USF Athletics

Conference Champ USF Excited to Open NCAA Tournament at Home

November 08, 2017

By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, NOV. 9, 2017 – Postseason soccer is headed back to Corbett Stadium after head coach Denise Schilte-Brown's women's team made program history.

USF is proud to host Florida Gulf Coast University in a first-round NCAA tournament matchup that's set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the home of the Bulls.

"I'm pretty excited that it's two Florida teams going at it. I think Corbett is going to be packed," Schilte-Brown said.

The past few days have been a joyous time for the Bulls after they captured the program's first American Athletic Conference tournament title in dramatic fashion last Sunday. Facing top-seeded UCF in Orlando, USF kept things scoreless for 110 minutes before shooting past the No. 8 Knights in penalty kicks. A few days later, USF checked in at No. 25 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.

"The War On I-4 is always a battle. Beating UCF is great. I think to beat a top-10 team shows that we can really compete with anybody in the country," said senior keeper Kat Elliott (Bradenton, Fla.), who was named the conference tournament's most outstanding defensive player.

Now USF (12-3-2) turns its attention to Saturday's showdown with the Atlantic Sun Conference champions. FGCU (14-3-1) is making its fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance and heads to Tampa for the second time in the past three postseasons.

"Gulf Coast is a great team with they have a great record," Schilte-Brown said. "It's going to be a battle and we're going to be up for the task."

NCAA Tournament Ticket Info
Fans can get great deals on tickets for Saturday's NCAA tournament showdown at Corbett Stadium.

Tickets cost only $7 for adults and children 3 and older. Children 2 years old or younger get in free.

USF students can get tickets for $5, but arrive at the gates early because the first 500 students get in for free.

Tickets can be purchased today at the Ticketmaster link HERE.

Schilte-Brown Reflects on the Selection Show
Monday's NCAA Selection Show was a time to sit back and relax for USF.

Earning the conference title gave the Bulls an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which made for a very happy head coach after watching her Bulls extend their unbeaten streak to nine matches.

"Without the automatic bid, you can't feel 100 percent sure that you're in that tournament,"Schilte-Brown said. "But until you see your name, you're just on the edge of your seat and it's not a fun feeling. It's anticipation and maybe excitement, but not really. It's just really mostly stress."

Stress-free Schilte-Brown was a hug machine around the team at the Selmon Athletics Center Monday while congratulating her players on the program's sixth straight 10-win season that's still going strong.

"(Monday) was so fun. You knew your name was going to come," Schilte-Brown said. "You just got to sit there, enjoy it and wait to see who your opponent was. It was really just a relief and really enjoyable."

Season Success a Total Team Effort
Preparing to face a team like USF is extremely difficult considering you can't game plan for only a few stars.

This season, 11 different Bulls have scored goals and 15 have recorded assists. Defensively, USF is giving up just 1.18 goals per game with seven shutouts to its credit.

It is a really selfless group. When you look at just the accolades, we didn't have a ton. I think part of that is you just don't play us and pinpoint one or two kids that have played well. It's a good team effort and we typically use the whole field. We're a good building team.

Selfless Bulls Winning for Others
Hoisting the conference crown was extra special for USF, which has been motivated to succeed for others.

"A lot of people dedicated the season for different reasons. For us, it was a bit emotional," Schilte-Brown said. "My husband's brother had passed away and we had kind of dedicated the season to him. I know that Chris really poured his heart into this group and we really wanted it for this group."

Healthy Bulls also wanted to win for senior midfielder Grace Adams (Ghana), who played in 14 games before her season was unfortunately cut short by an ACL injury.

"Gracie is just this wonderful, wonderful person that's really selfless and everybody really loves her," Schilte-Brown said. "I know most of the girls wanted to win, not only for themselves, but selfishly for her."
 
About USF Women's Soccer
Be sure to follow USF women's soccer on social media (Twitter / Instagram/Facebook) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information. The USF women's soccer team has posted five consecutive seasons of 10-plus wins and six in the last seven years under head coach Denise Schilte-Brown. Schilte-Brown reached her 100^th win with USF last season, and will begin her eleventh season as head coach in 2017. The Bulls made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2010 and returned in 2014 & 2015.