Watch the video recap
SAN FRANCISCO - Junior midfielder Amanda Whittle broke a 196-minute scoreless drought with a goal that lifted the USF women's soccer team to a 1-0 win over UC Santa Barbara Sunday afternoon at Negoesco Stadium. USF (1-0-1) looked poised for another overtime contest following Friday's season-opening scoreless draw against Cal Poly, but Whittle did her part to make sure the Dons notched their first win instead.
In the 86th minute, Alex Alugas delivered a long arching pass across the pitch from the right wing that Whittle was able to corral near the end line on the left wing. Whittle then took her defender one-on-one along the end line and was able to tuck a shot past UCSB keeper Beth Ritter inside the far post for the game-winner and tally the Dons' first goal of the season.
"It's actually funny," said Whittle while describing her game-winning goal, "this morning I was watching an EPL (English Premier League) game, Man[chester] City versus Everton, and a guy on Man City did the exact same play, and I thought 'I'm going to try that' because I saw no one else open to cross it in, so I just took a chance and toe poked it into the goal."
The contest was evenly matched overall with neither team taking firm control until USF picked up the offensive pressure within the final 10 minutes of the second half. Outside of Whittle's goal, the Dons had their best chance to take a lead in the 82nd minute when Alugas handled a pass from Sonja Giraud and slipped open for a one-on-one with Ritter from 12 yards out, but Alugas' shot was just barely deflected over the net.
"The kids are really resilient," commented USF head coach Jim Millinder after the match. "They were just aching for that first goal. I felt at the end of the day we deserved the result. I thought we had some tired legs in the second half - a culmination of the first two games of the season. I think in the final third we've just got to have a little more composure. It really comes down to who outplays somebody one time, and that was it."
UCSB (0-2-0) had a good look in the 60th minute when Jessica Parque tried to loft a shot over USF keeper Madalyn Schiffel straight on from 10 yards out, but the shot fell harmlessly just on the other side of the net.
The Dons held a 12-8 advantage in shots on the day, while UCSB had the edge in corner kicks, 7-5.
Schiffel (1-0-1) picked up the win in goal, recording five saves in the process, while Ritter (0-1-0) recorded five saves in the loss.
USF returns to action on Aug. 28 when they travel to face Oregon at 7 p.m. in Eugene.
