Women's Soccer October 24, 2015 USF

Bulls Clinch No. 2 Seed for Conference Tournament

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

ORLANDO (Oct. 23, 2015)—The USF women's soccer team clinched the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament after falling, 3-1, to UCF in the regular season finale Friday night. The second place finish is the highest under head coach Denise Schilte-Brown.

USF finished the regular season with a 13-3-2 record and 6-2-1 conference record. The Bulls finished with 19 points in conference play, just one spot behind UConn, who the Bulls defeated to open conference play.

The match was aggressive from the beginning and the Knights struck first on a deflected shot off USF keeper Kat Elliott.

The deficit would not last long as Diana Saenz netted her second goal of the season just three minutes later. Sophomore Brittany Raymond crossed the ball from the left to Ocean Parr who headed it back across the box. Saenz found the ball and headed it in for the equalizer.

In the second half, UCF would strike twice, once in the 67th minute and again in the 82nd minute. The second UCF goal of the night was off a rebound and the third was on a breakaway play that saw Kayla Adamek beat Elliott.

Raymond had the best attempt of the night to tie the game when UCF took a 2-1 lead. From the far left side, the sophomore sent a beautiful shot just over the crossbar.

The Bulls and Knights played tight with each other, with UCF just outshooting USF, 15-14. The Bulls led the second half, with an 8-6 shot advantage. Elliott finished with five saves on the night. Olivia Chance led USF with four shots on the night, while Trudi Carter had three with two on goal.

Despite the loss, there was a happy ending for one Bull as senior Yaya Martinez, who scored her first career goal on Sunday, was reunited with her brother who has been stationed in Texas for the last eight months.

The conference tournament begins on Nov. 3 in Dallas on the SMU campus. The Bulls will face the yet to be decided No. 7 seed in the first round.

The USF women's soccer team has posted three consecutive 10-plus win seasons and four in the last five years under head coach Denise Schilte-Brown. The Bulls made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2010 and returned in 2014. USF returns 20 players from last year's roster including All-American Athletic Conference first team midfielder Olivia Chance and second team defender Jackie Simpson. They also bring back 12 players that appeared in 15 or more games last season.

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