By: TOM ZEBOLD 
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA - The USF women's soccer team will have to see how it responds after some early adversity this season.

Central Florida jumped out to a 3-0 halftime lead and handed the Bulls a 5-1 loss in their season debut in Orlando on Friday night.

“It was a tough team and I have to give a lot of credit to UCF. They are very fast and athletic,” USF head coach Denise Schilte-Brown said. “They are very good at putting away their set pieces. 

“Now it's just about how we respond to the situation,” she added. “We will come back to practice with greater intensity and harder work, and we're going to learn a lot from this.”

Tishia Jewell scored twice in the first half for UCF as the Knights outshot USF, 9-5, in the opening half that was delayed 30 minutes by a lightning delay at the start.

USF avoided the shutout in the second half because of a nice give-and-go play between Chelsea Klotz and Demi Stokes.

Klotz collected the ball, dribbled inside and delivered the ball to Stokes, who penetrated in UCF territory after beating a defender. Stokes served it to Klotz, who was in a prime position to score nearly 50 minutes into the game.

“Chelsea did a tremendous job of beating the defender in the box and scoring a goal,” Schilte-Brown said.

Klotz, a senior forward, tied for the team lead last season with 11 goals.

USF will look to bounce back Friday, Aug. 26 when it hosts Indiana in the Bulls' first game in their new stadium at 7:30 p.m. Season tickets can be purchased at GoUSFBulls.com.