In front of a nationally televised audience, the Stetson men's soccer team turned in a strong showing but came up short in a 3-1 defeat at the University of South Florida Thursday night. 
 
For the first twelve minutes the Hatters largely controlled the ball, refusing to back down from the home team out of the Big East.  Stetson out-shot USF 10-5 in the first half.  However, USF broke through with the game's first goal at the 23:41 mark.  Jordan Seabrook, the Bulls leading scorer, took a perfectly placed ball from Kris Raad and softly touched it into the bottom left corner. 
 
It did not take Stetson long to answer.  In the 18th minute, Set Carpintero rocketed a loose ball from 25 yards out into the far right corner of the net to tie the score at one.  It was Carpintero's second goal of the season. 
 
South Florida reclaimed the lead 36 seconds later.  Seabrook struck again, this time putting in a goal after a diving deflection by keeper Alessandro Barcherini. 
 
In the second half, Stetson threatened with several corner kicks and again spent much of the period in the attacking half of the field but was unable to punch in the equalizer. They came closest when Tanner Wolfe nearly tied it with a header off a free kick from Ben Dyon in the 78th minute.  It took a lunging save from Dane Brenner to keep the Bulls on top.  
 
USF then put it out of reach in the final minutes when Kevon Neaves blasted a 30-yard missle off an indirect kick for the 3-1 final.
 
The game, televised on Fox Soccer Channel, also attracted a USF-record crowd of 2,106.
 
South Florida improved to 7-4-3, while the Hatters dropped to 3-9-2.  Stetson returns to conference play Saturday with an evening road match at Mercer.  The Hatters are the lone undefeated team in the Atlantic Sun.

Box Score