Tulsa to Face South Florida in American Championship Quarterfinals

Friday, November 7

Tampa, Fla.

6:00 p.m.

Tulsa

(3) South Florida

Tulsa to Face South Florida in American Championship Quarterfinals

11/6/2025 4:38:00 PM | Men's Soccer

GAME 17:
Tulsa (4-8-4) vs. South Florida (9-2-5)
6:00 p.m. CT - Friday, Nov. 7, 2025
Corbett Soccer Stadium • Tampa, Fla.
American Men's Soccer Championship Quarterfinal

LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
TV: ESPN+
GAME NOTES: Tulsa

THE COACHES:
Tulsa: Tom McIntosh (Tulsa, 1988), 31^st year
Career Record: 297-218-67
School Record: Same

South Florida: Bob Butehorn (Tampa, '85), 9^th year
Career Record: 159-113-46
School Record: 64-51-23

Tips on the Missouri State Bears

The six-seed Tulsa Golden Hurricane will travel to Tampa, Fla., for the first round of the American Men's Soccer Championships to face off with the three-seed South Florida Bulls at 6 p.m. CT on Nov. 7.
Tulsa trails in the all-time series record between the teams 3-10-3. The Bulls took the regular season match between the teams 2-1, with Tulsa's goal in that match coming from Gyuwon Chong.
The Bulls enter the match at 10-3-2 overall and 5-2-1 in conference play.
USF has won three of their last five matches and are coming off a 4-3 win against Memphis in their final regular season game.

Last Time Out: Men's Soccer Battles to 0-0 Draw at FAU

Tulsa and Florida Atlantic University battled to a scoreless draw on Sunday night at FAU Soccer Stadium, with Tulsa's goalkeeper making seven saves to maintain the shutout. This impressive performance marked Carlito Saylon's seventh shutout of the season, which leads the American Conference.
Saylon made additional crucial saves, denying shots by Aboubacar Traore and Mamadou Diarra in quick succession at 36:18 and 36:24, respectively. Despite multiple offside calls against the Golden Hurricane and a saved attempt by Arnau Pedrola Fortuny at 37:35, the half ended scoreless.
Saylon's seven saves in the game tied for his second-most saves in a game this season. Despite several fouls and a few yellow cards on both sides, including on Tulsa's Jake Reich and Will Applegate, neither team could break the deadlock by the end of regulation.
With Tulsa's tie and Memphis' loss later in the evening, the Golden Hurricane secured their six-seed spot into the American Men's Soccer Championship.

American and National Rankings

The Golden Hurricane is second in the American in shot accuracy (0.446) and shutout percentage (0.438). Tulsa also ranks third in team goals against average (1.125) and save percentage (0.741).
Carlito Saylon has the most shutouts (7) in the American Conference and ranks fourth in total saves (42).
Jared Aguilar ranks ninth in the conference in total assists (4).

Carlito Saylon Secures Goalkeeper of the Week Honors

Sophomore Carlito Saylon earned the final American Goalkeeper of the Week honor of the season on Nov. 3, following his shutouts of Missouri State and FAU.
Saylon, a native of Brighton, Mich., recorded 10 saves on 28 shots faced across both matches to earn the award. His seven saves against FAU were instrumental in preserving the draw and securing another point in conference play for Tulsa. With two more shutouts added to his total, Saylon now leads the American with seven on the season. His strong performances helped the Golden Hurricane clinch a spot in the American Men's Soccer Championship.

Jared Aguilar on Fire

Redshirt sophmore Jared Aguilar has recorded four points in the last two games, earning back-to-back American Player of the Week honorable mentions, following an assist at Temple and a goal and an assist against FIU.
Aguilar has recorded points in four of the last five games to bring his total for the season to eight.

Finding the Winning Formula

Going into the game against Temple, coach Tom McIntosh switched up Tulsa's usual 4-4-2 formation to start in a 5-4-1 positioning against Temple.
Since the switch, Tulsa has won two of their three games, with seven of the nine points in those two games coming from starters.

Thallinger Named American Defensive Player of the Week

Senior Kevin Thallinger earned American Defensive Player of the Week honors following his heroic save against Central Arkansas.
A defenseman from Markranstädt, Germany, Thallinger's save earned the No. 1 spot on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays Saturday. He made the stop by sliding to kick away a shot headed for the back of the net, redirecting it over the goal and out of bounds. The effort preserved TU's shutout and secured the win.

Danny Stevens Bolsters Defense in First Career Start

True freshman defender Danny Stevens from Munich, Germany, got a last-second nod on Thursday to be part of the first starting 11 of the new season.
The Tulsa defense didn't skip a beat with the pregame substitution, earning its first shutout since September 29, 2023.

Bottenburg Named American Preseason Defensive Player of the Year

Wes Bottenburg has been tabbed the American Conference Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced Monday.
A defender from Utrecht, Netherlands, Bottenburg is coming off a junior season in which he started in 13 of 14 games played and spent 1,167 minutes on the field. He netted two goals to finish as the fourth-highest scorer on the team while bolstering Tulsa with strong defensive play throughout the season to earn First Team All-Conference honors.
Bottenburg was also named to the 16-player American Preseason All-Conference Team.

Tulsa Poised for Underdog Season

The coaches of the American Conference have picked Tulsa to finish eighth of nine teams in the 2025 Preseason Coaches' Poll, with just two points more than last-place Temple.
TU is coming off a down year in which the Golden Hurricane finished seventh with a 2-4-1 league record and 3-9-3 overall record.
Since then, Tulsa has returned seven starters from last year who are hungry to bounce back in 2025, including First Team All-Conference choice Wes Bottenburg and unanimous all-freshman Alex Cunningham.
13 players left the roster, so McIntosh's recruitment staff hit the road and the transfer portal and added 13 brand new players looking to bring Tulsa back to championship status.
Key newcomers include JUCO All-American Luc Achermann-Stanfield (Eastern Florida State), NAIA all-star Joao Neves (Oklahoma Wesleyan), veteran goalkeeper Samy Slimi (Campbell), Pittsburgh defender Dani Gamboa and true freshman Joses Chukwu (Toronto, Ontario).

The Timeless Tom McIntosh

Coach Mac has completed 30 seasons at The University of Tulsa in his illustrious career.
He is one of 16 active head coaches at the DI level to have coached for 30 or more seasons and is one of six active head coaches to have accomplished the feat while coaching for only one program.
He is tied for the 14th-longest active DI coaching career.
McIntosh has coached Tulsa through four conferences: Missouri Valley (1995, 2000-04), WAC (1996-99), Conference USA (2005-13) and the American (2014-present).

Home Field Advantage

The Tulsa men's soccer team has been tough to beat at the Hurricane Soccer Stadium, tallying a 30-14-9 mark since the beginning of 2019.
2025: TU starts off the year undefeated with a tie against CSUN in the opener (0-0-1).
2023-24: Tulsa earned five combined home wins between the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
2022: Tulsa was 6-0-1 in the regular season but went 1-2 in postseason action at home.
2021: 8-0 in the regular season, but went 3-1 in postseason, falling in the NCAA Third Round game to West Virginia in double overtime (11-1 overall).
2020-21 (season played in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic): 4-0-1.
2019: Tulsa fell in only two home contests while nabbing three wins and two ties (3-2-2).

Visit www.TulsaHurricane.com for the latest news and information on the men's soccer program. Fans can also follow the team on X, Facebook and Instagram.