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By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, OCT. 3, 2014 – USF women's soccer posted its first American Athletic Conference victory of the season in dominant fashion by handing Houston a 3-1 loss before a crowd of 492 at Corbett Stadium on Friday night.
Junior Olivia Chance scored in the 25th and 51st minute and freshman Ocean Parr provided the insurance goal in the 87th minute to help the Bulls improve to 6-5-1 and 1-2 in The American.
“The girls played very quickly today, one- and two-touch soccer. They did everything we asked them to,” head coach Denise Schilte-Brown said.
The Bulls finished with an 18-3 shot advantage and controlled the pace of the game thanks in part to a solid performance by the defense. All of Houston's shots came in the second half and freshman keeper Thordis Aikman (Iceland) made one save in the first of two games for the Bulls at Corbett Stadium this weekend.
“I was really proud of the defenders. They're showing so much confidence the way they open up and they play the ball with great delivery,” Schilte-Brown said. “We thought the key to success was going to be Alexis Rossi and Jackie Simpson's distribution and I thought they confidently stepped up and did that.”
The Bulls just missed putting in the go-ahead goal four times before breaking through in the 25th minute. Chance (New Zealand) got a pass from junior Kate Loye (New Zealand) in the box and scored her fourth goal of the season from about 15 yards out. Junior Cristina Ferral (Mexico) also got an assist on the 17th goal of Chance's career as a Bull.
USF stayed in control for the rest of the first half and headed into the break with a 10-0 shot advantage in the 10th meeting between the programs. Sophomore Jordyn Listro (Canada) and Chance led the way with three shots apiece.
The Bulls had to endure a 45-minute weather delay during halftime but the long wait didn't cool off the offense once action resumed. Senior Demi Stokes (England) passed the ball on a free kick to Leticia Skeete, who found Chance in the box and Chance delivered her team-leading fifth goal in the 51st minute.
“(We used) one-touch passes and the girls set up some goals for me, so that was nice,” Chance said. “It was the team that got me those goals, it wasn't me. I just got to put it in the back of the net.”
Houston (1-4-4, 0-2) responded 3 minutes later with a goal by Lexa Green, who found the net on the Cougars' second shot of the game. Green leads Houston with four goals this season.
“Every team in our league is strong and they're all capable of scoring goals if you take the focus away for one minute,” Schilte-Brown said.
The Bulls put the finishing touches on the victory when Parr, a forward from Canada, took a pass from senior midfielder Daniela Andrade (Guatemala) and scored her first-career goal from 16 yards out with less than 4 minutes remaining.
The Bulls return to Corbett Stadium on Sunday at noon to host conference foe SMU. Sunday's game will be a “Fields of Green” themed game for the Bulls as they have teamed up with the USF Office of Sustainability, who will be collecting e-waste at the match. Bring your e-waste to the game and trade it in for a free USF T-shirt. View a full list of items that qualify as e-waste HERE and purchase tickets for the game HERE.
The USF women's soccer team has posted two consecutive 10-plus win seasons and three in the last four years under head coach Denise Schilte-Brown. The Bulls made their first NCAA tournament appearance and recorded their first tournament victory in 2010. USF returns 23 players from last year's roster including All-American Athletic Conference second team forward Demi Stokes and All-Rookie Team defender Leticia Skeete. They also bring back 11 players that appeared in 15 or more games last season.
- #GoBulls -
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