Shion Soga ends the match five minutes into the extra session.
ORLANDO (Oct. 27, 2021) – University of South Florida’s Shion Soga scored the game-winning goal in the 95’ to lead the Bulls to a thrilling 4-3 overtime win over Central Florida in the second edition of the War on I-4 at the UCF Soccer Complex. The win improves South Florida to 5-7-1 on the year and 3-5 in The American, while the Knights fall to 8-5 overall and 6-2 in league play. Central Florida, who came into tonight’s match in a tie for first place in the conference standings, snaps its three-match winning streak.
After the Green and Gold seemingly took control of the match, 3-1, on an Oscar Resano goal in the 72’, the Bulls overcame a furious Central Florida comeback as the Knights scored two goals in the final 19 minutes of regulation to tie the match up. UCF found the back of the net in the 74’ and 85’ minutes as full-time ended deadlocked.
Both sides had their opportunities during the opening moments of the extra session, starting with a low skipping liner by Andres Freire in the 93’ that was saved by the Knights’ goalkeeper Tyler Lavigne, and then South Florida keeper, Kazuna Takase, kept the match tied with a spectacular diving save one minute later.
But it was Soga who ended the night when he took a pass from Jeffrey “JT” Copper and fired a shot from 23 yards out and past Lavigne, stunning the Knights and the nearly 1,000 in attendance.
Early on in the contest, Central Florida held the possession advantage to start the match and eventually broke through to take the early lead in the 24’. Ariel Hadar got behind the Bulls defense, and took a pass from Yanis Leerman, beating Takase to make the score 1-0.
The Bulls started to find themselves offensively and struck twice in just over eight minutes. Andres Freire leveled the match at one-all in the 32’ when he was on the receiving end of a free-kick from Henrique Gallina. Gallina served the ball in from about 25 yards out and, after skipping off the head of a Knights’ defender, found its way to Freire who headed the ball past Lavigne.
Copper then put South Florida ahead in the 40’ off a pass from Salvatore Mazzaferro, eventually taking their 2-1 lead into the locker room at the break.
Scoring Summary
Central Florida – Ariel Hadar (Yanis Leerman; 23:59)
USF – Andrew Freire (Henrique Gallina; 31:39)
USF – Jeffrey “JT” Copper (Salvatore Mazzaferro, Brian Schaefer; 39:55)
USF – Oscar Resano (Shion Soga; 71:39)
Central Florida – Mauricio Villalobos (Unassisted; 73:27)
Central Florida – Gianluca Arcangelli (Anderson Ross, Mauricio Villalobos; 84:52)
USF – Shion Soga (Jeffrey “JT” Copper; 94:59)
1 2 OT F
USF 2 1 1 4
Central Florida 1 2 0 3
Shots: USF 13, Central Florida 20
Shots on Goal: USF 8, Central Florida 6
Saves: USF 3, Central Florida 4
Corner Kicks: USF 2, Central Florida 5
Fouls: USF 11, Central Florida 9
Notable
- The win over Central Florida improves the Bulls’ record against the Knights in the all-time series to 24-9-3.
- Wednesday’s victory was South Florida’s second straight over the Knights in Orlando.
- Andres Freire, Jeffrey “JT” Copper, Oscar Resano, and Shion Soga’s goals all tie Henrique Gallina for the team lead with three apiece on the year.
Up Next
USF concludes its two-match road stretch when it travels to Memphis on Sunday, Oct. 31 for an 8 p.m. ET meeting with the Tigers. The Bulls close out their regular season schedule at Corbett Stadium on Friday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. against Temple on Senior Night.
