Bulls play to a draw

After having its game at Stetson rained out on Friday, the USF women’s soccer team started the season Sunday at the University of Mississippi.

After 110 minutes and two overtimes, the Bulls walked out of Oxford, Mississippi with a 0-0 tie.

The Bulls – who open their season with a seven-game road trip – played well in their first game under new head coach Denise Schilte-Brown. However, Schilte-Brown would have liked to start her season in Deland.

“We would have liked to played Stetson, because we love playing in-state teams,” Schilte-Brown said. “It’s always fun to try to be the best team in the state.”

The Bulls have been waiting for transfer students to become eligible and practiced all summer with a small group of

players.

“We haven’t really had a full roster, so we weren’t able to do 11-on-11 practices,” Schilte-Brown said. “It was awesome to the team put in the effort to go 110 minutes in our first game. We don’t usually plan to play that long, but I was very happy with the effort the team put in.”

USF played well defensively throughout the game but were unable to create scoring opportunities. The Bulls managed to take just three shots on goal, with junior Lindsay Brauer attempting two.

“I think our organization is something we could work on a little more for next week,” Schilte-Brown said. “We were organized for about 75 percent of the game, but then we sort of broke down. I’d like us to work harder on that 25 percent of the game where our organization wasn’t at its best.”

One player who had a very busy game was sophomore goalkeeper Mallori Lofton-Malachi. She made three saves on 12 shots on goal, and played the entire 110 minutes of the double overtime draw in her first start as a Bull.

“Mallori played awesome for us on Sunday,” Schilte-Brown said. “She did a great job going the whole way.”

Lofton-Malachi credits her teammates for much of the success she had Sunday.

“It was exciting to go into their house and play the way we did,” Lofton-Malachi said. “They had a huge crowd that was heckling us the entire game, and it was a team effort to play the way we did against a team as good as Ole Miss.”