Missed opportunities cost Bulls against Tennessee

Despite logging 18 shots, the Bulls weren’t able to score Thursday night in their matchup against Tennessee. USF ATHLETICS PHOTO

The USF women’s soccer team lost its second match of the season Thursday as two late goals from Tennessee saw the night end in defeat for the Bulls. 

The match was a highly contentious one, but the Volunteers’ potency in front of goal turned out to be the deciding factor that saw USF lose 2-0.

“I thought the girls worked hard,” coach Denise Schilte-Brown said. “It was never going to be easy to play our game, but I think they worked hard to try to keep the ball and execute what we asked them to.

“I think we were fairly unlucky with some early posts and some missed opportunities, but you know if we start converting those then we’re putting teams away in the first half, that’s a good change for us.”

Even though USF took more shots, registering 18, only three were on target, with two hitting the post. Senior midfielder Paula Leblic and junior forward Sydny Nasello each hit the woodwork in the first 25 minutes of the match.

“I think we had a game plan coming into the match and I think we did execute it well, we just didn’t convert on the chances and in the end we kind of let the [other] team hang on a little longer than we would have liked,” Nasello said. “We had the chances to put them away early and we didn’t.”

On the other end of the pitch, the visitors took 14 shots, with 10 on target. Their first goal was scored by junior Brooke Wilson, and the second by senior Mackenzie George.

The Bulls will now have a weeklong gap until their next match. Nasello said she and her teammates will take the break to recover.

“Rest is always a good thing,” Nasello said. “Downtime is honestly more important. Recovery is really key when you’re playing an elite sport like this at this level, so we’re going to take care of our bodies and want to bounce back the following week.”

USF’s next match against FAU will take place Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.