SAN FRANCISCO - The USF women's soccer team opened the 2015 campaign by battling Cal Poly to a scoreless draw on Friday evening at Negoesco Stadium. Both sides jostled back and forth throughout the match and enjoyed their respective flashes of momentum, but the Dons (0-0-1) maintained a 17-10 overall edge in shots on the night.

"That's a very good team," commented USF head coach Jim Millinder after the match. "They were picked to win the Big West; they're going to get a lot of good results this year. I think when we get wide and we attack we create a lot of problems. Alex Alugas was unbelievable on fire tonight on the flank. We did a good job defensively; Madalyn Schiffel was on top of her game. I think we learned a lot about ourselves. We didn't get the result, but at the end of the day I think we played well."

Alugas did her part to help get her teammates some decent chances by serving a number of balls into the box, but none were able to translate into goals. With 30 seconds remaining in regulation, Alugas sent a pass from the right wing into Jessica Nakae who fired a rocket from about 18 yards out that deflected off the crossbar, one of three shots from both sides that hit the post but didn't go in.

In the eighth minute, Cal Poly (0-0-1) threatened when the Mustangs' Caitlyn Kreutz tapped a shot towards a wide open net after Schiffel was pulled out of position, but the ball bounced off the right post.

Halle Bissin almost put the Dons up early in the second half when her header in traffic off an Amanda Whittle corner kick appeared headed for the net, but it was scooped up amidst the chaos in the box by Cal Poly keeper Alyssa Giannetti.  

The Mustangs narrowly missed another opportunity in the 27th minute when Nicole Wheeler took a pass that was threaded between the USF defense, leaving Wheeler one-on-one with Schiffel on the right wing, but Wheeler's line drive shot sailed just wide right from about 15 yards out.

The contest was characterized by numerous near-misses from both sides, but both defenses held strong when they needed to.

Schiffel tallied three saves on the night, while Giannetti recorded four of her own.

Nakae fired off six shots and was a big part of the USF attack, along with Sonja Giraud's four shots.

The Dons return to the pitch when they host UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23 at Negoesco Stadium.