TAMPA - The University of South Florida men¹s soccer team played in its last regular season match of the 2009 campaign on Saturday at Rutgers, and in doing so looked to continue its momentum as it heads into the BIG EAST Tournament. Well, things didn't exactly go as planned for the Bulls who were handed a tough 2-1 double overtime loss by the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, N.J., while battling torrential down pouring rain, wind and temperatures in the 60's.
The loss snaps USF's five-game winning streak and six-game unbeaten streak. In addition, the setback drops the Bulls to 12-3-2 (6-3-2 BIG EAST) while Rutgers is 8-9-0 (5-6-0 BIG EAST) on the year.
"Tonight's field conditions were absolutely unplayable," said USF head coach George Kiefer. "The conditions were so bad that you weren't even able to pass the ball to one another. It was more of lifting the ball to your teammates. It was some of the worst conditions that I have ever seen."
The first half proved to be a defense battle between the two teams with just a combined eight shots taken.
After Rutgers had two opportunities in the first 11 minutes of play, the Bulls would steal the momentum when Bernardo Anor took a shot on goal in the 34th minute which was saved by Rutgers goalkeeper Adam Klink. The rebound, however, would go straight to Zak Boggs who took another shot on goal for the Bulls and Klink was there again to make the save for Rutgers.
USF's Ogi Perucica would keep pressure on for the Bulls when he took a pass and tried to head it past Klink, but Klink would keep the game scoreless with his save.
Rutgers had their share of corner kicks during the first half with five to USF¹s two, but they were unable to capitalize on their corner kick opportunities.
Despite multiple opportunities for both teams during the first 45 minutes, the score remained 0-0 at the end of the first stanza.
It would take Rutgers only 44 seconds into the second half to score their first goal of the game. Ibrahim Kamara took the ball down the field and passed it over to Dan Parr who kicked the ball off the hand of USF goalkeeper Jeff Attinella - despite seemingly being offsides - and into the bottom right corner of the goal giving the Scarlet Knights a 1-0 lead.
"The first goal of the game was pretty controversial," said Attinella. "I saw the linesman signal offsides, but then Parr got open and got a good shot on net. I thought I got enough of my hand on it, but I didn't. Coach (Kiefer) always tells us that we can't worry about things we can't control, so I think that we did a good job as a team regrouping and playing after a tough goal and tough weather conditions."
USF would have another great chance in the 70th minute when Boggs took a shot that would hit off the post. The Bulls would then have another chance just four minutes later when Bernardo Anor would take a shot that would go just wide of the goal.
USF wouldn't waste its next opportunity in the 79th minute when Hasani Sinclair would take the ball for the Bulls and dribble it past a couple Rutgers defenders before taking a shot from 18 yards out that would make its way into the upper right corner of the goal tying the game.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the final 16 minutes of regulation as the game would go to overtime.
Rutgers would come out firing in the first overtime period as it outshot USF 4-2 in the first extra session.
USF would have a good chance of their own in the 96th minute when Kevin Olali would take shot that would go just wide of the goal.
It would take Rutgers just 1:30 into the second overtime to score the game winning goal when Andrew Cuevas recorded his second goal of the season off a corner kick giving the Scarlett Knights the win.
The Bulls will now await their fate as to the date, time and opponent fort the BIG EAST Conference Tournament. Keep logging on to GoUSFBulls.com for information.
