Women's Soccer October 06, 2013 USF

Granados Tallies Game Winner in Double OT Thriller

Team	1	2	OT	2OT	Final
UCONN	1	1	0	0	2
USF	2	0	0	1	3

By JOSH APPEL

Special to GoUSFBulls.com

TAMPA- Cristin Granados scored the game-winning goal in the 109^th minute to lift the USF Bulls over the Connecticut Huskies on Sunday afternoon at Corbett Stadium.

USF (7-2-3, 2-1-0) beat Temple on Friday for their first ever American Athletic Conference win and completed the weekend sweep of AAC opponents on Sunday.

It was a wild back-and-forth match with both teams recording over 20 total shots including multiple ones off the crossbar.

The Huskies (8-6-0, 2-2-0) got on the board first in the third minute after an unassisted goal from Julie Hubbard. The Bulls charged right back and tied it in the 14^th minute after Olivia Chance took a nice feed from Sharla Passariello and converted on the breakaway chance for her fourth goal of the season.

In the 34^th minute, USF took the lead for the first time. Passariello netted her team-leading fifth goal of the year to put the Bulls ahead, 2-1.

“Sarah Miller and Sharla Passariello made sacrifices that you only see from upper classman,” head coach Denise Schilte-Brown said. “Sharla was so sick, so sick and just gutted it out. She had a big hand in that final goal. She played like a senior.”

After the Huskies tied it in the 47^th minute off a header by Stephanie Ribeiro, the teams remained scoreless until late in double-overtime.

In the 110^th minute, with just 31 seconds to spare, Passariello created a turnover just outside the 18-yard box and slid the ball over to Cristin Granados who did the rest. Granados dribbled the ball into the middle at the top of the box and sent a rocket into the upper right corner of the goal to send the Bulls home with a 3-2 victory. The goal was Granados' third of the season.

“I didn't know all I had to do was ask her to score goals,” Schilte-Brown said of the VCU transfer. “We switched her to a more attacking role and asked her to step up.”

USF hits the road next to take on Louisville in another AAC conference tilt on Oct. 11 with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. The Bulls will play one more road game against Cincinnati on Oct. 13 before returning home to take on Memphis on Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m.