Temple Loses a Heartbreaker to Drexel in OT

The Temple Men’s Soccer team (4-2) made the quick trip to Vidas Athletic Complex on Tuesday night to face their Philadelphia Six foe in the Drexel Dragons. In a tremendous back and forth game the Dragons were able to find the back of the net seven minutes into overtime to capture the 3-2 victory and record their first victory of the season (1-2-2).

In front of an electric crowd in West Philly, the Owls were able to set the tone on an early goal from Jorge Gomez Sanchez in the 3rd minute. The Drexel Dragons were able to fight back and notched two goals of their own, one scored by Colin McGlynn in the 16th minute and the other by Ilai Shvika in the 28th minute, to take the 2-1 lead.

To cap off the thrilling first half the Owls were able to score once more as, who else, but Jorge Gomez Sanchez tapped one into a wide open net and tie the score at 2 right before halftime.

The second half was just as intense and well-played as the first, but this half of soccer was filled with close calls and magnificent defense. While Temple tallied five shots in the second half and Drexel had seven, nobody seemed to be able to get that great chance to break the tie.

The Owls found their best scoring opportunity of the second half with only five minutes to play in regulation but Drexel’s goalie Tyler Afflerbach was able to block a series of shots from Temple’s Kevin Klett and Carlos Moros Garcia.

With the score deadlocked at 2 apiece, overtime was needed to settle the match. The momentum of the overtime belonged entirely to the Dragons of Drexel University. The ball seemed to be in possession of the Dragons for most of the extra time and that inevitable golden goal finally came in the 97th minute of play when Drexel’s Colin McGlynn assisted a goal to Freshman Carlos Cuevas.

For the Owls, the offense was once again the “Jorge Gomez Sanchez” Show as he now has six goals six games. While Gomez Sanchez has done a bulk of the scoring, Joonas Jokinen has also contributed to the offense as he recorded two assists in the defeat.

To break the Owls’ two game skid they will play Saturday against Fairfield Univesity at the Temple Athletic Complex. The Boys of Broad Street have outscored their opponents 10-1 in their four victories at their new home and will look to continue that trend.