The Bulls close out three match homestand on Nov. 1 against Cincinnati.
TAMPA (Oct. 26, 2019) – The University of South Florida men’s soccer team looked to get another signature win tonight, when it faced No. 8/6 UCF in the annual War on I-4 matchup, while also looking to move up in the American Athletic Conference standings and position themselves for home pitch advantage in the first round of the AAC Tournament in November. Unfortunately, for the Bulls, the Knights got on the board quickly in the second half and toughed out a hard-fought 1-0 win at Corbett Stadium. The Bulls fall to 8-5-1* on the year and 2-3* in The American while UCF improves to 10-1-2 overall and 4-0-1 in conference play.
USF came out cold to start the match as it only accounted for three of the 11 combined shots by both sides in the first half. Henrique Gallina (Atibaia, Brazil) and Javain Brown (Kingston, Jamaica) gave the Bulls their best chances in the first stanza, only minutes apart, however were unable to convert. In the 30th minute Gallina sent a shot off a set piece from 26 yards out that skimmed just off the cross bar. Three minutes later Brown found the ball on his foot, from 16 yards out, and fired a low liner that was saved by UCF goalkeeper Yannik Oetti. The two teams would enter the locker at the break in a scoreless tie.
The Knights, however, didn’t waste any time getting on the board in the second 45 minutes of play when Jonas Schmalbach got the ball on the left edge of the box and beat a diving USF netminder, Harrison Devenish-Meares (Sydney, Australia), in the 49th minute of play.
The Bulls were much more aggressive in the second stanza out shooting the Knights, 10-8, and getting several quality chances to keep the pressure on Oetti, including during a frantic six-minute stretch. Gallina had another stellar offering in the 74th minute go just wide right. Then, Victor Claudel (Strasbourg, France) made a bid to tie the match with a bending shot from 20 yards out, on the left corner of the box, that looked to be headed to the far corner of the goal before Oetti punched the ball away with a diving save. Brown gave USF its last quality opportunity in the 80th minute only to have Oetti record his fifth and final save of the contest.
At the end of the night, UCF held a 16-13 advantage in shots, while both sides were even in shots on goal with five apiece. Devenish-Meares finished the match with four saves.
Quotable
“You have to give UCF a lot of credit, they played well and are a good team, and they are in good form right now. Our guys had a little bit of a shaky start, maybe a lot of unforced errors in terms of giveaways in the first half. But we came out in the second half and played much better and had chances to maybe tie it up. But, again, we showed some inexperience in some critical areas, and in critical moments at times in the game. You can’t teach this experience, so we’ll take this and move forward.” – USF head coach Bob Butehorn on USFs loss to No. 8/6 UCF.
Scoring Summary
UCF – Jonas Schmalbach (Gino Vivi, 48:28)
1 2 F
USF 0 0 0
UCF 0 1 1
Shots: USF 13, UCF 16
Shots on Goal: USF 5, UCF 5
Saves: USF 4, UCF 5
Corner Kicks: USF 9, UCF 9
Key Stat
8-3 – The Bulls got out of the gate slowly on Saturday against UCF, recording just three of the 11 shots in the first half.
Notable
- Javain Brown shared the team lead – with Henrique Gallina – with three shots in the match, while also accounting for three of the Bulls’ five shots on goal.
- Despite the setback, USF still holds a commanding 23-7-3 lead in the all-time series … The Green and Gold are 8-4-3 in matches played against the Knights in Tampa.
Up Next
USF closes out its three match homestand on Nov. 1 when they face Cincinnati on Senior Night. Prior to the match, the Bulls will honor Harrison Devenish-Meares, Stephen Rudderham, Jonathan Rosales and Emilio Ycaza. All home matches are at 7 p.m. USF will close out the regular season at Memphis on Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. ET.
* USF’s overall and American Athletic Conference records include a 2-1 win over Tulsa that counts towards AAC standings but is not recognized by the NCAA. Click here for details.
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