Temple Men’s Soccer pulled off a much-needed upset against Akron on Sept. 14, giving them a sense of momentum entering conference play. The Owls were handed a tough challenge to begin their conference slate — No. 19 Charlotte.
The 49ers won the American Athletic Conference tournament last year and have begun their title defense campaign unbeaten. Temple looked to pull off a major upset eerily reminiscent of their win against No. 10 Syracuse last season. The first half gave the illusion that the improbable was in the works, as they held Charlotte out of the goal and entered halftime locked at zero.
Temple came out of the locker room hoping to break through or at least hold serve in the second half. In the 57th minute, the 49ers got through the stingy Owls’ defense with a goal from forward Filip Jauck. The Owls’ offense remained stagnant, failing to create any chances for a response and were unable to pull off the upset.
Temple (2-4-2, 0-1-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to No.19 Charlotte (4-0-2, 0-0-0 American Athletic Conference) 1-0 Saturday night at the Temple Sports Complex. The Owls have now been shut out five times in their last six games.
“We got to fully commit to how we play because there were a couple of moments where we could’ve made the final pass, the final run happened and we chose something different,” said Temple head coach Bryan Green. “I think we played well. We had the defending conference champ panicking and freaking out and they scored a goal, I don’t know if there are a lot of fixes, it is just getting better every day.”
The match started dead even, continuing the Owls’ trend of starting slow on offense. Temple defender Paolo Kampala gave the Owls their first offensive in the 13th minute as defender Charlotte goalkeeper Leo Stritter plucked it away. Kampala’s shot was Temple’s only attempt in the first half as the Owls were held in check.
While Temple’s offense struggled to find its footing, Charlotte took command of the first half. The 49ers had seven shots in the opening half, but the Owls’ defense showed up time and time again to deny every chance Charlotte had.
The 49ers came out of the gate aggressively aiming to assert their dominance over the Owls. Charlotte committed 10 fouls in the first half, compared to Temple’s four. Temple attempted to match Charlotte’s aggression but defender Diego Diaz picked up a yellow card late in the first half. Temple midfielder Rocco Haeufgloeckner picked up the Owls’ second yellow card of the game late in the second half.
”We knew that it was going to be a tough game, they’re a very physical team and strong in the air,” Haeufglockner said. “We knew that we could press them on the ground and put pressure on them so they can play long and we can play off the second ball.”
As the second half kicked off Temple looked to get its offensive engine going. The Owls were awarded a pair of free kicks in the 48th and 50th minutes, but neither was a threat of going in the net. From there, the offense fizzled out and Temple’s defense was forced to keep the team in the match.
Jauk broke through in the 57th minute and it easily could have been worse for the Owls if it wasn’t for the goalkeeper Andrew Kempe’s efforts. Kempe made five saves on the night, keeping the 49ers offense at bay. Jauk and forward Abubacarr Fofana fired off three more shots in the 62nd and 63rd minutes, but they were all off target.
“I was proud of the way our defense played,” Kempe said. “That’s a top team in our conference so it’s good that we played that well against them.”
In the 75th minute, Temple had one last gasp at tying the match. The Owls earned a corner kick and a minute later defender Aaron Markowitz fired off the potential game-tying shot. However, his shot was off target, flying just over the crossbar and the 49er’s lead was preserved. Temple was unable to get anything else going in the final 15 minutes, falling to Charlotte in its conference opener.
The Owls will travel to face City 6 Rivals St. Joe’s (1-6-1, 0-1-0 A-10 Conference) at Sweeney Field on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m.
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