Owls take down Rams

The Owls were able to pull out a late 1-0 victory against Fordham on Wednesday afternoon at Ambler.

A lone goal from freshman defender Matt Mahoney gave the Owls the victory, giving them a 6-2-0 record heading into conference play later this week.

With this win, the Owls remain undefeated at home, where they have yet to give up a goal this season.

“Overall I was very satisfied particularly with the result,” coach David MacWilliams said. “One thing I’m not happy about is probably the last eight minutes of the game where we allowed them in our box and allowed them too many opportunities in the box. You gotta be able to finish out games without having that happening.”

Even though the Owls played against a 2-5-0 team that is currently on a four game losing streak, MacWilliams still didn’t take anything for granted.

“They are a very tough team to break down,” MacWilliams said. “They get numbers behind the ball and they are very organized and very well coached and a disciplined team. It’s always a tough game against Fordham. I told the guys, I’ve been here 14 years and I don’t think there have been too many games that have been decided by more than one goal.”

The Owls had a couple chances in the first half, but their real opportunity came in the first five minutes of the second half when junior forward Chas Wilson’s shot was saved by the Fordham goalkeeper. The Owls were able to play more of a wide offensive style and it really made the difference in their lone goal. Mahoney was out wide after receiving a pass from sophomore midfielder Jared Martinelli and then cut back in and took a shot. The ball ended up in the upper right hand corner and the goalkeeper had no chance of making a save from a spectacular shot.

“I thought it was a great goal,” MacWilliams said. “I think it was a classy goal and particularly for his first one he did a very good job.”

The adjustments made in the second half proved to be crucial.

“I think what we tried to do in the second half is isolated our outside midfielders a little bit more,” MacWilliams said. “I think in the first half they were coming in too much and we were getting our outside backs involved, but then it just crowded the middle of the field. So, we asked them to stay a little bit wider and what we wanted services in the box.”

The Owls next game will be against Louisville on Saturday at 7 p.m. in their first ever conference game in the American Athletic Conference.

Hoon Jin can be reached at hoon.jin@temple.edu.