Men’s Soccer Shut Out Against Gonzaga 2-0

Over the weekend the USF men’s soccer team was shut out by the Gonzaga Bulldogs, 2-0. USF was unable to capitalize on their chances as they were held to zero goals for the fifth time this season. The Dons had many chances to score during the game, as they shot the ball a total of 15 times with six of those shots on goal. Gonzaga’s goalkeeper senior Scott Barnum did an excellent job of preventing the attacking Dons from scoring a goal. The Dons were aggressive throughout the game, as they were constantly looking to attack Gonzaga’s defense. But the defense of the Bulldogs was stout and did not let USF capitalize on its chances.  Seniors Conor Chinn and Jonathan Levi stood out the most for the Dons as they both recorded three shots.

Gonzaga scored midway through the first half with a goal at the 21^st minute. The goal was a nice one as Ben Funkhouser scored his fourth goal of the season with a blast into the upper-right corner of the net from 16 yards out. The lead proved to be enough for the Bulldogs as they played safely to protect it. A large reason why Gonzaga was able to control the game was because USF was playing a man down for the entire second half. Sophomore defender Omar Elmarsi was given a record card with about 10 seconds left in the first half. The loss of Elmarsi proved critical for the Dons as they had to adjust to compensate for a loss of a player. Anytime you are down a player you have to change your game plan and the other players have to help more in all areas of play. Perhaps the Dons were a little fatigued after playing a game on Friday night. The previous game as well as losing a player contributed to the level of fatigue. Gonzaga was also fresh as they had a week off prior to visiting USF. This is the third consecutive week that USF has played a Friday game then hosted a Sunday game against an opponent who had a weeklong rest. At the 78^th minute of the game, Gonzaga added the game clinching game as Forward Tye Perdido scored at point blank range on a broken play.

With the loss the USF Dons fall to a 5-7-1 overall record and a 2-4 record in the WCC. The Dons played great against Portland on Friday winning by a score of 1-0 but they couldn’t repeat their success on Sunday. USF did play a solid game as they were constantly attacking, trying very hard to score a goal but ultimately playing a man down hurt them. The Dons play two games during Halloween weekend as they host San Diego on Oct. 30 and Loyola Marymount on Nov. 1.