For the first 83 minutes, Temple and Saint Joseph’s were dead even at zero. Neither team was able to capitalize on numerous offensive chances, and while the Owls outshot the Hawks by four, they still didn’t have a goal to their name.
St. Joe’s had an opportunity to earn its first win of the year after being awarded a free kick from well outside the box in the 84th minute. They delivered after midfielder Truls Brændvang fired a ball and midfielder Blake Driehuis sent it toward the back of the net to break the tie.
The Owls’ comeback hopes were quickly dashed less than a minute later when Hawks forward Patrick Vani netted a curling goal from the foot of forward Daniel Zivkovic. Temple had two more chances in the closing moments, but neither got past St. Joe’s goalkeeper Lars Haavie and the Hawks sealed their third consecutive win against the Owls.
Temple (2-5-2, 0-1-0 American Athletic Conference) lost to St. Joe’s (2-6-1, 0-1-0 A-10 Conference) 2-0 Tuesday night at Sweeney Field. The Owls outshot the Hawks 9-2 in the final 45 minutes but couldn’t buy a goal, while St. Joe’s only two shots found the back of the net.
“We got to focus on worrying about the right stuff,” said Temple head coach Bryan Green. “We weren’t worried about the right stuff tonight and it cost us.”
Temple began applying offensive pressure out of the gate, garnering the first scoring chance just two minutes into the game. The Owls earned a corner kick and midfielder Elliot Rigbert headed a ball towards the net but it went directly to Haavie.
The Hawks responded with multiple chances of their own off set pieces, but Temple goalkeeper Flannan Riley denied each shot. From there, the Owls had a golden opportunity to take an early lead.
A foul in the box gave midfielder George Medill a penalty shot in the 15th minute, however Haavie made the stop. Haavie was challenged seconds later by a corner off the head of Temple midfielder Alex Champagne but he swatted the chance away.
St. Joes had a chance to get on the board in the 22nd minute with a shot by Driehuis. Riley finished with a clean sheet in his last game against Akron on Sept.14 and continued his impressive play with a diving save to keep the game tied.
The teams entered the locker room after an evenly matched first half. Both squads recorded five shots but Temple had three chances on goal and seven corner kicks. The Owls came out for the second half looking to capitalize on their chances and come away with a win.
“We scored zero goals,” Green said. “It wasn’t great. We’ve been playing the same way, we got corner kicks, we’re just not scoring goals.”
Temple stumbled across another opportunity to take the lead three minutes into the second half when Rigbert ripped a shot but his chance went wide and the game stayed even. That was the first of six straight Owls’ shots where Temple did not allow St. Joe’s to even attempt a goal.
While the Hawks were outplayed for the first 40 minutes of the second half, Driehuis found the back of the net first, followed shortly by Vani, putting all of the Owls’ chances to waste. Rigbert and midfielder Chase Jackson had shots in the final three minutes but like the last six shots, failed to yield a goal.
Temple doubled St. Joes in shots at 14-7 and fired five shots on goal while the Hawks had three. The Owls also easily won the corner kick battle 10 to three. Despite leading in all offensive categories, it was Temple who got shutout for its second straight loss heading into the bulk of conference play.
“We have [conference] games around the corner,” Green said. “We got to learn from this and move on.”
The Owls will play their first road conference game when they travel down south to Boca Raton, Florida, to take on Florida Atlantic (2-3-1, 0-1-0 AAC) on Sept. 29 at 4 p.m.
Be the first to comment