South Florida men defeat Florida Atlantic

TAMPA (October 14, 2009) – The University of South Florida men’s soccer team came out tonight against in-state foe Florida Atlantic and got something that it had really been looking for all season long – much needed offense. USF stepped out of conference tonight and handed Florida Atlantic a 3-2 loss tonight at the USF Soccer Stadium. The Bulls’ three goals is the highest goal total since defeating this same FAU team 3-0 last season, a stretch of 21 games. In addition, USF extended its home unbeaten streak to 25 games (21-0-4) dating back to a Sept. 23, 2007 win over Providence (3-1).

The Bulls started off quickly getting two of their three goals in the first 15 minutes of the contest. Hasani Sinclair started things off with a goal off a pass from Jorge Mora in the sixth minute of play. Bernardo Anor followed that up with a goal in the 15th minute off a pass from Fernando Gonzalez and Zak Boggs.

In the second half, FAU finally struck when Rocco Pecora  scored in the 54th minute off a pass from Darnell King.

Sebastian Thuriere gave USF an insurance goal, his first of the year, with eight minutes remaining in the game. It was a much needed score as the Owls came back just under four minutes later to cut the lead to one, 3-2, on a goal by King. Florida Atlantic, however, would not get any closer.

The Bulls improve to 8-2-2 while FAU drops to 4-5-2.

The Bulls will get back into BIG EAST Conference play on Saturday, Oct. 17 when they travel to central New York to face Syracuse. Kick-off is slated for 7 p.m. at the SU Soccer Stadium.

USF will return home on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. when it battles No. 20 Dartmouth in its final non-conference game of the year.

Season tickets for USF men’s soccer games are $40 for adults and $20 for youths and senior citizens. Adult individual match tickets are $6, while youth and senior citizen admission is $3. All groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets for $2.50 per ticket. All USF students will be admitted at no cost when they display their student ID.