TAMPA (Sept. 17, 2019) – The USF men’s soccer team outshot Ohio State 14-6 on the night, which included a slight 5-4 margin on goal, however the Buckeyes found a way to break through in the second half and defeated the Bulls, 2-0, in a hard-fought battle at Corbett Stadium Tuesday night. The loss snaps USF’s three game winning streak and drops the Bulls to 3-2 on the year. Ohio State improves to 5-1 overall.
Devyn Etling scored both of the Buckeyes goals, coming just minutes apart. Osman Fofanah lofted a pass to Etling who headed in the first goal of the match – and the eventual game-winner – in the 83rd minute. He followed that up in the 89th minute with a goal off a pass from Xavier Green.
After a first half that saw the two sides combine for just six total shots – three apiece – the Bulls held the upper hand outshooting the Buckeyes 11-3 in the second stanza. USF had numerous opportunities in the final 45 minutes of play with Adrian Billhardt (Berlin, Germany) being the main aggressor. Billhardt had two prime chances to score however was stopped by Ohio State netminder Parker Siegfried who finished the match with five saves. Billhardt recorded a match high five shots with four coming on frame.
Emilio Ycaza (St. Petersburg, Fla.) had three shots on the night, and Trey Jackson (Ocala, Fla.) and Avionne Flanagan (Baltimore, Md.) recorded two shots, respectively.
Harrison Devenish-Meares (Sydney, Australia) had two saves for the Bulls.
Quotable
“Credit to Ohio State coming in here (Corbett Stadium) and getting a win. I think they had two chances in the whole second half and they just scored a great goal so credit to them. We created enough (chances) to win a game, but I just don’t think we converted and our execution was a little slow. In general, it took us a while to figure out what they were doing and when we did, we created chances. Our wing play was not as good as it usually is, tonight. It was just one of those games where we did not finish our chances.” – USF head coach Bob Butehorn on the loss to Ohio State.
Scoring Summary
OSU – Devyn Etling (Osman Fofanah; 84:02)
OSU – Devyn Etling (Xavier Green; 88:53)
1 2 F
USF 0 0 0
Ohio State 0 2 2
Shots: USF 14, Ohio State 6
Shots on Goal: USF 5, Ohio State 4
Saves: USF 2, Ohio State 5
Corner Kicks: USF 2, Ohio State 7
Fouls: USF 8, Ohio State 9
Key Stat
2/2 – Ohio State’s Devyn Etling fired off only two shots on the night, with both coming on goal and both finding the back of the net for the Buckeyes. Etling, along with teammate Mitch Bergman, accounted for four of Ohio State’s six shots.
Notable
- Tuesday’s loss to the Buckeyes was the first for Bulls in the short three match series.
- Javain Brown (Kingston, Jamaica) and Henrique Gallina (Atibaia, Brazil) each had one shot on the night. Gallina’s one shot came on net and was the only player other than Billhardt to put a ball on frame.
Up Next
After a hectic start to the 2019 season, USF will get a week to prepare for its next match on Sept. 24, at 7 p.m., when it travels to Jacksonville to face North Florida. The Bulls will return to Corbett Stadium on Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. for their American Athletic Conference opener against UConn.
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 –
