Defensive saves Bulls in tie at Michigan

A night before the USF football team faced off with Michigan State in East Lansing, The USF men’s soccer team was an hour away in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan.

The Bulls escaped with a 1-1 tie in two overtimes Friday evening after playing a man down for the final 83 minutes of the match.

The match against the Wolverines was the first road test for USF coach George Kiefer’s team (1-0-2) this season and the first match against a ranked opponent, with the Wolverines
(1-0-2) coming in at No. 14 on the TopDrawerSoccer.com national poll.

In the 26th minute, USF senior forward Stiven Salinas scored the first goal of the game on an assist from junior midfielder Wesley Charpie.

Senior USF defender Ricardo Webb drew his second yellow card of the match shortly after, forcing his ejection and USF to play a man down the rest of the way.

USF kept a strong defense until the 61st minute, when Michigan’s TJ VanSlooten scored on a header to tie the game at 1-1 following assists from Colin McAtee and Ezekiel Harris.

With a depleted offensive attack, due to switching from three forwards to two in order to keep three defenders in the game, USF couldn’t manage to get a shot on goal in the second period while focusing on defensive efforts.

Aside from the second period, where Michigan out-shot USF 7-0, the Bulls only had one less shot attempt than Michigan in the first period and both overtimes.

Senior USF goalkeeper Brentton Muhammad was strong in goal for the second consecutive game and allowed one goal on six games.

USF heads home to take on the University of Wisconsin on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.