Bulls enjoying Canadian Under-20 camp

Four members of the South Florida women’s soccer team are currently in camp with the Canadian Under-20 soccer team as the side prepares at USF for the CONCACAF qualifying competition for the FIFA 2010 Under-20 World Cup to be held in Germany.

Midfielder Gina Pacheco said she thought the camp had been going well after the Canadians scrimmaged against local club RSL Florida at the USF practice field on Friday afternoon.

“I think the camp’s going well,” Pacheco said. “Every time we’ve gotten together, we’ve gotten a little bit better as a team. I’m excited for CONCACAF and to see what’s out there. It’s my first time going so I don’t know exactly what to expect, but my hopes are high.”

Pacheco is joined on the 23-player squad by defender Bahar Sansar and midfielders Rehana Murani and Taylore Patterson. The squad will be cut down to 20 players for the tournament, which begins on Wednesday in Costa Rica. While Pacheco and Sansar have had international experience before, both were called in the Canadian senior national team squad last summer for exhibition games against the United States, should Patterson be named it would be the first time she would represent her country at any level.

“It would be amazing,” Patterson said. “I can’t wait. I hope that I’ll be on the plane, starting on the national team for qualifying, but you never know what happens.”

The opportunity for all four to compete for Canada does bode well for the Bulls as well, as Pacheco believes their play is improving.

“I think it will definitely help improve us,” Pacheco said. “We’re actually working together a lot more now with the national team, and with USF it will help us improve as a team.”

Colleges: Four Bulls called into Canadian U-20 camp

Four players from the University of South Florida have been named as part of a 23-player roster for the Canadian Under-20 team’s final training camp for the Under-20 World Cup CONCACAF qualifying competition that begins on Jan. 20 in Guatemala.

Defender Bahar Sansar and midfielders Taylor Patterson, Rehana Murani and Gina Pacheco were all named to the squad by Coach Carolina Morace. The final squad will be made up of 20 players, who will be named at the completion of the camp, to begin on Monday at the University of South Florida.

Canada has qualified for all four prior under-20 World Cups, reaching the final when it hosted the inaugural event in 2002. The 2010 finals will be held in Germany beginning in July.

All four Bulls were called into the last Canadian camp, held in Fort Lauderdale last month. Sansar and Pacheco have also had experience with the full Canadian National team, being called into the squad last summer for a pair of friendlies against the United States.

Colleges: No.5 Notre Dame squashes USF's hopes

The University of South Florida women’s soccer team was looking forward to the challenge of facing No.5 Notre Dame in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.

With half-an-hour of the contest gone, and the Fighting Irish’s Melissa Henderson having already scored a hat trick, the Bulls may have been wondering if they should have been careful what they wished for, as they saw their season come to a crashing end. Notre Dame added another pair of goals before halftime, and advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 5-0 victory at Alumni Stadium.

“That was a really well-executed and decisive effort for us,” Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum said. “When you get into the conference tournament, and particularly when you're coming in off a bye while the other team has had a chance to play already, there's a concern that you might come out flat or unfocused. But we were sharp right from the opening kickoff, we got the early goal and we kept putting the pressure on them.”

Notre Dame took the lead in the 11th minute, as Julie Scheidler’s cross from the right found Henderson at the penalty spot, and the Irish’s leading scorer turned and fired home. The Irish doubled their lead five minutes later, an angled ball from the right side of the penalty area from Lauren Fowlkes finding Henderson for a volleyed finish.

Henderson completed her hat trick in the 29th minute, capitalizing when Bulls goalkeeper Mallori Lofton-Malachi was unable to take a cross cleanly to score her 11th of the season.

Fowlkes then scored her eighth of the season before Lofton-Malachi was substituted for Gaby Garton, a disappointing end to a standout career for the Bulls senior goalkeeper. Garton allowed the Irish’s fifth goal, scored by Ellen Jantsch in the 39th minute, and made four saves after coming on.

While the end to their season came in disappointing fashion, the season as a whole should be viewed as a success for the Bulls.

For a start, they finished the season 9-8-3 overall, the first time the Bulls have finished above .500 for a season since 1999. In addition, of the team's seniors, only Lofton-Malachi saw major playing time for the Bulls this season, giving Coach Denise Schilte-Brown players who progressed greatly over the course of this season to continue to build around in the spring and next season.

Foremost in these is the sophmomore strike duo of Chelsea Klotz and Noelle Pineiro, who combined for 16 goals this season, and junior Angelique Waller, who was outstanding in defense for the Bulls all season. Add in the experience gained by players like Gina Pacheco, Bahar Sansar, Rehana Murani and Taylor Patterson, all of whom could represent Canada in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 2010 Under-20 World Cup in Germany, and the Bulls appear to have a bright future.

College Women's Matchday: South Florida at No.5 Notre Dame

WHEN: Sunday, 1 p.m., Alumni Stadium

NEED TO KNOW: South Florida will try to build on the first victory in the Big East tournament in the school's history when it faces Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon.

The Fighting Irish finished with the best record in the Big East, going 10-0-1, and is 14-3-1 overall. Melissa Henderson leads the team with eight goals, while Lauren Fowlkes has added seven, as the Fighting Irish have averaged 2.27 goals per game in Big East play. But the bigger strength of the Fighting Irish has been their defense, which allowed only four goals in its Big East schedule.

The Bulls will hope that Chelsea Klotz, who is second in the conference in scoring with nine goals, can continue her strong run of form. Klotz scored the only goal in the Bulls first-round victory against DePaul, having another goal wiped on a close offside call.

South Florida should also have Taylor Patterson, Gina Pacheco, Rehana Murani and Bahar Sansar back in the line-up after the quartet was absent while attending Canadian under-20 team tryouts on Thursday. Coach Denise Schilte-Brown said she was expecting the players to meet up with the team in South Bend, Ind. All four have been critical to the Bulls’ success this season, with Patterson tied for the team lead in assists with five.

The Fighting Irish have won both previous meetings of the schools by a combined score of 7-0, including a 3-0 victory last season. This, though, is a better Bulls team than both of those, and the squad is confident it is capable of pulling what would be a major upset and advancing to the semifinals.

Colleges: Klotz lifts Bulls into Big Easy quarterfinals

TAMPA – Whenever the University of South Florida’s women’s soccer team has needed a spark this season, it has always seemed to be Chelsea Klotz that has provided it.

On Thursday night, after the Bulls and DePaul had fought in a scrappy contest that saw more fouls than shots on goal, Klotz scored her ninth goal of the season, and fifth game-winner, to send the Bulls into the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament with a 1-0 victory against DePaul.

Klotz, who had earlier had a goal disallowed on a close offside call, made the Blue Demons pay for a poor turnover, picking up the ball just outside the penalty area in the 84th minute before driving her shot home past DePaul goalkeeper Claire Hanold.

“She did well,” Bulls coach Denise Schilte-Brown said. “It was her first 90-minute game, we didn’t take her off the whole game, and I thought she not only worked hard but she stayed focused and continued to work for an opportunity. “

With the Bulls missing four starters – Taylor Patterson, Rehana Murani, Gina Pacheco and Bahar Sansar—who are trying to earn a place on the Canadian under-20 national team, Schilte-Brown had to turn to players like Taylor Brown and Kendall Campbell, both freshmen, who performed admirably under the circumstances.

“A lot of the girls just went in these positions that they hadn’t played before and said, ‘I can do it,’ “ Schilte-Brown said. “Just confidently took it upon themselves to be positive and confident and I think did really well. There’s just so many things to take away from this game and say, ‘hey, you guys are a great team, and you played together and we’re really, really proud of you.’ “

With the absences, though, the performance of goalkeeper Mallori Lofton-Malachi may have been the most important. While she only made four saves on the game, each one was critical. Schilte-Brown said that when Lofton-Malachi came out and established her presence early in the game, it set the tone for the way she performed the rest of the night.

“I feel that when you walk out to the pitch, and you can hear Mallori starts yelling and she’s getting on her teammates in a positive manner, and then that first service comes in and she catches it, that’s it, she’s going to have a fabulous game,” Schilte-Brown said. “That was it for her today, the first serve came in, she came off her line, cleaned it up, and she didn’t miss one (after that).”

The Bulls will travel to No.6 Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. Schilte-Brown said she expected the Bulls’ Canadian contingent to return to the squad in time for Sunday’s game, and that the team was optimistic it could pull the upset of the top-seeded Fighting Irish.

“I feel confident,” Schilte-Brown said. “I feel like (Notre Dame likes) to play soccer, and so do we, and we will have kids back from national camp who should probably be on a high, and we have the girls that just played here and should be on a high, so we’re going with a lot of positive energy. Why not take that and beat a top team?”

Colleges: Bulls undefeated streak ends at hands of Friars

South Florida (5-5-3, 2-2-2 Big East) saw its five-game undefeated streak come to an end as the Bulls own Bahar Sansar scored an own-goal for the only goal of the game as Providence (7-5-2, 2-3-1) won 1-0 on Friday night at the USF Soccer Stadium.

Sansar misplayed a corner kick by Alyssa Gillespie, leaving goalkeeper Mallori Lofton-Malachi helpless. The goal ended a 247minute shutout streak by Lofton-Malachi, who last conceded a goal against West Virginia on September 27.

The Bulls had chances to tie the game, most notably with nine minutes to play when Molly Stack’s cross found Taylor Patterson in the penalty area, but Patterson sent her header just over the crossbar.

Bulls coach Denise Schilte-Brown said she was disappointed by the loss, and the performance.

“I didn’t feel like we came prepared to play today,” Bulls coach Denise Schilte-Brown said. “I thought we made some good adjustments in the second half as a team, created a lot of opportunities, had them on the ropes, but couldn’t put one in the back of the net.”

South Florida closes its home schedule with a tough test against Connecticut on Sunday at noon, a game the Bulls may now need to win in order to maintain their challenge for a place in the Big East Conference Tournament.

“It’s a big game,” Schilte-Brown said. “The girls have played well on Sundays. They’ve been professionals and recovered well and I think they’ll be ready.”

Colleges: USF Women continue undefeated run, tie with No.13 Rutgers

TAMPA – South Florida’s women extended their undefeated streak to five games, and picked up another point in Big East play, but were unable to break down the tough defense of No.13 Cincinnati as the two teams played to a 0-0 tie at the USF Soccer Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

“I think we worked hard as a team,” Bulls goalkeeper Mallori Lofton-Malachi said. “Or course we would have liked to score, but we got a point against a ranked team, a good Big East team. In the Big East, when you come out with a point, it’s almost like a win, so I don’t have any problem with it.”

Lofton-Malachi recorded four saves for her fifth shutout of the season, and was a dominant presence in her penalty area all game, catching cleanly to snuff out Rutgers’ set piece opportunities. Bulls coach Denise Schilte-Brown said she thought Lofton-Malachi’s confidence in net reflected on the team as a whole, as the Bulls were for good periods of the game visibly the better team.

“Mallori was really good today again,” Schilte-Brown said. “I think that we felt Mallori’s confidence the whole game, and that continued, and that was pretty exciting.”

While the Bulls were able to control large spells of possession, with Valorie O’Brien and Bahar Sansar doing an excellent job in the center of midfield, the Scarlet Knights’ defense sat deep for the most-part, not allowing much space for Chelsea Klotz, Noelle Pineiro and substitute Kelly Campbell to find room in behind them. Taylor Patterson also threatened down the left side, twice appearing to have broken the Scarlet Knights’ offside trap early in the second half, but both times drawing a whistle.

That spell of play early in the second half, which also saw a cross by Patterson deflect off the top of the crossbar, had Schilte-Brown thinking a goal was forthcoming for her side.

“I felt like we were moving the ball and doing the right things, and we had more energy on the Sunday again than the other team,” Schilte-Brown said.

Rutgers did threaten later in the game, and in both overtime periods, but South Florida’s defense proved as hard to crack as the Scarlet Knights’.

The performance left Lofton-Malachi feeling good about where the team is as it prepares for another pair of home games next weekend.

“I think we’ve got something special this year,” Lofton-Malachi said. “I mean, you look back and we played Seton Hall my freshman year and we lost 2-1, 3-1, I don’t remember. We played Rutgers my freshman year and lost 5-0, so we’ve turned around and beaten Seton hall and tied Rutgers, a ranked team, it’s working. I think we may have finally got it.”