USF Women’s Soccer Beats Tulsa 2-1 in Overtime to Open Conference Play

USF women’s soccer needed a penalty conversion in the 110th minute of overtime to defeat the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 2-1 to open American Athletic Conference play on Thursday night.

Tulsa got on the board very early, scoring in the 3rd minute on the first shot of the game for either team. Tulsa’s Reagan Whitlow took a pass from Liliana Fernandez to give the Golden Hurricanes an early 1-0 lead. Senior Aubrey Megrath would level the score for USF in the 13th minute, when she scored off a corner kick assisted by Andrea Hauksdottir.

USF would dominate in nearly every statistical category, but struggled to find the back of the net for the next 97 minutes of action. The Bulls out-shot Tulsa 34-13, with USF getting 12 shots on goal and keeping consistent offensive pressure with 15 corner kicks. Tulsa’s goalkeeper Mica Mackay would accumulate 10 saves on the night as the Bulls continued to look for the leading goal.

It wasn’t until the 110th minute when sophomore Sydney Nasello was fouled as she was taking a shot inside the box that USF would finally break through to win the game. Andrea Hauksdottir took the spot and slotted it past Tulsa Goalkeeper to give USF the game winning goal, winning the game 2-1.

An overall frustrating night for USF was evident by senior Evelyne Vien’s stat sheet. The star striker had 10 shots, four of which were on goal and all four were saved by the Tulsa goalie. She also collected a yellow card in the 65th minute.

Freshman Katrina Haarmann continues to get the nod from head coach Denise Schilte-Brown, as she recorded two saves on 13 shots faced in a full 110 minutes of action.

USF will continue conference play when they face #11 Memphis at home on Sunday at 1 p.m. This will be a rematch of last year’s AAC Tournament Final where Memphis upset USF at Corbett Stadium 3-0 to win the conference tournament.