The Bulls men's soccer team scored a big win with a huge assist from the fans Friday night in their season opener. 

Brenton Griffiths tied it up in the 64th minute and an alert Ben Sweat fired home the game winner less than a minute later in No. 5 USF’s 2-1 victory over Michigan before a regular season record crowd of 3,076 at Corbett Soccer Stadium. 

“I give the credit to the crowd. When we tied the game up, the energy of the crowd injected into the team,” head coach George Kiefer said. “I just felt like the second one was coming. I thought it was coming quick and it did.” 

Michigan was the first time to cash in on opportunities, however, when Dylan Mencia scored just 1 minute, 14 seconds into the second half.

USF’s rally started when Griffiths scored the equalizer off assists by Paul and Mario Messen. The momentum shift proved to rattle the Wolverines, who were penalized and set Paul up with a penalty kick. The senior fired his shot to the right of the net, while Sweat followed the rebound off of Michigan keeper Adam Grinwis and found the back of the net.

Kiefer will look for USF to create pressure throughout the entire 90 minutes of the team’s next two road games at the Hurricane Classic in Tulsa, Okla. The Bulls face Southern Methodist on Friday, Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. and take on Tulsa on Sunday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m.

On the road Friday the USF women knocked off Indiana 3-0. Sharla Passariello had two goals as the Bulls went to 2-1 on the year.