After the first 11 games of the 2024 season, Temple was just 2-6-3 and in the midst of a four-game winless streak. The Owls missed the postseason by one point in 2023, but it seemed unlikely that head coach Bryan Green’s squad would be in that position again.
Temple’s winless streak was extended to four games in a 2-0 loss to South Florida on Oct. 5 and the team was desperate to turn things around.
A team meeting was held shortly after the loss to discuss why they weren’t meeting expectations and what needed to change. The talk unlocked something in the Owls and they ran the table the rest of the regular season. Temple shut out its final five opponents to finish 3-0-2 to reach the American Athletic Conference tournament for the first time since 2020.
“We didn’t just get opinions from the older guys, we got opinions from younger guys as well,” said goalkeeper Flannan Riley. “To see what everybody wanted out of the season and for everyone to share their feelings was a turnaround for us and built a camaraderie that I haven’t seen since I’ve been here.”
Temple’s hot streak at the end of the regular season was capped off by a 1-0 win against Tulsa on Nov. 1, clinching the sixth and final spot in the AAC tournament. While the Owls ultimately fell to Charlotte 3-1 in the first round, they found success and growth that leaves hope for the future.
“I can see ourselves pushing to win the regular season conference and even going to the NCAA tournament [in the future],” said defender Nikolai Zapolskikh.
The end of the season wasn’t how Green envisioned it, but he saw growth in his team regardless of the record and final scores. Green doesn’t believe his team had a midseason turnaround. Instead, the team was just growing the entire time, he said.
“We were trending that way, we talk about this all the time, let’s not be results-biased,” Green said. “We were on the right track and improving all along.”
The Owls’ 1-0 victory against Akron on Sept. 14 was when the squad hit their stride. While a five-game winless streak wasn’t in the cards, Green stayed confident that his group would play better down the stretch.
The Owls lacked a true identity for much of last season and it was something that needed to change to succeed in 2024. Temple quickly built its team around being a pesky, defensive-minded team that opponents struggled to beat.
The Owls’ defense became their calling card and the goalkeeper duo of Riley and Andrew Kempe spearheaded the efforts. The pair helped Temple finish 72nd out of 250 teams in goals allowed per game.
Beyond the duo in the net, there was a bevy of defenders who limited opposing attacks on goal. The unit was led by defenders Zapolskikh, Diego Diaz, Paolo Kampula and Aaron Markowitz and midfielder Kemali Green who all logged more than 900 minutes.
While Markowitz and Green are set to graduate, the future of Temple’s defense still looks bright. Riley is also set to return in net for the Owls next season.
“I think the sophomores are probably the biggest piece of it,” Bryan Green said. “They came in where everything was unknown and they jumped from freshman last year to mentors and teachers this year.”
Despite the Owls’ defense performances, the offense was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Temple finished with just 11 goals all season, ranking it 204 out of 205 Division I teams. Only Markowitz and forward Xavier Rimpel scored more than one goal on the year, both finishing with two.
Temple has promising young players upfront who showed signs of improvement in the attack. Forwards Charlie Votel and Nathan Brown and midfielder Edgar Bazan were named to the AAC All-Freshman team and midfielders Elias Betancourt and George Medill will return to provide a solid base for the offense in 2025.
The 2024 season went as well as the Owls could have imagined for the second year of a head coaches’ tenure. They returned to the postseason and their young players took steps forward. The potential Temple showed down the stretch is a mark of where it can be, but it has to put that play together for a full season, Bryan Green said.
“Ideally, we are hitting our stride earlier than Akron, that’s where we fell short this year,” Bryan Green said. ”As we try to build the other side of the game and become an attacking team, we are going to make sure the defense doesn’t slip.”
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