NOTEBOOK: Viens messes with Texas

Evelyne Viens scored five goals this weekend. ORACLE PHOTO/BRIAN HATTAB

No matter how good a weekend you had, it probably wasn’t as good as the one Evelyne Viens had in San Antonio.

The Bulls’ senior striker scored five goals: a double brace during the Bulls’ 5-1 win against Rice on Friday and a 76th minute insurance goal during No. 17 USF’s 5-0 shutout of Texas-San Antonio on Sunday.

Viens’ double brace was the second four-goal game of her career and the third in program history. The four goals also tied a program record for goals in a game, while the hat trick — the third of Viens’ career — tied the program record for career hat tricks. 

USF (4-1) outshot its opponents by a combined margin of 26-10. The dominant weekend also included a penalty-kick goal by sophomore midfielder Sydny Nasello on Friday, a brace by senior forward Aubrey Megrath on Sunday and only one goal allowed by freshman Kat Haarmann, who played all 180 minutes. 

Bulls get first win of season

USF men’s soccer (1-1) is in the win column, although it probably should have entered it a bit more comfortably.

The Bulls defeated Marquette 2-1 on Friday behind goals by freshman forward Victor Claudel and junior midfielder Trey Jackson.

The real story, however, was USF’s inability to finish plays. Despite outshooting Marquette 26-9, the Bulls were only able to get two balls past goalkeeper Jackson Weyman.

“I think that the guys played pretty well, although we were a little unfortunate that we didn’t have a few more goals, but I think in general we created a lot,” coach Bob Butehorn said in a statement. “Maybe the finishing needs to be cleaned up a bit but overall I think it was a pretty good game for us and one we deserved to win.”

Senior midfielder Stephen Rudderham led the offensive attack with six shots, while four other Bulls had at least three.

USF swept in Hurricane Invitational

USF volleyball (2-3) left Coral Gables with as many wins as it had coming into the weekend, dropping all three matches in the Hurricane Invitational.

The Bulls fell in straight sets twice — Friday to FGCU (13-25, 17-25, 14-25) and again on Saturday evening against host Miami (21-25, 26-28, 19-25).

USF’s best chance at coming home with a win was Saturday afternoon versus Auburn. The Bulls fell to the Tigers in five sets, with four of the five being decided by fewer than five points (25-20, 26-28, 13-25, 25-21, 15-17). 

“I’m proud of the way our team fought this match. It was very evenly matched and could have gone either way, unfortunately we came up short today,” coach Courtney Draper said in a statement after the Auburn match. “We are still working to find the right lineup and, as a team, we just need to perform more consistently.”

It won’t be easy next weekend, though. After a home match against North Florida on Tuesday, the Bulls travel two hours north on Interstate 75 to participate in the Gator Invitational, which includes a Friday afternoon matchup with No. 7 Florida.