Temple Men’s Soccer (0-1-2, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) lost to Saint Joseph’s (1-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) 3-1 Tuesday night at the Temple Sports Complex.
Like their first two games of the season, the Owls started out slow on offense, only getting up four shots. Midfielder Lleyton Imparato provided the only shot on goal of the night in the 18th minute.
“We’re young, we’re still figuring out a lot of stuff,” said Temple head coach Bryan Green. “It’s a pretty steep learning curve right now, but once we figure it out, we’ll be good.”
Goalkeeper Flannan Riley provided another solid first half, picking up three saves, including two in the first 15 minutes. In the 33rd minute, Saint Joseph’s forward Bart Kooistra registered the first goal of the game, but Riley bounced back immediately with another save in the 37th minute.
Things started to get chippy at the end of the first half, as Saint Joseph’s committed four fouls, and Temple added one.
Play started to get aggressive before the halftime buzzer sounded as Saint Joseph’s midfielder Ariel Hadar was given a red card from the bench. Hadar threw water on the field and headed toward the exit gate, refusing to go to the locker room. Since he was on the bench, Saint Joseph’s did not have to play a man short.
Riley kept up his strong play with another save to open the second half in a one-on-one situation against Saint Joseph’s forward Blake Driehuis . However, Dreihuis finished the job a few minutes later and scored a goal to put Saint Joseph’s up 2-0.
In the 57th minute, Kooistra recorded his second goal of the night, putting St. Joe’s in the driver’s seat. Shortly after, a corner kick by Owls’ forward Xavier Rimpel resulted in a header goal for defender Gudmundur Neilsson in the 59th minute. It was Neilsson’s first career goal.
Despite the loss, Green was impressed by the team’s effort in the second half, but he wants his team to start games with the same energy, he said.
“I think being able to do it early in the first half compared to just the second half will be important,” Green said. “We just came up short a couple times, but they also had a lot of guys in the box because they’re protecting a two- or three-goal lead.”
Despite the loss in the home-opener, Green was excited about playing at the Temple Sports Complex for the first time. He hopes Temple can get in the win column in front of the home fans, he said.
“I thought we had an enthusiastic crowd, and it was fun to be here,” Green said. “I hope we gave them enough entertainment and they’ll come back and support us on Friday.”
The Owls are still looking for their first win of the season. They’ll play against American (0-2-1, 0-0 Patriot League Conference) at the Temple Sports Complex on Friday, Sep. 8 at 4 p.m.
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