Women’s soccer continues homestand

Women’s soccer continues homestand

The USF women’s soccer team hosts two nonconference matches this weekend as a final tuneup before facing West Virginia in its conference opener Sept. 15.

The Bulls (3-2-1) begin action Friday at 7:30 p.m. as they take on Akron (1-2-0). Both teams will try to rebound from poor showings last weekend. The Zips enter the match with two consecutive losses, while USF attempts to bounce back from a loss to Vanderbilt and a draw with Murray State.

“I feel good about the way we played,” USF coach Denise Schilte-Brown said about how her team looked last week. “We’re going to try to look more polished in front of the goal.”

The Bulls close the weekend Sunday at 2 p.m. against Jacksonville University (3-2-1). The Dolphins enter the game with six goals scored by six different players this season and hope to rack up their third straight win.

A concern heading into the weekend is the health of USF senior forward Chelsea Klotz, who was injured in an onfield collision with the opposing goalkeeper against Vanderbilt. Klotz, who tied for the team lead in goals last year with 11, is expected to see action.

“She had a pretty bad contusion,” Schilte-Brown said. “But we feel confident that she’ll play some minutes for us this weekend.”

Despite the impending start of conference play, Schilte-Brown said she wants to see he team create scoring opportunities this week and feels confident about the matches.

“I feel optimistic that the ball is going to fall our way this weekend,” she said.