Just eleven minutes into the game, Temple sophomore forward Sean Karani sent a pass across the net to junior midfielder Santiago Majewski, who headed the ball to sophomore forward Mike Eijgendaal, allowing him to settle the ball and send a shot past the Mustangs’ goalkeeper, putting Temple ahead 1-0.
The Owls (2-3, 2-3 The American Athletic Conference) defeated Southern Methodist University (3-1-0, 3-1-0 The American), which is ranked number two in the country, 2-0 on Saturday night. The game is Temple’s highest ranked win in program history.
“The guys were focused and ready to go and put in maybe our most complete performance,” wrote head coach Brian Rowland in a brief after the game. “From that standpoint I didn’t feel like beating the number two team in the country was something we couldn’t accomplish. We’ve been on the wrong side of some results, so it was good to put a full 90 together and show what we’re capable of.”
Although Temple got off to a hot start, the Mustangs’ offense put constant pressure on the Owls’ defense as they outshot Temple 10-3 in the first half and 14-10 overall. However, Temple’s defense did enough work clearing the ball to keep SMU off the scoreboard.
Temple redshirt-freshman goalie Eoin Gawronski recorded six saves in his first collegiate start and was instrumental in helping the Owls pull out the upset.
His first save came early in the game when SMU junior midfielder Gabriel Costa had a corner opportunity but Gawronski got on top of the ball quickly, ending any chance the Mustangs had to score.
In the 63rd minute, Karani was running free towards the SMU goal but was tackled from behind, leading to a red card being called on the Mustangs. This allowed senior defender Pierre Cayet to take a penalty shot, which put Temple up 2-0.
The game got chippy in the end as both teams were issued red cards in the 85th minute and the Mustangs were issued a separate yellow card at the same time.
Temple’s next game is on the road against the University of Tulsa (2-1, 2-1 The American) on March 13 at 8:00 p.m.
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