USF Athletics

Win Over Defending National Champion Stanford is in Rare USF Athletics Company

November 30, 2021

By Joey Johnston
 
Last Friday in the Bahamas, the USF women's basketball team played with urgency in the final seconds against Stanford, the defending national champion. After all, the Bulls couldn't afford to dawdle. They weren't looking for overtime. They had a plane to catch.
 
Bulls guard Sydni Harvey sprung free on the right side and fired a 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining. USF 57, Stanford 54. A monumental and historic moment for Coach Jose Fernandez's team.
 
Ever since, USF's program has taken flight.
 
* The Bulls (5-2), who resume play Thursday night at UT-Arlington, are ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll. That's one off the USF high-water mark, set last season.
 
* The Bulls had back-to-back victories against top 10-ranked teams in the Bahamas, downing No. 9-ranked Oregon 71-62 in the Battle 4 Atlantis before taking down No. 7 Stanford in a single-game event.
 
* USF was named ESPN's women's basketball "Team of the Week.''
 
* The Bulls were No. 8 in ESPN's weekly power rankings behind No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 UConn, No. 3 NC State, No. 4 Baylor, No. 5 Arizona, No. 6 Louisville and No. 7 Tennessee.
 
* The Bulls have only been defeated by Tennessee (52-49) and UConn (60-53), the two most storied programs in NCAA women's basketball history.
 
* What's more, for the first time in 19 years, USF has defeated a defending national champion team in any sport. In fact, USF women's basketball is the just the third Bulls program (joining men's soccer and baseball) to defeat a defending national champion.
 
The other occasions:
 
1984: Coach Dan Holcomb's USF men's soccer team defeated top-ranked Indiana 3-1 at the Tampa Classic, ending the Hoosiers' 46-game unbeaten streak. The Bulls got goals from Johann Westerhorstmann, Matt Westerhorstmann and Raymond Perle.
 
1986: Coach Eddie Cardieri's USF baseball team defeated the second-ranked Miami Hurricanes 7-2 at Red McEwen Field, getting a complete-game performance from Mark Rose, who allowed five hits and struck out 11. The Bulls were boosted by Ward Hemond's three-run homer in the first inning. Two weeks later, USF defeated UM again, this time 12-4 at Coral Gables as Rose had another complete-game victory (seven hits allowed, 13 strikeouts).
 
1997: Coach David Christiansen's USF men's soccer team defeated St. John's 2-1 in the NCAA Tournament's second round. USF's Brian Waltrip scored the first goal, but the crusher was Jeff Cunningham's rocket just inside the far post with one second remaining until halftime. The Bulls had begun NCAA play with a victory against Florida International, the 1996 runner-up, making USF the first men's soccer program to defeat the previous season's finalists.
 
2002: Cardieri's USF baseball team twice defeated Miami in Coral Gables, defeating the Hurricanes 7-6 (Mike Barclay was 3-for-4) and 13-7 (with Myron Leslie going 3-for-4).