Big wins for USF soccer, men's basketball

It's been a successful night for USF athletics, as men's soccer earned a 2-1 victory over Stetson in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, and men's basketball earned its second road win of the season, beating Davidson, 65-58.

Men's soccer now advances to Sunday's second round, where it faces a difficult task, playing at top-seeded Akron, which is 20-0-0 this season. More to come shortly from men's basketball, where the Bulls (3-0) now face the winner of tonight's South Carolina-La Salle game at 9:30 p.m. on Friday. Dominique Jones had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who also got 21 points (including 15-for-16 on free throws) from forward Gus Gilchrist.

No first-round NCAA bye for men's soccer

USF's men's soccer team got what certainly looks like a rough draw Monday as the NCAA unveiled its bracket for its 48-team postseason tournament. Not only did the Bulls -- ranked as high as No. 3 in polls this season -- not get a top-16 seed and first-round bye, but they drew a second-round match against undefeated Akron, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

The Bulls open the tournament at home on Thursday night against Stetson, which is coached by former USF men's and women's coach T. Logan Fleck. If the Bulls win that match, they'll travel to play Akron on Sunday.

It's a difficult path given to a Bulls team thought by some to be capable of a deep NCAA run, as USF had last year in winning a Big East championship and reaching the NCAA Elite Eight.

The Bulls' postseason looks a lot like its preseason did -- USF played an exhibition at Akron, losing 3-1, then played an exhibition at home against Stetson, winning 3-0.

It's clear that the NCAA didn't think as much of the Big East as some of the polls do. Consider the latest poll at Collegesoccernews.com -- Louisville is No. 6, yet the Cardinals are on the road in the first round, a draw befitting a team not in the top 32; the same is true for Connecticut, which was No. 12 in the same poll, one spot behind No. 11 USF. The coaches poll has Louisville seventh, Connecticut ninth and USF 13th.

USF soccer advances in Big East tourney

USF's men's soccer team, hosting an opening-round match in the Big East tournament, advanced with a 2-1 win against Marquette on Thursday night. The third-seeded Bulls (14-3-2) -- who won a Big East championship as a No. 2 seed last season -- now play at second-seeded Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon in the tournament quarterfinals.

USF got its first goal from Jorge Mora in the 12th minute, then added a goal from Sebastien Thuriere with 13 minutes left in the match, which proved crucial as Marquette added a late goal for the final margin. The two teams had tied 1-1 in Tampa in September in the Bulls' Big East opener.

The Bulls and the Fighting Irish met in September in Tampa, with USF pulling out a 2-1 win. Sunday's winner moves on to the league semifinals, which will be Nov. 13 at West Virginia. Each tournament win helps the Bulls chances at a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament, which begins Nov. 20.

Surging USF women's soccer leading division

Most improved team on USF's campus this fall? It has to be women's soccer, which has won three straight matches and is tied for the Big East's American Division lead entering the final weekend of the season.

The Bulls (8-5-3) are 5-2-2 in Big East play and have already won more conference matches than in any of their previous four seasons in the conference. They've matched their most overall wins since 1999, an impressive feat for a program that hasn't finished over .500 in any season in the past decade.

USF has a chance to win the regular-season division title this weekend, with games at St. John's (5-3-1 in Big East) and Syracuse (1-7-1). Win both matches, and USF would clinch the regular-season title if Marquette (5-2-2) loses one of its two remaining matches. If the Bulls can finish in the top two in the division, they would host a quarterfinal match in the Big East tournament on Nov. 1.

The Bulls have scored seven goals in their last three wins, and as a team, they're on pace to double last year's scoring total. After scoring 13 goals last season, the Bulls have 23 this fall, led by sophomores Chelsea Klotz (7 goals, 1 assist) and Noelle Pineiro (6 goals, 3 assists).

USF men's soccer ties St. John's, 1-1

I'm late with this, but correspondent Kerry Klecic checks in from USF Soccer Stadium on Saturday night, where the Bulls faced St. John's in a rematch of last year's Big East championship game.

TAMPA – For the second straight match, the No. 3 USF men’s soccer team dropped points in the Big East Red Division.

On Saturday, it was St. John’s that frustrated the Bulls, holding them to a 1-1 draw at the USF Soccer Stadium in a rematch of last year’s Big East championship game.

On Wednesday, No. 12 Louisville took care of USF 1-0. St. John’s, which made it to last year’s Final Four, entered as fourth in the division. However, with a Villanova win Saturday, the Bulls move into fourth.

USF junior goalkeeper Jeff Attinella said the last week has been struggle for the team.

“It’s been a tough week for us,” he said. “We lost to Louisville, and I think if the St. John’s game would have happened on a week we weren’t entering with a loss, we would have done a lot better. I think the work is there, but we just have to get a little lucky.”

Healthy again, Anor leading USF soccer

Here's a link to a story in Friday's Times on USF sophomore Bernardo Anor, a midfielder from Venezuela who has bounced back from a torn ACL last season to lead the Bulls with four goals in their 7-2-1 start.

We're a day early for a preview, but USF has a key home match Saturday against St. John's, which made the NCAA Final Four last season and remains one of the Bulls' top obstacles in repeating as Big East champs.

USF women's soccer upsets West Virginia, 2-1

A big weekend for USF athletics continued Sunday, with women's and men's soccer and volleyball picking up victories in Big East competition.

Women's soccer might have the most impressive win, getting a 2-1 home upset of a West Virginia team that had been picked to win the Big East's American division in the league's preseason poll. The Mountaineers lost just one conference match last season, and had beaten the Bulls 2-0 in all four previous meetings.

USF's first goal came from freshman Alexandra "Boo" Eagle, with Noelle Pineiro getting her team-high sixth goal for the game-winner. The Bulls have four home games over the next two weekends before finishing the regular season with four conference games on the road.

Men's soccer, which suffered a 1-0 loss in overtime at West Virginia on Friday, bounced back with a 2-1 win at Pittsburgh, getting goals from Bernardo Anor and Andre Mittoo. Volleyball got a three-game sweep at Seton Hall to finish its first weekend of Big East play with two road wins.

USF men's soccer edges Notre Dame, 2-1

Times correspondent Kerry Klecic covered Sunday's USF men's soccer game against Notre Dame. Here's his story, as well as his picture, left, of USF's Hasani Sinclair celebrating his first college goal.

TAMPA — USF looked on its way to another draw this weekend, but senior Jorge Mora saved the No. 5 Bulls (5-0-1) with a late header to give them a 2-1 victory over No. 20 Notre Dame at the USF Soccer Stadium on Sunday.

With the game knotted in the 84^th minute, sophomore Bernardo Anor sent a cross into the box that found Mora, who headed it past Notre Dame keeper Philip Tuttle on the far side.

“Bernardo got a touch by the defender and served a great ball,” Mora said. “I actually had a second or two and I wasn’t sure if I was going to bring it down.  I just decided to put my head on it and I got enough power.”

USF men's soccer takes draw with Marquette

Times correspondent Kerry Klecic has this story from USF's men's soccer match Friday night ...

TAMPA — There USF junior Javed Mohammed stood in the penalty box with 44 seconds left in regulation, his hands on his hips as he stared at the ball that lay perfectly still on the penalty marker.

The No. 5 Bulls, knotted in a 1-1 tie with Marquette, were on the cusp of victory as long as Mohammed could take care of the penalty kick that freshman Hasani Sinclar won when he was taken down in the box in the last minute.

A crowd of 1,452 at the USF Soccer Stadium stood as the left-footed defender approached and struck the ball with the inside of his foot and Marquette goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski dove to the left.

Wide right.

Mohammed’s miss sent the match into overtime, where a pesky Marquette, which has only one win this season, held USF (4-0-1) to a 1-1 tie at the USF Soccer Stadium Friday night in the Bulls’ Big East opener.

Women's soccer falls short of upset at No. 7 UF

Big opportunity for USF women's soccer on Sunday at No. 7 Florida, and the Bulls nearly pulled off a huge win, leading the Gators 1-0 at halftime before falling 2-1 on a goal in the 77th minute.

There's an impressive number of stories on the game -- we'll start with USF's official site, and the same from Florida's official site, which also has a photo gallery.

The soccer bloggers are all over this one -- Jim Willis' Against the Run of Play has a full story, and Nick Murray, who writes the Tampa Bay Soccer Blog, explains that USF had several key players battling illness before and during the game. Gatorcountry.com also has a good writeup on the game and how USF's first goal motivated a Gators All-American to score one second-half game and assist on the other.

The Bulls return home to face Florida International on Friday, with LSU in town on Sunday. The Tigers were ranked No. 25 by Soccer Times earlier this month before losing to Memphis 2-0.