Sunday, October 11, 2009

Colleges: Bulls rally to upset No.24 UConn

South Florida closed out its home schedule with a remarkable 2-1 victory against No.24 Connecticut, Gina Pacheco and Chelsea Klotz scoring second half goals as the Bulls overcame a halftime deficit.

The Huskies (9-5-0, 4-3-0 Big East) took the lead in the 28th minute, as Elise Fugowski scored off a rebound after Melissa Busque’s initial shot was saved by Mallori Lofton-Malachi.

The Bulls (6-5-3, 3-2-2) responded well after halftime, building pressure before Pacheco fired in the equalizer in the 56th minute. After receiving a pass from Taylor Patterson at the top of the penalty area, Pacheco fired a shot past diving UConn goalkeeper Jessica Duloski into the top-left corner.

Pacheco said the side had been working on getting more shots on goal from outside the penalty area in practice.

“What’s been most important for me that we’ve been working on in practices is getting that shot off from the top of the box,” Pacheco said. “Obviously it was effective, and that’s something we need to do more.”

Pacheco almost gave the Bulls the lead with a minute of the restart, only to be denied. The Bulls continued to press forward, and with 10 minutes to play Pacheco turned provider, centering to Klotz, who shot home left-footed for her fifth goal of the season.

Bulls coach Denise Schilte-Brown was full of praise for Pacheco.

“He belief showed in the way she played,” Schilte-Brown said. “She wanted the ball, she got the ball, she drove it at the goal.

“She was the spark for us.”

The Bulls moved into a tie with Marquette for fourth place in the Big East American division with the win, and now close the regular season with four straight road games, beginning next Friday at Louisville.

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