UConn Drops Temple in AAC Opener

STOORS, CN – The Temple Men’s Soccer team hit the road and made their way to Storrs, Connecticut to open up their American Athletic Conference schedule against the UConn Huskies Saturday. In front of a crowd of over 4,000 fans, the Huskies were able to find the back of the net in the 64th minute and capture the 1-0 win to drop the Owls’ record to 5-3 and 0-1 in the AAC.

In the first half, the Owls were shut down offensively by the Huskies, recording only one shot on goal by Midfielder Belai Mohamed that was stopped by the UConn Goalie Scott Levene. The strong play of goalie Alex Cagle, who had four saves in the first forty-five minutes, allowed the Owls to stay in the game and in a 0-0 tie heading into the intermission.

The offense for the Owls picked up in the second half as Belai Mohamed and Captain Matt Mahoney both found chances early on, but both players were denied a shot at breaking the tie in the game and recording their first goal of the season for the Cherry and the White.

In the 64th minute Huskies’ Kwame Awuah lined up for the corner kick and crossed the ball through the tough Owls’ defense and right to Abdou Thiamin, who would head in the only goal of the game and deliver quite a deflating blow to the Temple Owls.

The Owls fought hard to try and tie up the match. Their best chance to score a goal of their own came off the head of Jorge Gomez Sanchez but the Huskies goalie was able to come up with a beautiful save and deny any chance of an Owls comeback.

The UConn Huskies continue to be the kryptonite for the Temple Men’s Soccer team. The Temple Owls have now fell to 0-5-3 against the Huskies in their history, and in the last three matches the Owls could not even find the back of the net compared to the seven goals for UConn.

The next test for the Owls will come Tuesday night at 7 o’clock against the Nittany Lions of Penn State, who are 4-3-1 on the season.