Owls’ missed opportunities result in loss to No. 22 Tulsa

Temple Men’s Soccer (4-8-2, 1-6 American Athletic Conference) fell to The University of Tulsa (8-2-2, 4-2-1 American Athletic Conference) 3-2 at the Temple Sports Complex Saturday night, ending the Owls’ two-game win streak. The Owls have yet to win a conference game at home this season, and this is their fourth straight loss against a conference opponent at the Temple Sports Complex. 

KEY PLAYS

• In the 13th minute, Owls’ freshman defender Sawyer Koza made a crossing pass inside the box to Owls’ senior forward Yann Kouemi. Kouemi did not handle the pass and Tulsa’s senior goalkeeper Cedrik Stern dived on the ball to negate a potential Owls lead. 
• In the 22nd minute, Temple’s Kouemi was called for a foul and Tulsa was awarded with a free kick 10 yards outside the box. Golden Hurricane junior midfielder Alvaro Torrijos took the free kick and reached the goal, but Owls’ redshirt junior goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski made a leaping save.  
• In the 26th minute, the Owls had a corner kick opportunity as freshman midfielder George Medill made a pass to the center of the box where the ball went off Owls’ graduate student Fridtjof Andberg’s head and hit the crossbar. 
• In the 39th minute, Tulsa senior defender Mariano Fazio broke the tie and scored a goal off a header inside the box. Tulsa junior forward Alex Meinhard assisted the goal with a crossing pass from outside the box. 
• In the 43rd minute, Owls’ Medill tied the game off a very similar play as when Tulsa scored. The assist from outside the box by Owls’ senior forward Chaim Roserie led to a Medill header to make it 1-1 in the match.
• In the 47th minute, Tulsa junior midfielder Sergio Baena gave the Golden Hurricane the 2-1 lead with a goal inside the box. Tulsa’s Meinhard assisted the goal. 
• In the 76th minute, Owls’ freshman midfielder Rocco Häufglöckner split the defense with a through pass to Owls’ Kouemi who got around Tulsa’s Stern to tie the game 2-2. 
• In the 83rd minute, the referee whistled Owls’ Medill for a penalty inside the box, which resulted in Tulsa’s Meinhard scoring off a penalty kick for the game-winning goal 3-2. 

THE NUMBERS

• Owls’ Medill scored his first goal of the season on his only shot in the match.
• Tulsa’s Meinhard finished with one goal and two assists in the match.
• Temple had four offsides in the match.
• Tulsa recorded 12 total shots with six shots on goal while Temple recorded ten shots with five coming on goal. 
• Gawronski finished with three saves in the match while Stern recorded three saves in the contest as well.

WORDS FROM THE COACH

“We will find positives in our performance,” said head coach Brian Rowland. “Our conference we’ve talked about is really, really strong.”

“I think that there’s very few things that separated the two teams today,” Rowland said. “I thought that the guys played exceptionally well. We will find some positive moments from the game.”

ON TAP

The Owls will look to get back in the win column as they travel to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (3-7-3, 1-3-2 AAC) on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. in Birmingham, Alabama.