Temple came into tonight’s game at Rhode Island looking for its first ever 3-0 start in Atlantic 10 Conference play. In a game between two A-10 rivals that went into two overtimes, but no team was able to get a goal, as the game ended in a scoreless draw.
“I think it was a good game, we had some opportunities where we could have put one in the back of the net but we just did not capitalize,” coach David MacWilliams said. “Obviously we would have liked to win, but to get points on the road is huge, we still have another game left on the trip, we are hoping to get three points but it’s going to be a battle.”
Both teams were able to get a number of shots up, Temple had 21 and Rhode Island had 25 respectively, but neither team could get the ball past Temple junior goalkeeper Bobby Rosato and Rhode Island redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Thomas Spencer. The shots were evenly distributed in regulation but Rhode Island pestered Rasato in overtime with eight shots. He had four saves in overtime and 11 total in the game, a season high. Spencer tallied 7 saves.
“Overall I think both keepers played really well coach” MacWilliams said.
Senior midfielder Cody Calafiore, who led the team with five shots on goal, had high praise for his Rosato afterward, who recorded his third shutout of the season.
“[Rosato] had a phenomenal game, no one could get it by him,” Calafiore said. “He made a lot of big saves tonight and it was really key because we were not finishing on our end and he was able to keep at a tie.”
“We had a lot of opportunities, we got behind the defense on a number of occasions but just could not finish our chances,” Calafiore added. “Coming away from this game with a tie is good because on the road it’s just good to get points, but it is definitely bittersweet because we felt like we could have won”.
It was a relatively clean game, as the two teams combined for eight fouls and two yellow cards in 110 minutes of play.
“It’ s a tough trip going up to Rhode Island and Massachusetts to play in a weekend, but the guys are battling hard, they fought until, but we just have to finish our chances,” MacWilliams said.
Temple now sits 6-4-2 on the year with seven points in the A-10 which puts them in second place. The Owls will conclude this mini New England trip on Sunday where they will take on the UMass Minutemen in Amherst, Mass. At 1 p.m.
Rich Fogel can be reached at rich.fogel@temple.edu.
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