Cooper Blay gets his first career win in a night of firsts for the Bulls
TAMPA (Oct. 15, 2019) – In a night of firsts the University of South Florida men’s soccer team turned in one of its most impressive performances of the season as the Bulls dominated Jacksonville in a 4-1 win at Corbett Stadium on Tuesday night. USF improves to 8-3* overall on the year while the Dolphins drop to 4-5-2.
Freshman goalkeeper Cooper Blay (Gainesville, Fla.) earned his first career win in his first collegiate start – and game. Blay was never really challenged on the night as he recorded just one save in 90 minutes of action. In addition, Avionne Flanagan (Baltimore, Md.) scored his first goal of the season, Henrique Gallina (Atibaia, Brazil) tallied his first goal of the year, and Ignasi Lupon (Barcelona, Spain) found the back of the net for the first time in his collegiate career.
Jonathan Rosales (Kissimmee, Fla.) got the scoring started in the 12th minute when he deflected a shot from Victor Claudel (Strasbourg, France) past Jacksonville goalkeeper Eli Lasley to make the score 1-0. Despite that being the lone goal of the half, the Bulls would outshoot the Dolphins 11-2 in the first stanza to take the lead into the locker room at the break.
It didn’t take long into the second half for the Bulls to assert themselves as Flanagan found the back of the net for what would turn out to be the game winner, in the 49th minute of play. Flanagan found himself with the ball, and space, about 25 yards from the goal on the top left corner of the box, and beat two defenders, before putting a spectacular bending shot into the top right corner of the goal.
Gallina followed just over five minutes later off a pass from Josue Monge (Philadelphia, Pa.). In addition to it being Gallina’s first goal of the season, it was also the second of his career.
Lupon closed out the scoring for the night, in the 83rd minute, taking passes from Freddy Gil (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Trey Jackson (Ocala, Fla.) and beating Lasley.
USF finished the night outshooting Jacksonville 20-5, including a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal.
Quotable
“I’m pleased for the guys in general. They had a good game, especially in playing (somewhat) two games in two days. Overall, I’m really pleased with the guys’ performance and how they came together, started fast, put them under pressure and scored great goals. So, for me it was a good day all around for these guys.” – USF head coach Bob Butehorn on USF’s win over Jacksonville.
Scoring Summary
USF – Jonathan Rosales (Victor Claudel, Avionne Flanagan; 12:14)
USF – Avionne Flanagan (Unassisted; 48:33)
USF – Henrique Gallina (Josue Monge; 53:47)
JAC – Reggie Nicholas (Unassisted; 80:40)
USF – Ignasi Lupon (Freddy Gil, Trey Jackson; 82:17)
1 2 F
USF 1 3 4
JU 0 1 1
Shots: USF 20, JU 5
Shots on Goal: USF 5, JU 2
Saves: USF 1 JU 1
Corner Kicks: USF 7, JU 6
Fouls: USF 10, JU 9
Key Stat
20 – The Bulls posted a season-high 20 shots against Jacksonville, including 12 in the first half en route to a commanding 20-5 shots advantage.
Notable
- USF played a season-high 21 players on Tuesday against Jacksonville.
- USF improves its record over Jacksonville to 34-9-2 all-time, 5-1-1 in its last seven and 11-4-1 in its last 16 matches against Jacksonville … In addition, the Bulls are 15-5-1 all-time at home against the Dolphins and have outscored them 134-48 in the 45 meetings.
- Santiago Burgos (Miami, Fla.) saw his first action for the Bulls since Nov. 4, 2017, against Temple, after suffering two serious achilleas injuries over nearly the past two seasons.
- Adrian Billhardt (Berlin, Germany) and Victor Claudel (Strasbourg. France) each posted a match-high three shots despite not scoring a goal on the night.
Up Next
USF will hit the road to face Temple in Philadelphia on Friday night at 7 p.m. The Bulls will return home on Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., when No. 12/21 FIU visits Corbett Stadium for the first of three-straight home matches. USF will also take on No. 11/3 UCF on Oct. 26 and Cincinnati on Nov. 1 to close out the regular season home schedule. All home matches are at 7 p.m.
* 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.
To purchase tickets for USF men’s soccer, or to purchase an Olympic Gold Pass which provides entry to all men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball home contests in 2019, visit USFBullsTix.com or call 1-800-GO-BULLS.
– #GoBulls –
