Post-game presser
SAN FRANCISCO – Both sides could have easily walked off the pitch on Sunday afternoon with a win given all the chances USF and UC Riverside had against one another, but it was Santiago Digiuseppe's penalty kick goal in the 110th minute that finally sealed a 3-2 double overtime victory for the Dons.
 
In the waning seconds of the final overtime period, a UC Riverside defender was whistled for a hand ball inside the box, setting up Digiuseppe's try with 49 seconds left on the clock, which he banged into the left corner past Riverside keeper Vincent Morales for the win.
 
"That kind of sums up our nonconference season right there," said head coach Eddie Soto. "Playing well, creating chance after chance and not putting the game away. I'm happy the guys kept grinding. We found a way to win the game."
 
There was no let down following Friday night's upset over Stanford as USF (4-5-0) came out firing, outshooting Riverside 12-3 in the first half.
 
Among those was Davi Ramos' goal in the 43rd minute that put the Dons on the board. Bryce Kaminski stole possession around midfield and dribbled up the middle before threading a pass between Highlander defenders to find Ramos with a one-on-one that he converted for his second score of the year.
 
The second half saw UC Riverside (4-4-1) start clawing its way back and putting some pressure on the USF defense. In the 54th minute, UCR's Ricardo Ruiz had a one-on-one with USF keeper Andre Glasnovic, but Glasnovic was able to step out and swat the shot away for one of his season-high eight saves on the day.
 
It appeared UC Riverside had tied the contest in the 69th minute when Tyler Miguel headed a ball past Glasnovic in a scrum of traffic in front of the net, but the goal was waved off after a foul was called on the play, preserving USF's 1-0 lead at that point.
 
But the lead wouldn't last long as Stephen Copley eventually got Riverside on the board with the equalizer in the 73rd minute by redirecting a corner kick into the net with header.
 
Inside of three minutes remaining, Aaron Lombardi helped the Dons retake the lead when he bent in a left-footed corner kick for a goal in the 88th minute that put USF ahead 2-1 and had them eyeing a victory.  
 
But again, the Highlanders answered, this time with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation as Antonio Lokossou slipped open in traffic and headed in a corner kick to tie it at 2-2 and force overtime, the Dons' first such contest of the year.
 
Glasnovic came away with another game-saving stop in the 97th minute when UCR's Romario Lomeli had what looked to be a foolproof one-on-one chance against Glasnovic, but the USF keeper rushed at Lomeli and smothered the shot before Lomeli could get a clean look.    
 
USF ended up outshooting Riverside 26-16, a season high for the Dons that included 12 shots on goal, their second-highest total this year.
 
The Dons also fired off 13 corner kicks to UCR's seven, another season high.
 
USF has now outshot every opponent but one this year and has had seven of their nine matches decided by one goal.
 
"We needed this. We've got a couple of weeks before conference play and this is good," added Soto. "In our nonconference we've done some traveling and played some really good teams. That's why we go back East and we try to play the top teams because it gives us these experiences for us to carry into conference play."
 
UP NEXT: USF will enjoy some time off before they kickoff West Coast Conference play when they host Santa Clara on Oct. 9. USF's broadcast team of Charles Wollin (play-by-play) and Joe Dugan (analyst) will bring the action live on TheW.tv for that match.