Colleges: No.13 Bulls rally past Villanova for victory

No.13 South Florida rallied from a halftime deficit to earn a 3-1 victory against Villanova and remain in second place in the Big East Red division on Saturday night.

The Bull came out flat in the first half, and paid the price as Matt Seamon gave the Wildcats the lead in the sixth minute. The Wildcats almost added to their lead in the 32nd minute, but Ashani Fairclough was on hand to head the ball away for a corner after Bulls goalkeeper Jeff Attinella had been beaten by Adam Amman’s shot.

Lucky to be trailing by only a goal, the Bulls turned their performance around in the second half. After Seamon was shown a red card in the 61st minute, the Bulls quickly got back on level terms, Hasani Sinclair finding the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

The Bulls then took the lead eight minutes later as Javed Mohammed’s corner found Andre Mittoo in the penalty area. Mittoo played the ball to Fairclough before Sebastian Thuriere finished the opportunity, burying the ball in the back of the net.

Ogi Perucica then added a third for the Bulls in the 76th minute, the senior recording his first career goal for the Bulls on Senior Night to make it 3-1.

South Florida remains two points behind Louisville in the Red division with the victory, and one point ahead of St. John’s with two games to play. The Bulls will look for a fourth straight win against DePaul at the USF Soccer Stadium on Wednesday night before travelling to Rutgers next Saturday to close out the season.