The Golden Hurricane played both American Athletic teams from Florida this week, losing to South Florida on Wednesday before defeating Central Florida on Saturday for their first conference win of the season.
South Florida was the fifth ranked opponent of the season on Tulsa’s schedule. The Golden Hurricane went into the match looking for their first victory against a ranked foe.
The Bulls got on the scoreboard first, taking the lead just fifteen minutes into the game. Gabriel Carlsson found himself open in front of Tulsa goalkeeper Marcel Da Silva to score an easy goal after USF beat the Tulsa defense with little difficulty after a few crisp passes.
Tulsa responded quickly, though, as Juan Sanchez scored a beautiful curving shot to equalize five minutes later. Neither team was able to convert for the remainder of the half, and the score remained 1–1 at the break.
With ten minutes remaining in the second half, as the game appeared to be headed to overtime, the Bulls were able to get on the scoreboard again. Nazeem Bartman ran onto a ball played forward by Eduardo Maceira, and had a simple pass into the net after he touched the ball around the approaching goalkeeper.
Tulsa’s starting goalkeeper Jake McGuire was injured for this game, and backup Brandon Hanat was injured during warmups, giving the freshman Da Silva the start in front of net. On Bartman’s goal, Da Silva tried to beat Bartman to the ball that was outside the goal box, a ball that he did not appear to have a chance at reaching. Had he stayed in net, he would have had a better chance at a save on a shot that Bartman took with pressure from the defender coming behind him. In this case, his inexperience showed, and the Golden Hurricane remain winless against ranked opponents this season, dropping the game with a final score of 2–1.
The Golden Hurricane bounced back when they travelled to Orlando to face the Knights of UCF. Tulsa freshman Lesley Nchanji scored twelve minutes into the game, netting his first collegiate goal, to put the Golden Hurricane in front.
The lead would stand, as Da Silva rebounded with seven saves to earn the shutout as Tulsa won 1–0.
With the split games this week, the Golden Hurricane now stand at 5–5–2 (1–2–1 American Athletic Conference) on the season. They are currently in fourth place in the conference. Tulsa’s next game is on Oct. 17 at home against Temple. First kick is at 7:00.
