Pictured above: The Bulls team huddled up at the start of the second half to strategize against their opponent.
Courtesy of Max Steele | The Crow’s Nest
By Max Steele
The USF men’s soccer team lost a thrilling “War On I-4” matchup at home against its long-time state rival, the University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights. The Knights defeated the Bulls with a score of 3-2 on Sept. 29 with nearly a full crowd in attendance at Corbett Soccer Stadium in Tampa.
The Knights were the first team on the score board, with a goal from midfielder Ariel Hadar in the 39th minute of the game. With no other goals in the first half, the two teams headed into the locker room with the Knights up, 1-0.
Three minutes into the second half, UCF’s Hadar struck again and notched his second goal of the game. The Knights took a commanding 2-0 lead over the Bulls.
This time, USF was quick to respond with forward Oscar Resano finding the back of the net only a minute later to put the Bulls back in the game. South Florida cut their deficit in half and looked to even the score.
Unfortunately for the Bulls, UCF wasn’t finished scoring goals. The Knights finished this four-minute scoring streak with a break-away goal from forward Lucca Dourado, the team’s lead scorer.
The game was still far from over, and if there’s one thing to know about the Bulls, it’s that they won’t go down without a fight.
The players picked their heads up and went on to score a goal close to the end of the match with forward Victor Claudel capitalizing off a corner kick. They kept the pressure on until the end, almost tying the game with a last-minute free kick that ended in an incredible save by UCF goalie Tyler Lavigne.
UCF was able to survive USF’s late rally and claim victory in the first edition of the “War On I-4.” As the Knights celebrated on South Florida’s home field, many of the USF players appeared eager for revenge.
Luckily for the Bulls, they will have the chance to even the series when they head to Orlando on Oct. 27 for a “War On I-4” rematch.
Following the game, USF’s starting freshmen defender Nicolas Scargle shared some insight about the match.
Scargle said this Bulls squad is “a very young team” and consists of a lot of freshmen. He said the team needs to improve their work ethic and sharpen their mentalities going into games.
Scargle said he is very confident in his teammates and believes this team is destined for greatness. He said the team “won’t let these losses affect their goal” and they will “keep pushing forward.”
“This team is a family and everyone’s ambitions are the same: to win our conference and go to the NCAA playoffs to showcase what our team is all about,” Scargle said.
After the game, UCF went to Twitter to poke fun at the defeated USF team. They posted a series of tweets insulting the Bulls, including a picture with the UCF soccer players displaying “Bull Down” hand signals and claiming to be “Tampa’s hometown team.”
Fans are interested to see if the Bulls will respond to these social media antics or if they will decide to conserve their energy for the rematch and let their game speak for them.
Until then, USF has four regular season games to work out their mistakes in preparation for their second matchup with the Knights. The team will travel to Tulsa and Temple for back-to-back road games and then return to Tampa to face off against Memphis and SMU.
Tickets to USF men’s soccer games are free for USF students, $7 for adults and $5 for children (ages 4-12). Games are also live streamed on USF BullsVision and broadcasted on USF Bulls Unlimited radio.
Follow the USF men’s soccer team on social media and use hashtag #BullsUp
Facebook: @usfmenssoccer Instagram: @usfmsoc Twitter: @usfmsoc
