The men’s soccer team wrapped up their regular season against the Saint Joseph’s on Saturday afternoon as the Owls honored four seniors on the team, midfielders Andrew Dodds, Cody Calafiore and Homero Rodriguez and defender Billy Kappock.
Though the pregame ceremonies were for the Temple seniors, it was the visiting Hawks who came out wanting to prove something as the last ranked team in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Saint Joseph’s started the game aggressively but the Owls prevented them from capitalizing and soon turned the tide. After twenty minutes into the first half, the Owls struck first with a goal by Dodds which would subsequently lead to a Temple victory.
“[The goal] was really special,” Dodds said. “It’s a great pleasure playing with my three best friends and to go out with a win this way. We still have three more games to play.”
Dodds also added how veteran leadership was so crucial to building the team chemistry and contributing to its success.
“[The win] shows that a lot of experience really helps,” Dodds said. “[Saint Joseph’s] are a great team and even though they don’t have any seniors on their team, they still have a bright future ahead of them. I can’t wait for the A-10 tournament now.”
Coach David MacWilliams said he was proud of his seniors, including Dodds. No one watching the game was more proud of Dodds than his father, Charlie Dodds.
“I sent Andrew an email last night and told him to think back when you were in pee wee soccer and when you were in U-11 and scored a game-winning goal in the state championship,” Charlie Dodds said. “Think of those memories and knowing this could be your last game. Go out and have fun, smile and laugh and things will happen in a positive way.”
Charlie Dodds went on to say how mental of a game soccer can be and that it’s necessary to keep control.
“As a parent and a coach I was real happy because I believe 95% of this sport is psychological. It’s been four long years playing division one and it’s a tough job and I said to him that he could either make a memory or a nightmare. I think he made a real good memory.”
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