During the first overtime period in a scoreless match, redshirt-freshman freshman goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski stopped a penalty kick that saved the game for the Owls.
“He was fantastic for us, and we needed him today to bail us out,” said head coach Brian Rowland. “He did not have much to do up until overtime, and then we decided to make him busy.”
After 120 minutes of game action, Temple University men’s soccer (0-0-2 ,0-0 The American Athletic Conference) tied against Rutgers University (1-0-1, 0-0 The BIG-10 Conference) 0-0 on Monday night at Piscataway, New Jersey.
This was the 45th matchup all time between the former Atlantic-10 foes. Temple leads the all-time series against the Scarlet Knights 24-18-3.
The game stopped at the 12-minute mark in the first half due to a lightning delay that lasted 45 minutes. Rowland believed the delay worked in the Owls favor, he said.
“I do not think we started the game particularly brightly,” he added. “So the break actually came at a good time to maybe calm the nerves and let some guys reset.”
The Scarlet Knights outshot the Owls 11 to eight. Two of the Owls’ shots came in double overtime, but it still wasn’t enough for a goal.
While the offense struggled, freshman forward Xavier Rimpel took advantage of his time on the field and attempted two shots, including one on goal.
“[Rimpel] was good man, he was dynamic, he’s a young player shifty on the dribble,” Rowland said. “He’s not a guy that you want to get as a defender facing you one-on-one.”
Rowland hopes his veteran players, who were banged up from their game against Seton Hall University last Thursday, will be back to bolster the offense for their home opener on Saturday, he said
“We will find out in the next few days who is available for Saturday,” Rowland added. “I thought we possessed the ball really well. We got into some dangerous areas but ultimately we have to find guys that are clicking.”
The Owls next matchup is against Manhattan University (1-0, 0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) at 3 p.m. this Saturday at the Temple Sports Complex.
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