Men's Soccer Hosts No.23 Delaware

PHILADELPHIA – Temple men's soccer hosts No. 23 Delaware in a nonconference match on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. The Owls look to gain momentum heading into conference play as they host Cincinnati on Saturday at 3:00 pm to start their conference portion of the schedule.

HEADLINES

Temple is 1-5-1 to open the 2014 season. The Owls are in the middle of a three-game home stand after playing four straight games on the road.
Midfielder Miguel Polley was named Philadelphia Soccer Six Rookie of the Week last Monday. With the Owls trailing La Salle 2-0 at halftime, Polley started the comeback with his first collegiate goal in the 48th minute.
Junior midfielder/forward Jared Martinelli was selected to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll last week. Martinelli finished the comeback against La Salle when he scored his first goal of the season with six minutes left in regulation to tie the game.
Sophomore defender Robert Sagel, senior goalkeeper Dan Scheck and Martinelli were selected to the Preseason All-American Athletic Conference Team. Scheck was voted by the coaches as the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
10 underclassmen have started a game for Temple. 16 total players have appeared in a game.
Freshmen midfielder Felipe Liborio has started all seven games for Temple. Three other freshmen have started at least five games for the Owls: forward Olli Tynkkynen, midfielder Miguel Polley and midfielder Brendon Creed.
Temple was predicted to finish fifth in the conference by the preseason coaches' poll.
Scheck is currently the career leader in goals allowed average (0.73) and ranks tied for fourth in career wins (15).
Sagel has played all 663 minutes of the season. Liborio is second in minutes played with 659.
Delaware comes into the game with a 6-2 record. The Blue Hens outscored their opponents 18-5 in a six game winning-streak to begin the season that included five victories at home. They dropped two games on road to a pair of ranked teams this past weekend to No. 15 California 4-2 and No. 24 Stanford 2-1.
The Blue Hens were selected as the favorites to win the Colonial Athletic Association in the coaches' preseason poll. Last season Delaware finished 14-5-1, 4-3-0 with a pair of top 25 wins to finish fourth in the conference and grab an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. They return eight starters from last season's squad.
Three Delaware players were selected to the Preseason CAA All-Star Team. Sophomore forward Guillermo Delgado was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year. Delgado leads the team with six goals and 12 points. He was also selected to the Hermann Award Watch List that honors the top collegiate male player in the nation. Senior Roberto Gimenez and senior goalkeeper Borja Barbero were also selected on the first team. Barbero has a 1.29 goals allowed average and stopped 16 shots for three shutouts. Gimenez is out all season due to knee surgery.
Temple leads the all-time series 32-9-6. Delaware won the previous meeting last year 2-1 on Sept. 17.
Temple is coming off 10-4-4, 3-1-4 season where they finished fourth in the conference.
Sagel and Martinelli were selected to the 2013 all-conference second teams. Sagel was put on the all-freshmen team.