Tampa, Fla. (September 3, 2006) ? In a physical battle between the University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University, both teams came away with two goals and a tie in the scorebook after 110 minutes of play at the USF Soccer Stadium.
USF came into the game with a 2-0-0 record after winning the Dafeldecker Classic last weekend. Florida Atlantic was looking for a win following a 2-0 loss to the University of Central Florida on Friday.
In the 32nd minute of the game USF nearly opened the scoring drive. Senior Jenna Ball crossed a shot to junior Lindsay Brauer, who settled the ball, then barely missed the goal opportunity wide left. One minute later in a carbon copy play, Brauer finished the assist from Ball into the right edge of the net for the first goal of the game. Ball registered her second assist of her USF career on the play, and Brauer netted her sixth goal of the season.
Two minutes before the half, goalkeeper Casey Garrett stopped a shot by FAU senior Jessica Sachs to record her 100th save as a Bull. Garrett made three total saves in the first half.
The Owls came out after the half with a sense of urgency, controlling the ball for the first minutes of the period. In the 62nd minute FAU junior Alicia Tirelli scored an unassisted goal to tie the game.
With the game knotted at one apiece, senior Michelle Buskey crossed a shot to junior Autumn Browning, who scored her third goal of the season. Buskey recorded her third assist of the season on the go-ahead goal in the 84th minute.
With time winding down in regulation, FAU midfielder Natalie D'Oria beat a herd of Bulls, placing an unassisted shot past Garrett to tie the game at two-all in the 89th minute.
In the first overtime, the Bull offense took three shots and one corner kick while the defense allowed no shots in the extra 10 minutes of play.
In a physical second overtime, USF took one shot on goal, a high kick from Ball, and again held the FAU offense to no shots.
USF took 21 shots in the double-overtime game, nine of which were on goal. Garrett made five total saves and allowed her first two goals of the 2006 season. FAU took 13 total shots, seven on goal.
USF freshman Shaena Bair of Pembroke Pines, Fla., made her first appearance as a Bull, entering the game in the 32nd minute of the first half and playing 74 minutes.
The Bulls, now 2-0-1, travel to DeLand, Fla., on Tuesday, Sept. 5 to play a rescheduled game against the Stetson Hatters, before returning to the USF Soccer Stadium on Sept. 8 to play Marquette. The Bulls will kick off at 7 p.m. in Deland and at 7:30 p.m. against Marquette to open their BIG EAST Conference schedule.
