Bulls Battle No. 9/10 Gators to 1-1 Draw

Women's Soccer October 19, 2013 USF

Bulls Extend Home Unbeaten Streak to 10

Team	1	2	OT	2OT	Final
Memphis	1	0	-	-	1
USF	1	2	-	-	3

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

TAMPA – A second half scoring surge helped the Bulls extend their home unbeaten streak to 10 games Friday night against Memphis.

Sarah Miller and Demi Stokes each scored in the 47^th minute to power the Bulls to a 3-1 victory before a crowd of 828 at Corbett Stadium. USF (8-4-3, 3-3-0) improved to 8-0-3 on its home turf and snapped Memphis' two-game winning streak.

“We worked really hard this week, came out and wanted it,” Miller said. “We went hard for each other.”

Memphis (9-6-0, 2-4-0) got the scoring started in the fourth minute, when Christabel Oduro registered her ninth goal of the season, but the Bulls bounced back before halftime thanks to Olivia Chance's aggressive approach. The sophomore from Tauranga, New Zealand got a pass in stride from Lauriell Young and beat keeper Maryse Bard-Martel on a breakaway in the 40^th minute for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.

The Bulls as a whole were aggressive as well before halftime, finishing with a 10-3 shot advantage with two apiece coming from Chance, Jackie Simpson and Sharla Passariello.

“Getting early pressure on Memphis was a big deal for us,” assistant coach Jason Dowiak said. “We had a couple of really early chances and luckily after going down the girls got settled in even more. We were able to gain control.”

USF needed just one shot to grab a lead after the break, when Miller took a pass from Passariello and scored her second goal of the season in the 47^th minute. Stokes found the net 53 seconds later with a chip shot from 15 yards out to give the Bulls a commanding 3-1 lead.

Sophomore Christiane Endler made six saves, while USF finished with a 17-11 shot advantage over the Tigers.

“This was important for us. We were tied with Memphis coming into this weekend and getting a leg up on them was huge,” Dowiak said.

The Bulls will honor seniors Marsha Harper, Hannah Jasurda, Catherine Leibbrandt, Bianca Norman and Passariello during their final home match of the regular season 1 p.m. Sunday against Rutgers. Purchase tickets HERE.