Bulls get back into routine looking for first conference win

It’s been two weeks since the USF women’s soccer team played a game on Sunday and now the Bulls will be doing so this weekend in a two-game home stand at Corbett Soccer Stadium against Temple and Connecticut.

“It was a bit different for us because we are used to that normal routine, but it was also quite nice because we got little bit of a break,” redshirt graduate defender Marsha Harper said. “We got more excited for those Friday games, only having one game a week, but we’re excited to get back into the normal flow of things.”

The Bulls (5-2-3, 0-1-0) usually play two games in the same weekend, but the past two weeks saw USF playing only Fridays.

Six days removed from their 2-1 loss against UCF on Friday night, the Bulls head into the weekend against the Owls (6-4-1, 1-1-0) on Friday night and the Huskies (8-4-0, 2-0-0) on Sunday, looking to continue to build on the basics such as controlling, passing and touching the ball.

“We like to keep the ball and stick to our style of play,” Harper said. “Sticking to how we’re used to playing, which is possession-style soccer.”

She also said one of the positives the team took away from the UCF loss is that the Bulls are a “top notch team.”

“When we work together, we can produce results and score nicely,” Harper said. “We can handle anything that is thrown at us.”

Similar to the Bulls, the Owls come to Tampa with a 1-0 loss from their previous match.

Unlike USF and Temple, UConn enter the weekend with a 2-1 victory over SMU and 4-1 win over Houston in the same the weekend.

With the Bulls returning to playing games on Sundays, Harper said she can’t wait to play back at home.

“We always look forward to a good crowd,” Harper said. “Whenever we get a good crowd, we love putting a show on for them. We’re going to bring the heat.”

An advantage for the Bulls heading into the matches, Harper said, will be the humidity and heat.

“Most of the time, the teams that we’re playing come from a not-so-hot climate, or maybe it’s hot, but it’s nothing compared to Tampa,” Harper said. “I can tell you that coming from Colorado.”

The Bulls play the Owls at 7:30 p.m. and the Huskies at 1 p.m.