TAMPA, Fla. - 2018 was a historic season for USF Women’s Soccer.

For the first time in program history, the Bulls captured a regular season conference title. USF begins the 2019 season ranked 18^th in the nation. It’s a source of pride for a senior class that has won 40 games with the program.

“We have a good group of veterans that know what to do; we know how to win games,” said senior forward Evelyne Viens, who is the 2019 AAC Preseason Player of the Year.   

“They are psychotically competitive,” said head coach Denise Schilte-Brown; she and her staff won AAC Staff of the Year in 2018. “There is that competitive athlete and then there is that next level of athlete and this is a group of seniors that just compete every time on the field.”

Now a new challenge comes for the older players – becoming leaders for the next group of talent.

“It’s kind of different when you have to be that leader,” said senior midfielder Andrea Hauksdottir, who is the reigning AAC Midfielder of the Year. “You don’t have the seniors anymore because you are the senior!”

“It’s weird because we are saying everything that the seniors used to tell us and we are like ‘oh boy, we should’ve listened a little better. Like, it flew,” said senior Aubrey MeGrath, who can play offense or defense for the Bulls.

Time flies when you’re having fun…and winning. But now the mission for the Bulls is to leave no doubt who the best team is in the American Athletic Conference.

“Personally I would like to win back-to-back with a regular season championship and then win the conference tournament,” said Viens. “That will help us build confidence for the NCAA tournament.”

While being the best in a conference is important, the Bulls know they have a responsibility to help promote the American.

“It’s one of the things we talk about at the coaches meeting – how can we take our conference to the next level,” said Schilte-Brown.  

“Us and Memphis are ranked and that is huge,” said MeGrath. “Yes, we want to beat them, but it’s cool being from the same conference working together to put our names out there for the conference.”

No matter how much notoriety USF receives they will always play the role of underdog. It’s a mentality that allows them to focus on taking each step up the NCAA soccer mountain.

I think it’s just the hunger that we want to win every game,” said Hauksdottir. “We show up, we do our thing. We’re all together as a team and we do this together as a family.”

USF opens their regular season at home on Thursday, August 22^nd against Auburn.