PHILADELPHIA – The cold misty rain did not stop the Owls from battling on the field for 110 minutes for their first American Athletics Conference game this past Saturday. The exciting game against the Memphis Tigers went into double overtime handing both teams their first draw of the season.
There is one word that described the night of October 1st at the Temple Sports Complex: defense. Both teams did an exemplary job defending, especially goalkeeper Jake Leeker from Memphis who played a part in stopping the Owls who attempted to score 25 times. Memphis Goalkeepers ended the game with 7 saves, 3 more than the Owls.
Temple vs. Villanova
On the other side, Alex Cagle from Temple did well in preventing Memphis from scoring. Freshman Albert Moreno was extremely active playing a huge role in stopping the Tigers from making a goal. The game was an aggressive one, leaving the Owls with 14 fouls and the Tigers with 13.
Both teams floundered on offense. Although the Owls did well getting up the field ahead of the Tigers, they still could not find a way to score a goal. Temple senior, Jorge Gomez Sanchez, attempted 7 out of the 25 shots, 2 of them being shots on goal which was the same for senior Matt Mahoney. Two of the 7 shots Sanchez shot were also perfectly on target. Both Carlos Moros Gracia and Joonas Jokinen attempted 3 shots. Freshman George McGee came in during the second half making noise, also attempting a shot.
Temple vs. Villanova Game Stats
The draw against Memphis puts the Owls at 0-1-1 in the American Athletics conference. The Owls will have the chance to take the reins for victory in another conference game against SMU on the 8th.
In the meantime, the Owls (7-3-1) took on Villanova (6-4-1) yesterday afternoon in an out of conference battle. The Owls shutout the Wildcats 1-0, with Gomez Sanchez scoring the sole goal of the contest. Temple remains unbeaten on their home turf. The Owls next home game will be on Oct. 18th vs. Delaware.