Temple Women’s Soccer went into its season opener against Monmouth with newfound confidence. It was the Owls’ first game under new head coach Chris Shaw, and the team looked refreshed after their first offseason under his leadership.
However, that confidence didn’t translate into goals. With 25 minutes left in the game, the two teams were still deadlocked at zero. Monmouth midfielder Liza Suydam seemed to have a clear shot on goal, but defender Phoebe Hollin jumped in the way and headed the ball to keep it from crossing the line.
Monmouth had another scoring chance just a few moments later, and this time Hawks forward Summer Reimet delivered. She slid a ball into the bottom left of the net past Bynoe giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Temple (0-1, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Monmouth (1-0, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association) 1-0 Thursday evening at the Temple Sports Complex. The Owls showed promise in Shaw’s first game as head coach, but were unable to pull out their first opening day win since 2017 against the preseason CAA favorites.
The Owls attempted to respond following Reimet’s go ahead goal but were held at arms length and were handed the season-opening loss. The Owls failed to record a goal for the ninth straight game dating back to last season.
“Not the result we wanted but we saw a lot of things we can build on,” Shaw said. “ We saw a lot of grit, a lot of commitment, a lot of intensity. We still need to be better when we have the ball, we’ve got to play quicker on the midfield and we’ve got to be more dangerous in the attacking third. But those are soccer things and those are things you can fix.”
The Owls started the game off slowly, with Monmouth attacking early and creating multiple chances on goal that Temple was able to restrict with strong defense. However, a mistake by goalkeeper Tamsin Bynoe almost put the Owls in an early hole.
The sophomore misplaced a kick off her own defender’s back just three minutes into the game, forcing a diving save to keep the game level. That was one of Bynoe’s few mistakes, as she turned away 14 of the Hawks’ 15 shots on goal.
Temple’s offense woke up soon after with creative passing, opening up opportunities for shots on goal. But Monmouth goalkeeper Cassie Coster quickly shut down each chance the Owls had.
The Hawks generated eight shots throughout the first period, continuously putting pressure on the Owls. Temple’s defense was able to withstand the pressure, with Bynoe making six of her 14 saves in the first half, a career high for her.
Hollin had a chance to break the tie with a free kick just outside the box in the 36th minute. She fired the ball towards the net, but it smacked off the upper left side of the crossbar, keeping the game level going into the break.
“I was honestly just telling the team to keep calm and keep their heads,” Hollin said. “At one point it didn’t look like they were scoring, because our backline was that strong.”
The second half was much of the same, with Monmouth consistently breaking through the Owls’ backline and creating shots. But Bynoe was consistently there to correct and keep the game at a stalemate.
Bynoe’s stone wall eventually cracked, which doomed the Owls. Monmouth had 15 shots on goal and the only one Bynoe couldn’t snatch turned out to be the game-winner.
Temple’s offense was unable to match Monmouth’s offensive output, with just six shots and only four finding their way to Coster.
“I think the team played well today,” Bynoe said. “It sucks to lose, but we can build from this.”
The Owls hit the road for their next game, but won’t have to travel far against city rival Villanova (0-1, 0-0 Big East) on Aug. 18 at 4 p.m.
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