Bulls keep season going

After a week off, the South Florida men’s soccer team was  anxious to take its home field against Georgetown in the Big East tournament quarterfinals. The Bulls didn’t waste much time making the most of the opportunity.

Senior Jordan Seabrook scored twice — once in the third minute of the game and again two minutes into the second half —  and the Bulls held on 2-1 against Georgetown to secure a spot in the Big East semifinals against Notre Dame.

USF created scoring chances early.

“There was a lot of stuff around the goal,” coach George Kiefer said. ”There was a lot more going on with our attack (Sunday). A couple weeks ago we had a tendency to get a little too methodical.”

Junior striker Zak Boggs gathered a loose ball near midfield and sent it streaking down the left center of the field to Seabrook. Seabrook outran a couple of defenders, collected the pass and slid a left-footer past the goalie who came out to challenge the shot, giving the Bulls an early lead.

“We’ve been working a whole lot on getting forward on teams quickly in transition, and it showed,” Seabrook said. “I did a good job of getting behind the defense and finishing.”

The Bulls needed another goal for insurance, however.

The Hoyas got on the board late with a rebound, cutting the deficit to 2-1 just after Seabrook intercepted a mis-hit ball by a Georgetown defender and beat the goalie in a one-on-one play, scoring his second goal of the game.

“The second goal took a little pressure off,” Kiefer said. “I give Georgetown credit to fight back and get in the game.”

The defense stiffened, however, and Seabrook’s performance carried the Bulls to a victory.

“We’re playing with a ton of confidence,” Seabrook said. “We’ve been working hard to get a game like this, where we get a lot of opportunities. We just want to keep on real high, keep playing well, and the more we do that, the better we’ll be.”

The Bulls took care of the Hoyas 2-1 in D.C. on Sept. 19 and followed suit Sunday.

“Georgetown is definitely an NCAA tournament team, so it was a good win,” Kiefer said. “We worked on attacking all week — it paid off. We felt like we could get them in transition, and that happened early. We got rewarded for it. I felt like we were well prepared for them.”