Bulls top Bearcats, earn share of division title

Posted Oct 26, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Oct 26, 2011 at 11:13 PM

The University of South Florida men’s soccer team made the most of its final home game of the regular season on Wednesday.

The Bulls defeated visiting Cincinnati, 3-0, in front of 1,498 at Corbett Soccer Stadium to extend their win streak to seven and unbeaten streak to 10, and the latest victory had an added bonus.

The win secured for USF (12-2-2, 7-0-1) at least a share of the Big East Conference Red Division title. It is the program’s second division title under coach George Kiefer, the first since 2005.

“This is a huge win for us. It really has been our goal the whole year,” senior midfielder Sebastien Thuriere said. “I don’t think people really had a lot of respect for us the whole year, so it was very, very important for us to prove ourselves and this right here is our first goal, so it was good to be able to accomplish our first goal. It was a great team win. We’ve been training really hard, so it’s great to see hard work paying off.”

Junior forward Dom Dwyer scored twice, once in each half, and added an assist on a second-half goal by Thuriere, who was one of two Bulls honored before the game on Senior Night.

Dwyer got the Bulls off to a great start, scoring the game’s opening goal just nine minutes, 23 seconds after receiving a long pass from junior midfielder Ashani Fairclough.

“We’d been starting a little bit slow the last couple of games so we made it our goal just to start strong,” Dwyer said.

Thuriere struck 11 minutes into the second half to extend the Bulls lead to 2-0, and just 66 seconds later Dwyer found the back of the net again to complete his fifth multi-goal effort of the season.

“We want to kill games early, as quick as we can,” Dwyer said. “Seb did well on his goal. He’s been working hard and it’s not been falling right for him and he did a great shot on the edge of the box. Wes (Charpie) put a great ball in for the third one and the goalie spilled it and luckily I was there to jump on it, and 3-nill, game over.”

Dwyer entered with a Big East-leading 14 goals but ended the night tied for the NCAA lead with 16, a total that also represents the most for a USF player in Kiefer’s tenure with the Bulls.

“I’m the furthest up the field, so I’m expected to score goals,” Dwyer said. “Our game plan is to get balls in the box and normally I’m the only guy in the box, so that’s why I’m getting the goals. I don’t think the credit should be on me. The boys are just delivering them and making chances and I’m getting on the end of them.”

The Bulls close the regular season Sunday at Rutgers, which prevented USF from winning the league division title outright on Wednesday. The Bulls needed a win and a loss or tie from the Scarlet Knights, who edged St. John’s 1-0 in overtime.

That didn’t stop the celebration, though, as the Bulls coaches and players enjoyed the moment with several well-wishers who made their way onto the field after the final horn. But Kiefer kept things into perspective, saying while he was proud of what his team accomplished that this is only the beginning.

“To get one trophy already with still a regular season game left I think is nice, but there’s no way those guys in that weight room right now are content with that,” Kiefer said. “It’s just a small piece of it. It just puts you in a better position to get more trophies, and I think the players understand that.”