Women’s Soccer vs. Tampa Saturday

[Brad]

Courtesy USF

USF WOMEN’S SOCCER

Women’s Soccer vs. Tampa Saturday

TAMPA, Fla. – The University of South Florida women’s soccer team will kick off the 2007 season Saturday against the University of Tampa at 5 p.m. in the USF Soccer Stadium. 

The contest will be played as three 30-minute periods with a short break between each whistle. Tickets for the game are available at $5 for adults and $3 for youth 16-and-under at the gate. 

Two first-season head coaches will face off as Denise Schilte-Brown leads the Bulls against Gerry Lucey’s Spartans. Schilte-Brown came to USF from Virginia Commonwealth while Lucey arrived in Tampa after one year at West Chester in Pennsylvania. 

USF looks at the 2007 season as a new day, with high expectations and an overall new look for the Bulls women’s soccer team. Schilte-Brown became the second coach in the history of the program in December of 2006, bringing with her new energy and enthusiasm for both the team and the University. The team will have a new chemistry as Schilte-Brown has added an influx of players – both locally and from the international ranks – to the 10 returning players, essentially creating a new team. In 2007, USF will look to improve on last season’s 6-10-1 overall and 7th-place (American Division) 3-8 record in the BIG EAST Conference. 

The Tampa squad comes into the game as the nation’s number-four ranked NCAA II team, according to the NSCAA/adidas preseason top-25 poll. The Spartans finished the season in that same spot last season, posting an 18-3-1 record, and advancing to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in the program’s history. UT returns seven starters from last year’s squad and 17 letterwinners from the team that also won the Sunshine state Conference regular season and tournament titles.

Saturday’s match marks the first of three exhibition matches for the Bulls. August 21 USF will play Northern Illinois at 7 p.m. in Orlando and August 25th USF will meet UCF at the same time and place. 

USF’s regular season debut is August 31 in DeLand when the Bulls meet the Stetson Hatters at 4 p.m. The Bulls’ first home game is Sept. 28 against preseason No. 10, Connecticut, at 7:30 p.m.