College Matchday: No.16 South Florida at No.1 Akron

WHEN: Sunday, 4 p.m., Lee Jackson Field

NEED TO KNOW: South Florida will look to spring a major surprise as it takes on NCAA Division I Tournament No.1 seed Akron in the second round. The Zips are the only perfect team in the nation, entering the game with a record of 20-0-0, and have been dominant all season with six players having scored double-digit points. They are led in that by forward Teal Burnbury, who has scored 16 goals on the season, while Darlington Nagbe has added 12.

The Zips have also been tight defensively, with goalkeeper David Meves holding a 0.36 goals against average having recorded 12 shutouts this season.

The Bulls fell 3-1 to the Zips in preseason, and will likely need to play their best game of the season in order to advance. What they will likely be unable to do is go behind early, as they did against Stetson on Thursday night in the opening round before rallying for a 2-1 victory. Sebastian Thuriere and Bernardo Anor had the goals then for the Bulls, giving them both a team-high six on the season.

However, Bulls goalkeeper Jeff Attinella will likely be the key player for the Bulls on Sunday. The Zips have averaged 17.4 shots per game, and 2.65 goals per game, meaning the man named the Big East Goalkeeper of the Year will need to be on top of his game to give the Bulls a chance to steal a road victory.

Colleges: Bulls rally from early deficit, defeat Hatters

No.16 South Florida shook off its early rust to come from an early deficit to move into the second round of the NCAA Division I Tournament with a 2-1 victory against Stetson on Thursday night at the USF Soccer Stadium.

The Atlantic-Sun champion Hatters shocked the Bulls in the eighth minute as Fredrik Brustad scored from 10 yards out to cap a counter-attack, but from then on the Bulls settled down and dominated play. South Florida tied the game in the 14 minute, Javed Mohammed’s corner from the right bending into the far post for Sebastian Thuriere to head home powerfully.

South Florida continued to carry the play for the remainder of the half, Stetson goalkeeper making an outstanding save to deny Bernardo Anor in the 21st minute, but Anor would give the Bulls the lead just under two minutes before the break, Mohammed again providing the cross from the left for the Venezuelan standout to head home from eight yards out.

Stetson came into the game a little more in the second half, but Bulls goalkeeper Jeff Attinella held the Hatters at bay for the final 45 minutes, allowing the Bulls to move on.
South Florida will now face No.1-ranked Akron on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Zips went a perfect 20-0-0 through the regular season, and defeated the Bulls 3-1 when they faced each other in the preseason.

College Matchday: Stetson at No.16 South Florida

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

NEED TO KNOW: After almost a two-week break, South Florida begins the NCAA Division I Tournament with a match against a side it has already defeated this season. The Bulls (13-3-3) won 3-0 against the Hatters at the USF Soccer Stadium in their final preseason game, Jorge Mora, Fernando Gonzalez and Hasani Sinclair scoring for the Bulls that night.

After a slow start to his freshman season, Sinclair now leads the team in points with five goals and five assists for a total of 15. Bernardo Anor and Sebastian Thuriere have also scored five goals apiece for the Bulls, while Javed Mohammed leads the Bulls with nine assists.

The key to the Bulls’ success, however, has been their defensive play, with Big East Goalkeeper of the Year Jeff Attinella leading the way. The former Countryside standout has recorded a 0.76 goals against average for the season, including seven shutouts.

The Hatters (14-3-2) earned their way into the tournament by winning the Atlantic-Sun conference title with a 2-1 victory against Mercer on Saturday. Former Palm Harbor University standout Griffin Gilstrap scored both goals for Stetson in the title game, and he leads the Hatters with 11 goals. The Bulls will also need to keep an eye on Kevin Munz, who has 10 assists on the season.

Colleges: Bulls fall in shootout in Big East Quarterfinals

Holding a two-goal lead midway through the first half, and appearing to have control of its Big East Tournament quarterfinal at Notre Dame, things were looking good for No.13 South Florida to advance to next weekend’s semifinals, and a chance to retain its title.

Then, everything went wrong.

Notre Dame scored goals just before both halftime and the end of regulation to tie the game 2-2 and send the game to overtime, and the Fighting Irish then kept their nerve to win a shootout 5-4 to advance to face Louisville on Friday night.

Jorge Mora had given the Bulls the lead in the third minute, taking advantage of good work by Sebastian Thuriere and Hasani Sinclair to score his fourth goal of the season. Thuriere would then head home from Kevin Olali’s cross to put the Bulls up 2-0 in the 23rd minute.

But after taking their lead, the Bulls let the Irish back into the game, as Notre Dame spurned a pair of chances before pulling a goal back in the 43rd minute, Bright Dike scoring after being put through by Michael Thomas.

Less than a minute later, the Bulls were reduced to 10 men as Francisco Aristeguieta was sent off for his second yellow card. Playing a man down for the entire second half, the Bulls did a good job of restricting the number of shots that got through to goalkeeper Jeff Attinella, and almost caught the Irish to restore their two-goal lead when Thuriere had his header cleared off the goalline by Thomas.

The Bulls resistance was finally broken down in the 83rd minute as Aaron Maund headed in off the post to tie the game, sending it to overtime.

Thomas was again the hero for the Irish in overtime, clearing a shot by Bernardo Anor off the goalline, but neither side was able to break the deadlock in the extra 20 minutes, sending the game to a shootout. There, all five Notre Dame shooters beat Attinella. The Bulls matching them shot for shot until the fifth round, when Thuriere fired his effort off the crossbar, sending the Irish through.

The Bulls should still get an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, but won’t find out until next Sunday where and when they will next take the field.

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.

Colleges: Boggs' free kick lifts Bulls to victory

TAMPA – Zak Boggs’ spectacular free kick in the 31st minute provided the only goal of the game as South Florida took a big step towards a bye and home field for the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament with a 1-0 win against DePaul on Wednesday night at the USF Soccer Stadium.

After Hasani Sinclair was pushed over from behind outside the DePaul penalty area to the left of center, Boggs saw DePaul goalkeeper Joe Ferrari cheating away from the right corner of the net, and fired a curling shot into the top right corner that Ferrari couldn’t recover in time to stop.

“Great goal by Zak,” Bulls coach George Kiefer said. “There wasn’t a lot of stuff to play quick one-twos and get behind them, they took that away, so we got it off the restart tonight.”

In fact, most of the Bull best opportunities came from outside the penalty area, as the Blue Demons played a compact, defensive formation that made it difficult for South Florida to create scoring chances inside the box. The long-range chances the Bulls were able to create were dealt with well for the most part by Ferrari, although he was only able to parry one shot by Boggs in the first half before recovering to thwart Sinclair’s rebound chance.

“It was pretty tough,” Boggs said. “They did compact the game, especially in the second half, but I thought our chances from distance were pretty good.”

Sebastian Thuriere in particular had a strong game, having a fierce shot well saved by Ferrari, and being energetic in midfield to win possession in the Blue Demons' half to set up potential openings. Bernado Anor also showed good energy off the bench after having sat out the past two games with a hip flexor, while Sinclair also had a chance turned away in the second half.

Most of DePaul’s best opportunities came in a late flurry as it tried to get back on even terms as time wound down. Despite a few scares Bulls goalkeeper Jeff Attinella, who was named Big East goalkeeper of the week for the third time this season on Monday, recorded his seventh shutout.

“I thought they’d come out a little more after we got the goal, but I didn’t see them do that too much other than the last 10 minutes of the game, but I felt like we handled that well,” Kiefer said. “I thought our movement, the chances we created were good, the closing off of their outlets keeping them pinned in their end was very good. I thought it was a very good performance tonight.”

The Bulls travel to Rutgers to close out the season on Saturday night. A victory would guarantee them a bye and home field as the No.2 seed from the Red division, and if it were to be coupled with a loss by Louisville against Villanova, the Bulls would earn the top seed in the bracket.

“I think we try not to make any game more important or less important, to have to right focus, and this group does a good job of coming out prepared for games,” Kiefer said. “We’ve got a very good road record as well this year, so we should be in good shape.”

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.

College Matchday: No.15 Dartmouth at No.13 South Florida

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

NEED TO KNOW: South Florida will look to extend its two-game winning streak as it faced another Top 25 team in Dartmouth for its final non-conference game of the season.

The Big Green defeated Penn 3-0 on Sunday night to remain perfect in the Ivy League, and are led by Daniel Keat who has seven goals and five assists in 11 games this season. Dartmouth has also been tight defensively, only allowing 6.4 shots against per game this season.

That, and Dartmouth goalkeeper Sean Donovan’s 1.16 goals against average, will likely be tested against a Bulls attack that appears to have come into form recently. South Florida has scored six goals over the past two games, including a 3-0 drubbing of Syracuse on Saturday night that saw Sebastian Thuriere have a goal and an assist and Javed Mohammed record two assists for the Bulls. Zak Boggs and Hasani Sinclair have also started finding the net, now with three goals apiece for the season, which has taken a little pressure off Jeff Attinella and the Bulls defense.

The game can be seen on the Bright House Sports Network, Channel 47 on the cable system.

Colleges: Boggs leads Bulls to win over Orange

Zak Boggs gave No.12 South Florida a first half lead, and a pair of late goals put the game away as the Bulls maintained second place in the Big East Red division with a 3-0 victory in frigid conditions at Syracuse’s SU Soccer Stadium on Saturday night.

"This was a very good win for us," Bulls coach George Kiefer said. "It was good to see Zak (Boggs) get on the board again. I think that once he got one goal that he would start to score more, for him to get the game-winner was great.”

The Orange (2-12-0, 1-7-0 Big East) came out strongly to start the game, but the Bulls (9-2-2, 4-2-2) were able to weather the early pressure, and Boggs struck in the 30th minute, bending a direct free kick around the defensive wall and into the left corner of the net.

The goal was Boggs’ third of the season, and he almost added his fourth shortly after halftime only for his shot to come back off the post. Sebastian Thuriere finally gave the Bulls and insurance goal in the 76th minute as he took advantage of a pass by Jorge Mora. Hasani Sinclair added his third of the season five minutes later to put the game away.

Kiefer said he was pleased with what he was seeing from his side going forward, the Bulls having scored six goals in their past two games.

“I think what you’re starting to see now is that these guys are starting to get much more relaxed and are just playing and not looking to get goals, but to just play good soccer and because of that the goals are starting to come," Kiefer said.

South Florida completes its non-conference schedule on Wednesday at it is visited by No.20 Dartmouth, the first of three straight games at the USF Soccer Stadium.

Colleges: Bulls find scoring touch, hold off FAU

South Florida scored twice in the first 15 minutes, but needed an insurance marker from Sebastian Thuriere with eight minutes to go before Florida Atlantic’s late effort gave the Bulls a test at the USF Soccer Stadium on Wednesday night.

Everthing appeared to be plain sailing for the Bulls (8-2-2) as they took the lead in the sixth minute on a goal by Hasani Sinclar as saw that lead double nine minutes later through Bernardo Anor. Holding the Owls without a shot on goal in the first half further established a sense of control for the Bulls.

But the Owls hit back nine minutes after the break, as a pair of former Tampa high school standouts teamed up to score. Xavi Pecora (Jesuit) received a pass from Darnell King (Gaither), and fired a shot past Bulls goalkeeper Jeff Attinella into the top left corner to make the score 2-1.

Thuriere restored the Bulls two-goal advantage in the 83rd minute, Ogi Perucica and Zak Boggs linking up before Thuriere finished, but King made the final three minutes nervy for the Bulls, scoring his third goal of the season in the 87th minute.

The win was the Bulls first in three games, and they will hope to carry the goalscoring portion of the game on into Saturday’s return to Big East play. The Bulls travel to play a Syracuse team that has struggled to find form all season. The Orange’s only Big East win came on Oct. 2 against Rutgers, and since then they have been on a three-game losing streak, giving up nine goals.