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| UL - Taylor Vancil |
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| USF - Lofton-Malachi |
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TAMPA- A pair of Chelsea Klotz goals powered the University of South Florida women's soccer team to a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats at Gettler Stadium Sunday afternoon and in doing so moved into a first place tie with Marquette with 17 points in conference play.
“Today was a tough match,” said Bulls head coach Denise Schilte-Brown. “It is difficult to come up north and adjust to the elements but I was really proud of the team. They were focused and played hard from start to finish.”
Klotz, who is now tied with fellow sophomore Noelle Pineiro as the Bulls leading scorer with 15 points, took a feed from Rehana Murani and sent home the game winner in the 94th minute of the match. The goal is the seventh of the season and her fourth game winner of the season.
"Chelsea was outstanding today," added Schilte-Brown. "She has worked so hard on her ability to finish it obviously paid off today."
Murani has three helpers on the season and has two in her last two matches.
Despite remaining scoreless for the first 63 minutes, both teams were aggressive as the two teams combined for 18 shots in the first half with each team totaling four shots on goal a piece.
Klotz broke the ice for both teams when she gave the Bulls a 1-0 lead in the 63rd minute off an assist from Gina Pacheco, who has now tallied a point in her last three matches.
Pacheco has six points in her last three matches.
The Bulls' lead did not hold as the Bearcats responded with an unassisted goal from Emily Gessler in the 73rd minute.
With the score evened up at one, despite numerous opportunities from both sides, neither team was able to score in the final 17 minutes and the two teams headed to overtime.
Today marked the second time in her career that Klotz has tallied multiple goals in a game. She scored twice against Illinois State in 2008. It also marks the second time a Bull has accounted for two goals in a match this season, joining freshman Brittany Burt who scored twice against Austin Peay early this season
Being outshot, 21-18 for the match, the Bulls relied heavily on senior goalkeeper Mallori Lofton-Malachi and the Philadelphia native was up to challenge stopping eight of the Bearcats' nine shots on goal including one in overtime. The shots on goal were even at nine.
With the win, the Bulls, now 8-5-3 on the season and 5-2-2 in the BIG EAST conference, need just one point to secure a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament heading into the final weekend. The Bulls' five BIG EAST wins is a program best since joining the BIG EAST. The Bulls also have eclipsed their win total from a season ago and secured a winning record in BIG EAST play for the first time since joining the conference.
The Bulls have won three straight BIG EAST matches for the first time in school history.
Although each team has 17 points, Marquette would hold the tie-breaker over the Bulls thanks to the Eagles 2-1 win over the Bulls earlier this season.
After this weekend's pair of contests, USF will stay on the road to finish up the regular season as they will head to the Empire State to take on nationally ranked St. John's on Friday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. and then will head north to take on Syracuse on Sunday, Oct. 25 at Noon. The Bulls sit one point ahead of St. John's in the American Division standings.
