Temple University men’s soccer (2-8-2, 0-6-0 The American Athletic Conference) lost 2-1 to the University of Pennsylvania (7-3-2, 1-1-1 The Ivy League) in University City, their third straight loss, on Tuesday night.
Quakers’ senior forward Matt Leigh scored the game-winning goal in the 78th minute, when he deflected the ball into the net inside the box.
“I think that was as dominant a game as we’ve played,” said head coach Brian Rowland. “But they made two plays in the box with very limited opportunities, and we had a lot of opportunities and didn’t make enough plays.”
Owls’ sophomore midfielder Amir Cohen scored the first goal of the game in the ninth minute, giving the Owls an early 1-0 lead. Junior midfielder Jalen Campbell passed the ball to Cohen outside the box, who blasted it into the upper right corner of the net.
Despite outshooting the Quakers 16 to seven, Temple only scored one goal in the match. The Quakers were more clinical, scoring two goals.
“There has to be a desire to score goals,” Rowland said. “There has to be a level of execution, and it’s frustrating because we train it, we work on it and then in games it hasn’t quite shown up.”
Just two minutes later, Quakers’ graduate student midfielder Joey Bhangdia tied it up with a quick shot that soared past the outstretched arms of senior goalkeeper Goodwill Agbaadem. This was Bhangdia’s fifth goal of the season.
“I think [Agbaadem] did well, I think the two goals we scored may have left him in a bad spot with our defending,” Rowland said. “I thought he did fine, I don’t think the goals were on him at all.”
Temple was on the heels of a 2-1 loss to No. 8 Tulsa University (10-1, 5-1 The American) heading into the matchup.
Prior to the game, the Quakers defeated Dartmouth College (2-9, 0-3 The Ivy League) 2-1 in double overtime at Rhodes Field. The Quakers are on a three-game winning streak following yesterday’s victory over Temple.
The Owls will return to the Temple Sports Complex to face the University of Central Florida (7-4, 5-1 The American) on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.
“We got to recover, we got to get ready,” Rowland said. “And then we just have to compete.”
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