Sunday was supposed to be Senior Day in Tampa Bay for the South Florida women's soccer team.

Instead, the threat of Hurricane Wilma chased the Bulls 1,300 miles north to Valley Fields where they got to play the Syracuse Orange in front of eight USF fans.

This sudden turn of events added another chapter to the odd saga that has become South Florida's 2005 season.

First, a parent of one of the players died while the team was in Milwaukee playing Marquette in the middle of September.

A few weeks later, the players found themselves waiting in a bus for two and a half hours in Pittsburgh after the stadium lights went out … in the middle of the second overtime period.

And now, a hurricane had ruined what was supposed to be the last opportunity for South Florida's seniors to play in front of a home crowd in a game that was to decide whether or not the Bulls advanced to the Big East Conference tournament.

"This team has gone through a lot. To be honest with you, it's just one of those challenges where we tell our players that life's unfair," said South Florida head coach Logan Fleck. "This is teaching them what sports is all about: meeting challenges, fair or unfair. Just deal with it, and let's go."

"Let's go" was definitely the motto for South Florida this past weekend.

After playing St. John's on Friday at home (which ended up being Senior Day on about seven hours notice), the Bulls took an early morning flight on Saturday and arrived in Milwaukee too late to get in a walk-through in preparation for Sunday's match.

"It's the old Allen Iverson line: 'Practice? Practice? Who needs practice?'" Fleck said. "These kids were ready to play. We'd have played someone in a parking lot if we had to."

While Valley Fields is certainly no parking lot, the Bulls did have to play a Syracuse squad that was allowed to rest and relax while its opponent scrambled together travel plans.

"We practiced on the turf field a little bit yesterday," said Orange head coach Patrick Farmer."Marquette has been a really good host to let us come here and use their stuff."

For athletic director Bill Cords, offering to help a pair of Big East schools was not a matter of being a good host, it was simply a matter of being a part of a larger connection.

"The Big East Conference called and asked if we would be willing to act as a host site, and we said, 'absolutely,'" Cords said. "That's what conferences are all about."

Syracuse won the game 3-2.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 25, 2005.