Owls’ comeback attempt falls short against Golden Hurricane

Temple University men’s soccer (2-11-2, 0-9 The American Athletic Conference) fell to the University of Tulsa (12-1-1, 7-1-1 The American) 3-2 at the Temple Sports Complex on Sunday night. 

The Golden Hurricane found its offensive rhythm right from the opening kick. At the 16th minute mark, senior forward Austen Schweinert scored on a cross box pass from graduate student midfielder Chase Bromstedt, giving the Golden Hurricane a 1-0 lead.

In the 42rd minute, graduate student forward/midfielder Ben Barkley ripped a shot past Owls’ senior goalkeeper Goodwill Agbaadem, extending Tulsa’s lead to 2-0. 

In the second half,, the Owls counterattacked in the 62nd minute, when sophomore forward Andrew Burkhart found the back of the net for the first time this season, making the score 2-1.

“I was super excited, it felt unreal to me like in that moment,” Burkhart said. “Incredible feeling.”

Temple continued on the attack. In the 65th minute, freshman forward Nigel Griffith deflected an entry pass past Golden Hurricane’s freshman goalkeeper Alex Lopez, tying the game up at 2-2.

However, the tie was short lived. In the 67th minute, Tulsa junior forward Takayoshi Wyatt took a shot that went by Agbaadem, giving the Golden Hurricane a 3-2 lead.

Head coach Brian Rowland believes Temple’s competitiveness in the second half has not been abundant this season, he said.

“When you dig yourself a hole 2-0, and when you only compete for 45 minutes against a good team, the challenge becomes a lot more difficult,” Rowland added. “So I wasn’t surprised that we closed the game back level. That’s what I expect.” 

After the match, Rowland felt the team’s young players have improved throughout the season, but the program still needs to get better moving forward, he said.

“That will be the chore and the task for us as a staff to improve the group and develop them individually in the spring,” Rowland added. “Obviously let’s get healthy too. Bring in some pieces that can help us get back on track.”

The Owls will play their final game of the season on Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. against the University of South Florida (5-7-2, 3-5-1 The American) in Tampa, Florida.