Slippery Slope for Men’s Soccer Continues

FAIRFIELD, CONN-

Temple Men’s Soccer fell to Fairfield 2-0 on Saturday night in a tough, defensive-minded matchup. Both teams were very aware on defense throughout, and that is why neither team could amount to any scoring in the first half. The game was rather even in the first half, as the Owls managed two shots on goal, while the Stags had one shot. The game remained scoreless going into the second half up until the 56th minute mark. Fairfield’s Don Junior-Bobe broke the stalemate to put the Stags up 1-0. After Fairfield’s first goal, they broke the game open and in the second half of the game, and they proceeded to outshoot the Owls five shots to one. The Owls could not get anything going offensively after that.

Fairfield’s defense was up to the task and completely shut down any opportunities that the Owls had to come back. Temple’s stout defense from their backline and terrific goalkeeping from goalie Alex Cagle could only carry them so far as Fairfield’s scoring opportunities and lack thereof for the Owls was too powerful to overcome. Over the course of six games the Owls have only managed to score three goals and have relied heavily on the presence of their defense and Cagle to carry the team. In the 85th minute, Fairfield’s, Ben Wignall scored to make it 2-0 and put the game out of reach for good. This marks three straight losses for the Owls to put the overall team record at 1-4-1. The Owls will look to bounce back from their recent struggles as they have two games this week at home, September 19 vs. Duquesne and September 23 vs. UConn.