7
Corner Kicks: USF 7, Temple 3
Fouls: USF 24, Temple 13
Notable
- The Bulls improved their all-time record over Temple to 8-3-1 and 4-1 in Tampa.
- USF finished the season strong, winning four of their last six matches after starting the season 2-6-1.
- Segun Afolabi, Salvatore Mazzaferro, and Ben Kaplan all recorded two shots in the win.
