Colleges: Mora, Thuriere lead No.13 Bulls to victory

Jorge Mora and Sebastian Thuriere each found the net as No.13 South Florida moved into the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament with a 2-1 victory against Marquette at the USF Soccer Stadium on Thursday night.

The Bull opened brightly, using high pressure to force Marquette into mistakes, and that led to early opportunities for Hasani Sinclair and Zak Boggs, both of whom were denied by Golden Eagles goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski. The Bulls pressure finally told when Mora gave them the lead in the 15th minute, driving his left-footed shot home from 13 yards after picking up a pass from Sinclair.

“It felt good as soon as I hit it,” Mora said. “It was just a question of whether the goalie was going to get to it. It was pretty exciting.”

The Bulls controlled the bulk of play in the first half, and had other chances to extend their lead before the break as Mora turned creator for Sinclair, only for the striker to shoot wide.

Marquette opened the second half better, but was unable to tie the game, and Thuriere gave the Bulls a two-goal cushion in the 77th minute as he headed home from Javed Mohammed’s cross from the left. The goal proved important as Adam Lysak pulled a goal back for the Golden Eagles three minutes later, but the Bulls held on for victory.

“We were a little disappointed to give up the goal,” Bulls coach George Kiefer said, “but I didn’t see the team get too low, and I think we created a couple more chances after that.”

The Bulls will now face Notre Dame in the tournament quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon. The Bulls defeated the Fighting Irish 2-1 earlier this season, Mora’s header with seven minutes to go off a cross by Bernado Anor giving the Bulls’ victory in that contest.

“Notre Dame is a good team, and Bobby Clark is a very good coach so it’s going to be a fun game for us,” Kiefer said.

College Matchday: Marquette at No.13 South Florida

WHEN: Thursday, 7:30 p.m., USF Soccer Stadium

NEED TO KNOW: South Florida will try to take the first step in the defense of its Big East title as it takes on a Marquette side that was one of only two teams to earn a point from its trip to the USF Soccer Stadium this season.

The Golden Eagles tied the Bulls 1-1 earlier in the season, but have struggled to find consistency in the past two weeks. Marquette defeated Pittsburgh 5-0 last Saturday, but that was its only win in its last four contests as it closed the regular season with a 3-0 defeat against Connecticut.

South Florida was on a five-game winning streak before it was upended 2-1 by Rutgers in double-overtime last Saturday. Over that time, Hasani Sinclair has found his scoring touch, and is now tied with Bernardo Anor for the team lead with five goals. The Bulls, who finished their second straight regular season with an undefeated home record, will look to extend what is an overall run of 28 games to advance though to face Notre Dame.

A trend the Bulls will hope to avoid, however, is following in the footsteps of their Big East counterparts who held home-field advantage in Wednesday’s other first round games. In all three instances, the lower seed, No.6-seed Rutgers and No.5-seeds Providence and DePaul, advanced through to the quarterfinals.

Colleges: Bulls miss out on bye, will face Marquette

No.9 South Florida will have to go an extra game if it wants to retain its Big East men’s soccer title this season.

The Bulls were knocked into third place in the Red division by St. John’s on Sunday. That means the Bulls miss out on an opening round bye and will have to play Blue Division No.6 seed Marquette on Thursday night.

South Florida could have clinched a bye with a win against Rutgers on Saturday, but a 2-1 double-overtime defeat allowed the Red Storm to leapfrog the Bulls in the standings with a 2-0 win against Syracuse on Sunday evening.

South Florida will face Marquette at the USF Soccer Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Bulls and Golden Eagles played to a 1-1 tie in Tampa earlier this season, Bernardo Anor giving the Bulls a first half lead before Adam Lysac tied the game in the second half.