TAMPA - For the second year the University of South Florida men's soccer team finished its regular season home schedule without a loss as it handed DePaul a 1-0 setback in front of 1,005 fans at the USF Soccer Stadium. The win improves USF's overall record to 12-2-2 and 6-2-2 in the BIG EAST Conference. In addition, the Bulls extend their home unbeaten streak to 28 games which is currently the longest such streak in the nation and tied for eighth longest all-time in Division I.
USF, who has now won five straight games, took care of business early, despite it taking them a little bit to get its engines started.
The Blue Demons (8-8-1, 5-5-0 BIG EAST) played the aggressor for nearly the first 10 minutes of the match getting two quality opportunities at a goal, however, both were stymied by the Bulls' goalkeeper Jeff Attinella.
USF, however, finally got going when Zak Boggs launched a laser from 23 yards out that was blocked by DePaul keeper Joe Ferrari. The ball got away briefly and rolled towards the bottom left corner of the goal, as Hasani Sinclair's attempt to tap it into the net was unsuccessful.
Boggs would then try to make things happen once again when he took the ball from the midfield stripe and played it to the 18 box, giving it off to Sebastien Thuriere who fired the first of his two shots on goal, only to be stopped by Ferrari once again.
Then in the 30th minute of play, Boggs would break through bending a free kick from right to left around the wall and by Ferrari into the back of the net, to give USF a 1-0 lead.
The Bulls would come out in the second half and had several opportunities starting with a shot from inside the goal box by Sinclair that was knocked out by Ferrari. Fernando Gonzalez tried to put it back only to have Ferrari come right back and make the save five minutes in.
Three minutes later Thuriere made an effort from 24 yards out that was headed to the top right corner of the goal. Ferrari, however, went airborne fully extended and knocked the ball out of bounds keeping the score 1-0.
DePaul would make a last push in the final 10 minutes of the match getting off three dangerous shots, including a shot from 10 yards out in the final five seconds that went high.
On the night, USF ended up tying the Blue Demons in shots on goal with 16 apiece, however the Bulls had a slight 7-6 advantage with shots on goal.
For USF in goal, Attinella had six saves en route to his seventh shutout of the year.
The Bulls will now head to the "Garden State" where they will end the regular season against Rutgers on Oct. 31 at 7 p.m.
USF will then await its fate as to its opponent and game date and time for the BIG EAST Tournament. Keep logged on to GoUSFBulls.com for further BIG EAST Tournament details.
