USF sends seniors out with win

The USF womens soccer team celebrated its seniors in style, beating the St. Johns Red Storm 2-0 on Sundays Senior Day and extending its winning streak to six games with one game remaining in the regular season.

The Bulls (10-4-2, 6-1-2) win over the Red Storm (6-9-1, 2-5-1) propelled them to the No. 2 seed in the Big East American Division.

Senior midfielder Taylor Patterson said she was happy with the teams victory.

It was a great win. To go out like that and be at the top of the Big East, thats awesome, Patterson said.

Head coach Denise Schitle-Brown said the team played a good game.

Overall, they played a really solid game, Schilte-Brown said. We had a lot of opportunities in the first half. We easily could have been up, but some of the balls didnt go through the back of the net.

She also said she was proud of the seniors.

I thought my seniors played great. I was excited to honor them today with not just the victory, but with everyone showing up, Schilte-Brown said, referencing to the crowd of 423 that was present as the team recognized its eight seniors.

The Bulls were able to continue the momentum from Fridays game in the first half, attacking the ball and
being aggressive on the defensive end.

USF had many opportunities to score in the first half with a shot by junior forward Sharla Passariello and another by freshman midfielder Olivia Chance, but both were saved by St. Johns goalkeeper Ellen Conway.

The Bulls ended the half with eight shots, three of which were shots at goal.

In the 70th minute, sophomore midfielder Sarah Miller threw the ball in from the corner inside the goalies box to Patterson. Patterson passed the ball to Stokes, who was able to put the Bulls up 1-0.

Ten minutes later, freshman midfielder Ana Paola Lopez put the Bulls at 2-0 after getting past the St. Johns defense from midfield.

Though Fridays game was Pattersons last regular season game at Corbett Stadium, it wont be the seniors final career home game as USF will host a game in the Big East Tournament.

Its hard to think about, but were a great team and I think we could go a lot further, Patterson said. I dont think this will be my final game here.

The Bulls finished with 19 shots and six shots on goal, compared to St. Johns eight shots and three on goal.

The victory followed a scrappy win on Friday night, when the Bulls sealed a spot in the Big East Tournament in a 1-0 win over Syracuse, when senior Kelly Campbell scored her first goal of the year ten minutes in, and the defense held on for another shutout.

USF is on a six-game winning streak and has a defense that has recorded four straight shutouts eight
shutouts on the season as it travels to Wisconsin on Saturday, where it will take on Marquette to close out the regular season.