Brian Schaefer, Segun Afolabi and Oscar Resano all score as the Bulls extend their AAC unbeaten streak to five.
TAMPA (Oct. 16, 2022) – The University of South Florida men’s soccer team had to play a man down for 24 minutes, however, the Bulls still extended their American Athletic Conference unbeaten streak to five matches pulling out a gritty 3-3 draw in a thriller against FIU on Sunday night at Corbett Stadium. South Florida is now 3-4-4 on the year and 2-0-3 in The American, while the Panthers are 7-4-1 and 3-2-1 in conference play.
With the match tied at 2-2, and after a prime chance by Oscar Resano in the 60’, the Bulls’ Takeru Moriyama was issued his second yellow card of the night in the 66’ forcing South Florida to play with just 10 players the remainder of the match. FIU eventually took advantage of being a man-up and scored in the 80’ when Stephen Afrifa tallied his second goal of the contest. But in what had become a trend during the night, that lead didn’t last long. Just seven seconds later Resano took a pass from Lovro Kostanjsek and buried his offering home from the right side for the equalizer and the final score of the night.
Marcus Victorio finished the match with a team-high four shots while Resano had two shots and a team-best two shots on goal. South Florida goalkeeper Jackson Weyman finished with six saves.
The scoring started quickly during the night as FIU struck in just the 3’ when Yushi Nagao was given a penalty kick, stepped to the spot, and converted the chance to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
South Florida then got the equalizer on a spectacular goal less than 60 seconds later. Brian Schaefer, playing in his first match since UAB on Oct. 5, made his presence felt as he took a perfectly placed pass from Marcus Victorio, picked it out of the air and fired a brilliant bicycle kick past FIU goalkeeper Kevin Harr to the top left of the goal.
Each side had their chances to get the go-ahead goal during the middle part of the first half, but it was the Panthers who went back on top in the 32’ when Afrifa connected on his first of the night and beat Weyman to take a 2-1 lead.
The Bulls, however, did not end the first half quietly as Segun Afolabi sent the teams to the locker room at the break tied at 2-2 after taking a pass from Ajmeer Spengler and firing a laser into the back of the goal.
Scoring Summary
FIU – Yushi Nagao (Penalty Kick; 3:09)
USF – Brian Schaefer (Marcus Victorio; Shion Soga; 3:57)
FIU – Stephen Afrifa (Fumiya Shiraishi; 31:48)
USF – Segun Afolabi (Ajmeer Spengler; 39:45)
FIU – Stephen Afrifa (Bernardo Dos Santos Monteiro; 79:39)
USF – Oscar Resano (Lovro Kostanjsek; Alfred Perez; 79:46)
1 2 F
USF 2 1 3
FIU 2 1 3
Shots: USF 9, FIU 21
Shots on Goal: USF 6, FIU 9
Saves: USF 6, FIU 3
Corner Kicks: USF 3, FIU 7
Fouls: USF 12, FIU 12
Notable
- South Florida’s draw with FIU moves its record in the all-time series to 13-14-5 and 7-7-2 in matches played in Tampa.
- In addition to Weyman, Luca Hollenstein, Salvatore Mazzaferro and Brian Schaefer played a complete 90 minutes.
- Brian Schaefer’s goal was his second of the season while Segun Afolabi and Oscar Resano tallied their second and third goals on the year, respectively.
Up Next
Following the match with the Panthers, South Florida will head on the road for two-straight beginning at SMU on Friday at 8 p.m. ET, before facing Charlotte on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. The Bulls will return to Corbett Stadium on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. for their home finale and Senior Night. South Florida closes out the season with the War on I-4 at Central Florida on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. All four matches can be seen live on ESPN+.
Fans can purchase tickets by calling 1-800-GoBulls or at Ticketmaster.
All home matches this season will be broadcast live on USF Bulls Unlimited, with Darek Sharp on the call. Bulls Unlimited is available via the free Tune In app (search “Bulls Unlimited”) and provides static-free quality whether you’re listening on your streaming device, laptop or desktop.
In addition to Bulls Unlimited, all of South Florida’s home regular season matches will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform. Subscriptions for the ESPN+ app are $6.99 monthly or $69.99 annually and can be packaged with Hulu and Disney+ streaming services. A step-by-step guide for subscribing to ESPN+ is located here.
About USF Men’s Soccer
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USF Men’s Soccer competed in the school’s first ever intercollegiate athletic contest on Sept. 25, 1965, beating Florida Southern 4-3. Since then, the oldest program on campus has built a winning tradition, claiming 14 conference championships and making 21 NCAA Tournament appearances, including 3 trips to the elite eight.
The program also has a strong reputation within the professional game and boasts 29 MLS draft picks. Notable alumni include two-time MLS Golden Boot winner Jeff Cunningham, USA 1994 World Cup star Roy Wegerle, and 2013 MLS Cup winner Dom Dwyer.
The Bulls have advanced to the postseason in 18 of the past 20 years, including 12 NCAA Tournament appearances during that period.
The University of South Florida men’s soccer team was well represented on the AAC postseason All-Conference Team in 2021 with four players earning honors. Highlighting the Bulls’ honorees was the American Athletic Conference Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, Kazuna Takase, along with first-team selection Shion Soga. In addition, Takase was also selected to the All-Conference Second Team along with Salvatore Mazzaferro, and Josh Gomina was named to the AAC All-Rookie Team.
–#GoBulls –
