TAMPA (Oct. 5, 2014)— Two second half goals, combined with a dominating offensive performance and an unrelenting defense, led the USF women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over the SMU Mustangs Sunday afternoon at Corbett Stadium.

"I have to give a ton of credit to the team," head coach Denise Schilte-Brown said. "They showed a ton of leadership because they picked themselves up and went out there and continued with what they had started."

Jackie Simpson had the game-winning goal with four minutes left in regulation. The junior punched in the goal from eight yards out into the lower left corner with assists by junior Kate Loye and junior Diana Saenz.

"Jackie is so competitive," Schilte-Brown said. "It's almost like you can see that Jackie won't let us lose. She has that determination that you want when you're recruiting."

Junior Olivia Chance struck in the 74th minute off assists by Sienna Brooks and Stokes to tie the game, 1-1. The goal was Chance's sixth of the year and third of the weekend as the New Zealand native recorded two shots in Friday's win over Houston.

"I think we kept pretty composed during the game," Simpson said. "We were keeping the ball and being patient and the first goal came to tie it up and that gave us momentum."

Despite the USF offense dominating in the first half, the Mustangs struck first on an own goal by the Bulls. After a corner kick by SMU's Lauren Guerra, Loye cleared the ball off the line, before it hit Simpson and ricocheted into the goal.

Before the goal, the Bulls were outshooting SMU 10-2, including four shots on goal..  USF nearly tied the game on two attempts late in the first half, but Stokes hit the crossbar and junior Cristina Ferral's shot was saved.

The Bulls outshot the Mustangs 26-4 in an impressive performance by the offense. Eleven different players recorded shots with Chance leading the way with six shots, including 4 on goal. The dominating effort by the offense forced SMU goalkeeper Lauryn Bodden to make 11 saves on the day.

USF freshman goalkeeper Thordis Aikman only allowed the one own goal, but didn't have to make any other saves as the defensive line limited SMU to only two shots on goal the entire game.

USF improved to 7-5-1 for the season and 2-2 in the American Athletic Conference. SMU dropped to 5-8-1 overall and 1-2 in the AAC.

The Bulls will finish their three-game homestand Friday, Oct. 10, with a match against instate rival UCF. The match is slated to kickoff at 8:00 p.m. at Corbett Stadium.

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.

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