The Owls struggling to consistently rack up wins, traveled to battle the University of Pitt in the Steel City. Coming off of a loss in their last game in overtime at USF, winning is crucial for Temple as their season is nearing its end, with only 5 games remaining. The Owls record of (4-6-3) puts them in 6th place within the conference making it a tough road for them to climb up.
The battle in the first half between both teams was physical with both teams defensive effort on full display. Pitt contained momentum first in the game getting a shot off within the first five minutes of play.
The Owls defense adjusted early preventing opportunities for Pitt. Around the 10 minute mark, Temple created a surge of opportunities throwing the Panthers back on their feet. Two corner kicks were set up by forward Lukas Fernadez for shots from Elias Villegas and Herman Doerner, causing a foul on Pitt.
Fouling the back and forth sequence, Pittsburg began to take control. A 21st minute corner and a shot from Pitt Javi Perez caused Temple to foul on the play. The mistake proved costly allowing Javi Perez to capitalize on a Penalty kick to put Pitt up 1-0 at the 26:43 mark.
The Temple offense used that goal to try and spark up their club, getting off 3 corner kicks in the next two minutes. Missed chances continued to slow the Owls down after a missed header from Nick Sarver. Pitt went into halftime with the 1 – 0 lead capitalizing on more opportunities. Temple was able to get off 6 shots but they still looked to add their first tally on the day.
Into the second half, both offenses came into the game with a new spark. Temple wasted little time getting on the board 4 minutes into the half following a goal off the foot of Elias Villegas, his first of the season to even the score.
The score being 1-1 heading into the 57th minute, Temple’s Lukas Fernandez picked up a yellow card from a strong tackle. The momentum killer hurt the Owls as Pittsburg capitalized in the 62nd minute with a goal from their sophmore Dexter Alexander breaking the tie 2-1.
The scoring continued not long after in the 66th minute as Pitt increased their lead 3-1 off a goal from their other sophomore Kizza Edward. 10 minutes of play passed with no change to the score with Temple becoming desperate to create for themselves.
But in the 79th minute, the Owls were gifted with an own goal off a Pittsburg defender to cut the deficit to 1. The Owls last second effort came up short as they dropped the road matchup by the score 2-3.
Their record now falls to (4-7-3) this season, the next game being Saturday at Uconn.
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