Weekend Roundup: Fall Is Upon Us

USF football did their thing, and then some, to kickoff the weekend early on Thursday night against Temple. The rest of USF Athletics? Well, it was a struggle at times. Here’s what went down.

Volleyball

The team finally returned home over the weekend to open up conference play against Cincinnati and East Carolina. The Bulls won a single set all weekend. One set in two matches. Brutal.

On Friday, USF dropped the opener to Cincinnati in straight sets (25-22, 25-19, 25-17). The Bearcats came to town with a 2-10 record and led by as many as six in the first set after the Bulls jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Redshirt junior Clara Payne had nine kills and a season-high three solo blocks.

On Sunday, USF took on a better East Carolina team but lost in four sets to the Pirates (25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 18-25). Again, the Bulls had their best showing in the first set and jumped out to a 14-4 lead. In the second set, USF led 20-18 late but allowed a 5-1 East Carolina run to drop that set. In the final set, after USF rallied to make it 8-8, East Carolina led by no fewer than five the rest of the way to take the set and match .

USF drops to 4-7 overall, 0-2 in the American, and 1-4 at home after another lost weekend in front of two enthusiastic, but disappointed home crowds. The Bulls will return to action against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday night in the rescheduled USF Classic.

Women’s Soccer

Coming off an incredible 2-1 comeback win on Thursday night at ECU, USF headed to Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon and things didn’t go nearly as well.

The Bulls held the the game scoreless until the 88th minute, when Cincinnati freshman Karli Royer buried a corner kick off the near post to give the Bearcats a 1-0 victory. USF senior goalkeeper Kat Elliot had her best game of the season with eight saves, tying a career high and making the Bulls loss even more crushing.

USF (5-3-0, 1-1-0 AAC) returns home to play Memphis on Thursday night.

Men’s Soccer

The “War On I-4” kicked off at Corbett Stadium over the weekend when the USF men’s soccer team welcomed in that school from Orlando. The Bulls racked up six points in the all-sports rivalry contest with an absolute thrilling 3-2 double OT win that Carl tells us all about here.

Also...

• Fresh off an impressive 13-shot victory at their first event of the fall in the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate in Choudrant, La, the USF men’s golf team will travel to Wisconsin later this week for their second tournament. Bulls senior Cristian DiMarco leads the way for USF, after winning the individual title at that Jim Rivers Intercollegiate.
• At the Nittany Lion Invitational, the USF women’s golf team finished in 10th place out of 14 teams this weekend. Junior Natalia Villavicencio had a solid weekend, posting her first top-25 finish as a Bull.

Next week, we have updates on cross country as they get further into the thick of their season and a few words about both tennis teams as well.