By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA – The Bulls picked a great time to turn the corner and
fire up a finish to remember Sunday afternoon.
Valorie O'Brien forced a tie with only 3:14 remaining in
regulation and Taylor Patterson quickly put the finishing touches on the USF
women's soccer teams' 2-1 overtime victory over Jacksonville.
“I feel like the second half of this game and going into
overtime has kind of made a turning point for us,” head coach Denise
Schilte-Brown said. “We're really coming around the corner here and getting
confidence in our ability to find the back of the net.”
Jacksonville went ahead in the 45th minute on an
unassisted goal from Raquel Weckhurst and USF spent nearly 41 minutes trying to
break through. The Bulls ended up outshooting the Dolphins, 24-5, and had many
close calls near the net before the equalizer.
“We've been taking a lot of chances and had a lot of looks
on goal and they hadn't been going our way,” Schilte-Brown said.
The Bulls' luck changed for the better when O'Brien received
a solid corner kick from Molly Stack and headed in her first goal of the
season.
“We've been working on set pieces a lot, and to actually get
one to tie the game was an excellent job,” Patterson said.
Patterson capped off the victory 1 minute, 22 seconds into
the first overtime period on an assist from Sarah Miller and Chelsea Klotz.
Patterson got the ball in the middle of the box while being heavily covered by
defenders and fired it into the right set of the net to help the Bulls improve
to 4-2-1.
“I ran in, hoped for the best and got a goal out of it,”
Patterson said.
USF won both of its games this weekend and carries some
confidence into Big East play, which begins at home 7:30 p.m. Thursday against
West Virginia.
“Our momentum is going in the right direction now,”
Patterson said.
