Notebook: Women’s soccer drops close War on I-4 match

South Florida’s womens’ soccer team had 18 fouls in their match against UCF on Sunday. USF ATHLETICS PHOTO

Though the War on I-4 has ended for the foreseeable future, USF women’s soccer fell to the former conference rivals 2-0 in Orlando on Sunday.

Earlier this year, UCF announced its departure from the AAC conference as they were transitioning over to the Big 12.

The Knights (4-2) netted two goals in the second half while shutting out The Bulls (3-4), who suffered their fourth loss of the season. 

USF led in shots six to one in the first half with three of them on goal. UCF redeemed in the second half with seven shots compared to USF’s five. 

The Knights’ lone shot in the first half was not on target, making this the fourth game of the season where South Florida held off its opponents to zero shots on goal during the first half. 

In last year’s matchup, which also ended in a 2-0 loss, USF only had eight fouls total while UCF had 12. That’s no comparison as to what played out on Sunday’s physical match.

Among the 18 fouls South Florida committed, only one was noted as a yellow card from junior midfielder Madison Schwartzenberger. Central Florida totalled 12 fouls again with two of its players getting carded. 

From the Bulls, graduate student forward Kouri Peace led in shots with four, followed by junior midfielder Kendall Lincoln with two. 

South Florida will be traveling to Philadelphia on Thursday to play their first American Athletic Conference game of the season against Temple University. The game is slated for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+. 

Volleyball players break records in South Dakota’s three-day tournament  

USF’s women’s volleyball team played in the South Dakota tournament on Sept. 7-9, where it only won one game out of its three opponents.

On the opening day of the tournament, South Florida (3-5) took home a quick win against IUPUI (4-5) with a 25-17, 26-24 and 25-15 match.

Sophomore outside hitter Buse Hazan led the team in kills that night with eight, followed by junior right side Amanda DeWitt with six. 

The Bulls had an average of five blocks to one this match compared to the Jaguars, with DeWitt and freshman middle blocker Lauren Lewis having a team high of three each.

Following IUPUI, USF played against South Dakota (3-5) on Friday. Out of the five sets played, the Bulls were only able to win the second and fourth set. 

Despite losing this game, USF’s players were able to break new records. DeWitt’s 33 assists gave her a career total of 2,005, moving her up to 10th in program history for most individual assists. This record surpassed Juliana Nogueira, who had 1,964 while playing with the Bulls from 2004-06.

Along with DeWitt, freshman defensive specialist Lia Schneider set a season-high of 22 digs and freshman middle blocker Lauren Lewis reached a season-high of seven block assists.

In its final match of the tournament, South Florida faced Drake University. The Bulls lost in a 3-0 game on Saturday.

Drake dominated the game from the start with USF not even being able to get past 20 points in any of its sets. The sets were 25-12, 25-13 and 25-19. 

The Bulldogs surpassed the Bulls in kills 37 to 27, assists 34 to 26 and digs 54 to 44 during the game.

Next up, the Bulls will be traveling to Jacksonville from Sept. 15-16 for the UNF Tournament.

Men’s golf places 11th in first tournament of the season

South Florida’s mens’ golf team ended in 11th place out of 14 in their season opener at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate from Sept. 8-10 in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Although they ranked in the bottom half of the competition, junior Jake Peacock was a bright spot for the Bulls. Out of the 84 players that participated in the tournament, he tied for the 22nd spot.

Peacock recorded 11 birdies and one eagle throughout the 54-hole event. 

USF ended the tournament with 864 points, one short of 10th place Toledo which had a score of 863. 

Tennessee, the host school, took home first place after having a collective score of 815. 

The Bulls will be traveling to Illinois for the Windon Memorial Classic on Sept. 25-26. Broadcasting is still TBA.