By: Jaiden Vallejo
PHILADELPHIA – On a windy Tuesday night in North Philly, Big Five rivals Temple and UPenn clashed in their last game before conference play.
For 84 minutes of play the two were at a stalemate, but with time dwindling, Penn senior defender Oliver Pratt saw his opportunity to change that. Pratt hustled to a loose ball in the far-left corner, juked to his left to avoid three Temple defenders, and delivered a strike past senior goalkeeper Preston Neal to clinch a 1-0 victory for Penn.
“It was a tough one,” Neal said. “It’s a personal mistake on my end, tough ball. You want to keep out of the middle, drop down for a bouncing ball, guys were scrambling back. They got a good hook on it at the end, so it’s a stinger.”
Despite the loss, Neal and Temple’s defense were exceptional, shutting out Penn for nearly the entirety of the game. Neal finished the game with 10 total saves, a career high for him and a season high for the Owls. The Quakers inevitably broke through winning their second straight and advancing to 5-2-3 on the year.
“I think Preston had a couple really big saves,” Temple head coach Bryan Green said. “And I thought we managed it and the shots were pretty unthreatening. Obviously the goal was a rip. It was a moment that they had, a scoring moment. They took advantage of that and that’s probably the difference in the game.”
Ultimately Pratt’s game-winning shot was the deciding factor, but Penn’s offense didn’t make things easy for the Owl’s defense. The Owls were out-shot 21-5, with just one of Temple’s shots being on goal.
“We can’t win games if we can’t score on the back of their net,” senior defender Paolo Kampula said. “So we have to step it up on the offensive end and get some goals flying in, so that when we do get to conference play, people are scared.”
84' | Penn 1, Temple 0
— Penn Men's Soccer (@PennMSoccer) October 8, 2025
PRATTTTTT FOR THE LEAD#FightOnPenn pic.twitter.com/2W6XFUIQpA
Temple vs. Penn Highlights by Jaiden Vallejo for PSD:
This has been a common theme for the Owls all season. The team has scored just five goals this year and sits at 9th in the American in goals scored.
“We’re not a team that’s just going to shoot for the sake of shooting,” coach Green said. “We’re going to get quality chances and I thought we had some really quality chances.”
In the first half neither team could find momentum on the offensive end. Both teams were held to zero shots in the first 20 minutes. It wasn’t until the 27th minute that sophomore midfielder Teo Strand gave Temple its first shot of the game. Both teams would go into the half knotted at zero.
In the second half both teams remained at a standstill. Despite each team attempting four corners, neither could capitalize on their opportunities. It wasn’t until after Pratt’s game-winner that Temple’s senior midfielder Rocco Haeufgloeckner gave the team their first shot on goal of the game.
The Owls now move to 1-8-2 going into conference play and are hoping that they can rally together and find a spark when they need it most.
“We need to take one game at a time,” coach Green said. “Our next game is Tulsa and we want to look and get three points there, and if we can get three points against Tulsa then that really changes the picture of what things look like for the last 4 games.”
Looking Ahead: Penn (5-2-3) will travel to play Brown on Saturday for an Ivy League match-up at 1 p.m. Temple hosts Tulsa at the Temple Sports Complex this Sunday, October 12 at 3 p.m.