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By SEAN BAROWS
GoUSFBulls.com
TAMPA – The Bulls scored five second-half goals to win a wild match at Houston on Sunday afternoon to finish the regular season.
Cristin Granados and Olivia Chance scored two goals each as the Bulls (9-4-5, 4-3-2 AAC) tallied five straight goals after going down 3-1 early in the second half.
There was scoring early and often as both teams combined for three goals in the first 10 minutes of the match. Chance got the scoring started with her seventh goal of the year in the third minute off of a rebound.
Houston (1-11-3, 0-9-0 AAC) fired right back with goals in the eighth and 10th minutes to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.
The Cougars added another goal not even two minutes into the second half to take a 3-1 lead.
Despite going down by two the Bulls never panicked and mounted a huge comeback. Demi Stokes scored in the 52nd minute to start a string of five straight goals for USF.
Granados scored her first goal of the match a minute later to tie the game at three, and Chance scored her second of the game thirty seconds after that to put the Bulls back in the lead.
USF struck again in the 61st minute to give itself some breathing room when Granados got her second of the game off a cross from Diana Saenz to make it 5-3.
Alex Myers capped off the comeback with her first goal of the year in the 77th minute on an assist from Sarah Miller to put the Bulls on top 6-3.
The five second-half goals were the most the Bulls have scored in any half this season and USF outshot Houston 23-16 for the match.
With the win the Bulls finished the regular season with 14 points in conference play and earned a berth to the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals. The fifth-seeded Bulls will travel to face the No. 4 seed Connecticut on Nov. 3 at 1 p.m. USF defeated the Huskies, 3-2, in double overtime on Oct. 6 at Corbett Stadium.
The semifinals and finals will be held at the UCF Soccer Complex in Orlando on Nov. 8-10.
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