The third-seeded Bulls will face second-seeded SMU on Nov. 13 at UCF.
TAMPA (Nov. 9, 2019) – Adrian Billhardt (Berlin, Germany) scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season, a goal that proved to be the game-winner, as the University of South Florida men’s soccer team pulled out a hard fought 1-0 win in the first round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at Corbett Stadium on Saturday night. USF improves to 11-5-1* overall, while the Huskies end their season at 5-12-1.
The win sets the Bulls up with a rematch against second-seeded, and No. 11 ranked, SMU in the tournament semifinals on Nov. 13, at 4:30 p.m., at the UCF Soccer & Track Stadium in Orlando. The Mustangs handed USF, seeded third in the tournament, a tough 3-0 loss on Oct. 11 in Tampa.
With the majority of the match being a defensive struggle, Billhardt gave the Bulls all the scoring that they needed in the 51st minute, taking a pass from Victor Claudel (Strasbourg, France) and firing it into the back of the goal for the winner. The goal was Billhardt’s fourth in the past three matches, and fifth in his last five, after not scoring a goal in his first 11 outings of the year.
Both teams had quality scoring chances down the stretch, while the Bulls had to play a man down for the final 11-plus minutes of the match after Ignasi Lupon Fores (Barcelona, Spain) picked up a red card in the 79th minute. The USF defense, however, stepped up while goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares (Sydney, Australia) made two of his three saves in the crucial closing minutes to preserve the win.
In the end, despite losing the match, UConn held an 11-5 shots advantage on the Bulls, and a 3-2 edge in shots on goal.
Quotable
“Survive and move on is kind of a good description of what happened tonight. Connecticut really played well and fought hard, and it’s really tough to beat a team twice in one year. So, for us, I was really proud of the way the guys played, they managed the game as best they could, and our discipline was really good on both ends. We may not have played our best, but as a team we grew up tonight.” – USF head coach Bob Butehorn on USFs win over UConn in the first round.
Scoring Summary
USF – Adrian Billhardt (Victor Claudel, Henrique Gallina; 50:52)
1 2 F
USF 0 1 1
UConn 0 0 0
Shots: USF 5, UConn 11
Shots on Goal: USF 2, UConn 3
Saves: USF 3, UConn 1
Corner Kicks: USF 4, UConn 2
Notable
- USF improves to 6-2-4 all-time in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, dating back to the inaugural season in 2013 … The 2013 campaign was the year that the Bulls won their lone AAC Tournament title.
- Billhardt had three of USF’s five goal on the night, one of the two shots on goal.
Up Next
USF will now face SMU in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Nov. 13, at 4:30 p.m., at UCF in Orlando. The winner will advance to The American title match on Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. to face the winner of fifth-seeded Temple and top-seeded UCF.
* 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.
– #GoBulls –
