USF Women’s Soccer Celebrates Record-Breaking 2019 Season
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 19, 2020 – After reaching new heights in the 2019 season, the University of South Florida women's soccer team had the opportunity to celebrate recently, receiving their rings from a conference championship and a historic NCAA run. To earn these achievements, the preseason favorites in the American Athletic Conference had to face a loaded out-of-conference schedule and a fierce battle for the top of the conference late in the season.
Following a second-place finish in The American, the Bulls opened up a revenge tour, defeating three of the four teams it had lost to in the regular season and captured the conference tournament championship, an NCAA tournament bid and the best finish in program history.
"It was fun having this kind of road to redemption, I suppose you would say," head coach
Denise Schilte-Brown said. "We only lost four games in season and then on the road to the Sweet 16, we got to face three of them again and beat them. That's pretty awesome. I think it helped us. I think it fed into their competitive nature. They were a very competitive group. When we had lost the first time, I think they felt sort of robbed. It was a team they could have beaten, so to be able play them a second time and get that redemption I think was sweet and memorable. It was a great senior group that worked all four years for a moment like that – to be the team that made history. That was kind of cool."
Countless records and program-bests fell during the season, with
Evelyne Viens continuing to cement her four-year legacy as a Bull. In her collegiate career, the L'Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec native toppled 18 different program or conference records, finishing a career where she tallied 73 goals and 169 points for USF.
Additionally, the Bulls finished with the program's highest final rankings in history, earning a No. 16 finish in the United Soccer Coaches poll and the No. 12 position in the TopDrawerSoccer.com rankings. Schilte-Brown's squad also posted the most wins in a single-season in the program's history, tallying a 16-5 final record. The program also set a new attendance record, with 2,011 fans attending the USF vs. Florida game in September.
The Bulls began the year with an early test with Auburn (RV) visiting Corbett Stadium in the season opener. Senior forward Viens opened up the year's scoring quickly, driving home her first goal of the year less than four minutes into the game. After an Auburn response, the Bulls were looking to end their home opener with a victory heading into the last minute of the game.
Sydny Nasello (Land O' Lakes, Fla.) played hero for the Bulls, scoring the game-winner with 18 seconds left in regulation to win USF's first game of the year.
Up second for the Bulls was another test, this time in the Florida Gators (RV). Despite a crowd that broke the program's attendance record, USF dropped the contest 2-0.
Following a quick trip to Saint Leo, where the team walked away with a 2-0 win, and a canceled Ohio State game due to Hurricane Dorian, USF traveled to San Antonio, Texas to play in the UTSA Tournament.
USF started strong in the tournament against Rice, with Viens posting a career performance in a 5-1 win. The Canadian scored four goals in a game, the second time she had done so in a USF uniform. Coincidentally, the other time was also in a game immediately following a canceled game due to a hurricane, an 11-0 win against Florida College in 2018.
The Bulls kept their momentum with another strong performance against UTSA, posting a 5-0 shutout in the second match of the tournament. Senior
Aubrey Megrath (West Palm Beach, Fla.) netted two goals while freshman goalkeeper
Katrina Haarmann (Caledon, Ontario, Canada) posted her first career solo shutout.
After a week long break, the Bulls traveled to North Carolina to battle Wake Forest. Viens scored twice while
Katie Kitching (Bedale, England) scored her first goal of the season in the 3-2 win. The Bulls finally returned home on Sept. 21, closing out a 26-day road stretch for a match against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders snapped the Bulls' win streak, a lone goal from
Sabrina Wagner (New Port Richey, Fla.) was not enough to power the Bulls to victory.
The Bulls opened up conference play five days later, with a home match against Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane struck first, but Megrath evened the score and forced double-overtime. With 13 seconds left in the game, Nasello drew a foul in the box to force a penalty kick.
Andrea Hauksdottir (Kopavogur, Iceland) took the PK and put it in the back of the net to give the Bulls its first conference victory.
Three days later, the Bulls faced its biggest conference test against No. 11 Memphis. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, although the Bulls tied the game quickly coming out of the break. However, Memphis scored three minutes after USF to clinch the 2-1 victory.
Following the loss, USF kicked off a six-game win streak against conference opponents. Outscoring their opponents 12-4, the Bulls received seven goals from Viens, two goals from Hauksdottir, and one goal each from Wagner,
Emma Davies (St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada) and
Fanny Pelletier-Laroche (Montreal, Quebec). The same span saw
Sydney Martinez (Rincon, Ga.) post three shutouts.
UCF snapped the win streak in the regular-season finale, but the loss kicked off revenge season for the Bulls. USF, who finished second in the conference standings behind Memphis, kicked off play in the conference tournament with a second-consecutive match against the Knights. This time, the Bulls flipped the script. Viens started a monumental hot streak, scoring two goals in a 2-1 victory to advance the team to the conference finals.
In the AAC tournament championship, Viens kept the faucet wide open, scoring another two goals while Martinez posted a shutout to defeat No. 8 Memphis and give the Bulls an AAC tournament title and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Having already avenged two losses, the Bulls were matched up against Florida, who also handed the Bulls a loss during the regular season. USF kept its quest for vengeance going, with Viens scoring her fourth career hat trick (and eighth straight goal for the Bulls) to give USF a 4-2 victory in the first round. The win marked the first time in program history the Bulls took down the Gators.
The second round took the Bulls to Tallahassee, Fla. for a match against four-seeded Washington. Another two-goal performance from Viens and another shutout from Martinez powered South Florida past the Huskies, advancing the team to the third round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
Aubrey Megrath scored early in the third round against Florida State, but two goals from the Seminoles sandwiched around halftime was too much for the Bulls, ending USF's historic season.
Team Awards
Award – Player
AAC Offensive Player of the Year –
Evelyne Viens
AAC Midfielder of the Year –
Andrea Hauksdottir
All-Conference First Team – Viens and Hauksdottir
All-Conference Second Team –
Sydny Nasello
All-Conference Rookie Team –
Rosalia Muino Gonzalez (Coruna, Spain) and
Lucy Roberts (Cheshire, England)
UTSA All-Tournament Team –
Katie Kitching,
Sabrina Wagner,
Aubrey Megrath and Viens
AAC Tournament Team –
Sydney Martinez, Nasello, Viens and Megrath
AAC Tournament Most Outstanding Defensive Player – Martinez
AAC Tournament Most Outstanding Offensive Player – Viens
United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-American – Viens
United Soccer Coaches First Team All-Region – Viens and Hauksdottir
United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American – Viens (first team) and Hauksdottir (second team)
United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region First Team – Viens and Hauksdottir
United Soccer Coaches Regional Staff of the Year –
Denise Schilte-Brown,
Chris Brown,
Iban Lopez, Chris Barocas
CoSIDA Academic All-Region First Team – Wagner
AAC Offensive Player of the Week – Viens (six times)
AAC Defensive Player of the Week – Wagner (two times)
AAC Goalkeeper of the Week – Martinez
AAC Honor Roll – Roberts, Nasello, Hauksdottir (two times), Wagner, Blethen, Pelletier-Laroche
TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Week – Viens (two times)
United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week – Viens
TopDrawer Soccer National Team of the Week – Viens (two times), Blethen
Key Stats
16 – The Bulls won 16 games for the first time in program history.
18 – Viens broke 18 different program or conference records in her time at USF.
195 – USF outshot opponents in an overwhelming amount this season, posting a plus-195 shot differential
Notables
- Evelyne Viens broke or tied the following single-season records:
- Program: Goals (25), game-winning goals (10), shots (113), points (53) and hat tricks (tied with Siri Nordby, Kristine Edner; 2).
- Conference: Goals, Offensive Player of the Week Awards (5) and goals per game (1.25).
- Viens also broke the following career records:
- Program: Goals (73), shots (360), points (169), hat tricks (4).
- Conference: goals, shots, points, points per game (2.19). goals per game (0.95), and Offensive Player of the Week Awards (10).
- Sydny Nasello led the team in assists for the second straight season, tallying 10 on the year, tying for second on USF's single-season list and tying for seventh on the American's single-season list.
- Sydney Martinez recorded five shutout efforts during the season. She now has nine in her two years with the Bulls.
- USF received its highest final rankings in program history from both United Soccer Coaches and TopDrawerSoccer.com. The Bulls finished at 16th in the coaches poll, and 12th in the TDS rankings.
- Both Viens and Andrea Hauksdottir were named candidates for the annual Senior CLASS Award. Viens was selected as a finalist for the award and finished on the 2019 Senior CLASS Award Second Team.
- Sky Blue FC selected Viens with the fifth overall pick of the 2020 NWSL Draft, tying women's basketball's Wanda Guyton for second highest draft pick in USF Athletics history, behind softball's Monica Triner, the second overall pick in the 1999 WPSL draft.
- Multiple players were called upon for national team play during the 2019-2020 academic year. Lucy Roberts played for England's U19 team during the season, while Riquelle Farquharson spent time with Jamaica's national team at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers qualifying competitions. Nasello also had multiple stints with the US national development program, earning call-ups for international friendlies and a pre-competition training camp. Viens, Farquharson, and Chyanne Dennis were also named to provisional rosters ahead of the 2020 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championships.
About USF Women's Soccer
Be sure to follow USF women's soccer on social media (Twitter / Instagram/Facebook) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information.
The USF women's soccer team has posted eight consecutive seasons of 10-plus wins and nine in the last 10 years under head coach Denise Schilte-Brown. The Bulls made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2010 and returned in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
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