USF Athletics Weekend Round-Up 3/14

USF continues their loaded spring season with sweeps—both positive and negative—and dominance from both soccer teams.

No. 17 Women’s Soccer Calms the Golden Hurricane, Completes Fifth Straight Shutout

The Bulls (4-0-1, 3-0 AAC) struck early and often at Corbett Stadium on Saturday scoring three goals in the opening half and outshooting Tulsa 22-3 on the match. USF’s defense played strong not allowing a single shot-on-goal in the first half. Senior Paula Leblic scored a pair of goals in the 6’ and 39’ and USF never looked back. Senior Meghan Cavanaugh also scored in the 33’. Junior GK Sydney Martinez—posting the program record fifth consecutive shutout—made two saves in the game.

USF will look to continue their unbeaten and shutout streak as they welcome Central Florida (2-2) next Sunday at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+ in the next War on I-4 battle. The last time these two teams met the Bulls eliminated the Golden Knights in the 2019 AAC Championship Semifinals.

Men’s Soccer Continues to Climb, beats Memphis on the road 3-1

The Bulls (4-2, 4-2 AAC) continued their surprising spring resurgence winning their fourth straight contest at Memphis and finding themselves atop the American Athletic Conference standings. USF started the scoring in the 11’ with freshman Jeffrey Copper finding the back of the net. Senior Josue Monge connected on the Bulls first penalty kick of the season three minutes later, and freshman Oscar Resano scored his second goal of the season in the 29’. USF outshot Memphis 18-12; 11-4 in the first half. GK Kazuna Takase gave up a goal in the 64’, but otherwise made three saves.

USF will look to avenge their 7-0 loss to SMU as they travel to Dallas on Saturday to play the Mustangs (3-2) at 8 p.m.

Writer’s Note: Also, these kits rule :eyesemoji:

No. 34 Men’s Tennis Sweeps Saturday Doubleheader vs. Georgia St. and Samford, Wins Conference Opener vs. SMU on Sunday.

The Bulls (10-2) extended their win streak to eight matches with a couple of victories on Saturday in their only doubleheader of the season and their conference opener vs. SMU on Sunday.

Georgia Southern: USF wins 5-1

After surrendering the doubles point to Georgia State, USF rallied and won all six singles matches in two sets dispatching of the Panthers.

Samford: USF wins 5-2

Losing the doubles point against Samford - this time in three matches - the Bulls rallied again winning their first two singles matches in two sets while Senior Jakub Wojcik took three sets to dispatch of SMU’s Victor Chaw. Sophomore Ivan Yatsuk won his match in two sets to clinch the victory over the Bulldogs and extend their win streak to seven.

SMU: USF wins 4-3.

The Bulls started the afternoon losing the doubles point in three, but dominating performances by Ivan Yatsuk and Pierre Luquet winning their matches in two sets set up a dramatic ending on Court 1 between USF’s Chase Ferguson and SMU’s Caleb Chakravathi. Ferguson rallied after dropping the first set 6-4 to win the next two 6-4 and 6-4 to secure the victory for the Bulls and extend their winning streak.

Baseball’s Win Streak Snapped, Swept Again by FGCU

USF baseball has found their kryptonite as FGCU snaps their seven game win streak after the Eagles swept the Bulls in the opening series in February. So far the only L’s on the record are against the squad from Ft. Myers.

Game 1: FGCU 7-1

The reigning AAC Pitcher of the week Jack Jasiak (2-1) struggled against the Eagles collecting his first loss of the season giving up three earned runs in five innings of work. He also struck out six and walked five batters. The story of the game was FGCU ace Mason Studstill striking out seven batters in seven innings giving up no runs on just three hits. Junior Riley Hogan had the lone USF run with an RBI single in the 8th inning. One run is tied for the lowest offensive output for the Bulls on the season. The last time they scored only one run was against FGCU on opening day.

Game 2: FGCU 6-5

USF couldn’t quite complete the comeback as FGCU takes game two in Tampa. The Eagles scored two in the opening frame off sophomore starter Brad Lord, but the Bulls offense answered with two runs of their own in the home-half off a pair of RBI singles. Lord gave up another three runs in the second before he was pulled for Dylan Burns. USF was able to tie the game up in the fifth off of redshirt freshman Daniel Cantu’s 2 RBI triple, but the Eagles took the lead right back in the sixth on an RBI single. FGCU out-hit USF 14-6 on the game with the Bulls collecting two errors. Freshman Reliever Orion Kerkering struck out a career-high eight batters in just 3.2 innings of work giving up no runs and just one walk.

Game 3: FGCU 17-13 (Yes, you read that right.)

USF started the game hot firing off three runs in the first inning, but the Eagles tied it up in the 2nd. The Bulls led by as many as six before FGCU slugged an unprecedented 10-run inning in the bottom of the 5th to take a 15-10 lead. Only ten of the 17 runs scored by FGCU were earned with the Bulls committing three errors. FGCU outhit the Bulls 15-14 in a game that resembled more of a football score than a baseball one. Freshman Drew Brutcher hit his sixth home run on the season—a three-run shot—in the 3rd.

The Bulls (7-6) will travel to Deland to play Stetson on Tuesday at 6 p.m. before welcoming in the No. 20 FAU Owls for a three-game set this weekend.

Softball Welcomes Team USA to the USF Softball Field

One of the best parts of having Coach Ken Eriksen as your manager is you get the chance to play against Team USA in your own complex for an exhibition series. This is a great opportunity for the student-athletes regardless what the scoreboard says.

The USWNT is fresh off a three-game sweep of No. 5 Team Mexico and looked every bit as good against the Bulls. USF was no-hit in game 1 losing 12-0 in 4 innings, one-hit in game 2 losing 8-0, and one-hit again in game three losing 10-1. It’s about the experience folks!

The Bulls completed a doubleheader sweep of New Mexico State on Wednesday winning game one, 4-3 and needing 12 innings to dispatch of the Aggies in game 2 winning 4-3.

USF (5-6) will welcome North Dakota to the USF Softball Stadium next weekend for a three game series.

Women’s Golf has rough outing in the Valspar Augusta Invitational

USF finished 13th of 16 programs on the team leaderboard shooting 29 over par; however, they did finish 25 strokes over conference-mate Memphis. South Carolina at -30 led the field with Duke, FSU, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech all finishing under par. Senior Shelby Brauckmuller finished the weekend +6 to lead all USF players and, tied for 45th on the player leaderboard.

USF will play next in the Brickyard Collegiate in Macon, GA April 5-6.

Men’s Golf

The USF Men’s golf team will travel to the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, FL to compete in the Valspar Collegiate Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. The 11-team field features six programs in the Golfstat Top 10.