Oscar Englund Slams Home Rebound off Bryan Burke's
Assist; Tanner Smith Also Scores
(San Francisco) – USF men's soccer broke through for a
2-1 double overtime triumph against Cal State Northridge Friday
night at Negoesco Stadium. The Dons (2-3-1) bounce back for their
first win since the season opener at the expense of the determined
Matadors (0-6-1).
Just when it appeared the match would end in a 1-1 draw, senior
forward Bryan Burke made a spectacular play setting up the game
winning strike. Burke tracked down a ball that appeared to be
destined to go over the end line for a Matador goal kick. Burke not
only kept the ball in bounds, but found sophomore forward Oscar Englund in the middle of the box. The Swedish striker powered it
home into the empty net for victory in the 108th minute.
San Francisco opened the scoring in the 48th minute as freshman
forward Tanner Smith collected his second goal of the season,
capitalizing on a sensational cross from sophomore defender Samir Najmeh. Smith lingering at the far post headed the ball in to give
the Dons the advantage.
Cal State Northridge would respond in the 74th minute when Mattias
Bonvehi struck for his first tally of the season on a bicycle kick
at point blank range off a throw in. Nicholas Hamilton earned the
assist off the long throw in to the far post.
"We've been in a couple overtimes this year where we
haven't been able to get a result, but this game we were able
to get a result," USF head coach Erik Visser said. "I
give a lot of credit to Jojo Vitale, who stepped in for Brendan Roslund and did a fantastic job. Not only did he make a couple of
key saves in regulation, but also made some big plays in
overtime."
Redshirt freshman Jojo Vitale (1-0-0) made a memorable debut for
the Dons and collected his first career victory. Vitale collected
six saves, two coming in overtime, and kept the Dons in the game.
Michael Abalos suffered the loss for the Matadors and made three
saves.
Cal State Northridge held a 20-18 shot advantage for the contest,
7-5 in attempts on target. The Matadors also took nine corner kicks
compared to just three for the Dons. Englund, senior defender Rafai Eddy, freshman midfielder Vergard Karlsen and Smith recorded three
shots apiece. Rafael Garcia took a match-high six shots, three on
frame, to lead the Matadors.
"I'm very happy the team was able to gut it out, but we
need to play a lot better," Visser said. "We were up 11
vs. 10 for a while and we gave up too many opportunities against a
Northridge team that is a lot better than their record
indicates."
USF closes out the non-conference portion of the schedule Sunday
night when it travels south to take on ancient Bay Area rival San
Jose State. Match time against the Spartans is set for 7:30 PM at
Spartan Stadium.
NOTES: It was the first multi-goal match of the
season for USF and the two goals doubled the Dons season
tally… Smith's goal snapped a streak of three straight
shutouts… USF improves to 9-2-0 in the all-time series to
Cal State Northridge… San Francisco evens its record against
Big West opponents at 1-1-1 with a loss to No. 20 Cal State
Bakersfield and a 1-1 draw against Cal State Fullerton.
