Temple University Athletics
Men's Soccer Celebrates 30th Anniversary of 1985 NCAA Team Saturday
10.23.15 | Men's Soccer
PHILADELPHIA - Temple Men's Soccer, having one of its best seasons in recent years with a 9-5-2 record and an appearance in the Top 25, takes time at its final home match Saturday to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of one of the program's best teams.
The 1985 team, the last Temple team to make the NCAA Tournament, surprised many with its play, similar to the current Cherry and White squad. Thirty years ago the team entered what would be a memorable campaign following a 7-8 record the previous season. This year's squad jumped out to a 7-0-1 start, the best since '85, after posting just two victories in 2014.
Team captain and one of Temple greatest goalkeepers, Dale Caya, summed up the attitude of the 1985 team going into the season well prior to its NCAA game.
"This year, we just sat down before the season started and said, 'We're going to do it differently than last year.' We were in a lot of close games last year, games that we could have won, but we didn't.
This year, we just decided to take it upon ourselves to get the job done. We realized no one else is going to do it for us."
The late John Boles, who guided Temple to 210 wins in his 21 years at the helm, added about the turnaround, "It's hard to say (what turned things around). It's like mixing soup, sometimes you have the right ingredients and everything comes out fine. Sometimes it does not.'
The ingredients were definitely there for success in 1985.Â
Seniors Peter Dicce (12 goals) and Franklin Gbinije (10 goals), a third team All-American, accounted for more than half of the Owls' 43 goals while each dished seven assists. Defensively it was two more seniors, Caya, who holds the record for wins in a season and career, in goal and Doug Shaw, the MVP of the Soccer Seven and one of the most gifted sweepers in school history, leading the way.
All four earned all-Soccer Seven honors in 1985 as did junior midfielder Steffen Hausner, who was third on the team in scoring with five goals and five assists.
It takes a team to win 14 matches and earn a #11 final ranking in the NSCAA poll. Senior Scott Walton was also strong on defense as was fellow senior Paul McDonald and junior Rich Conroy.
Three freshmen, Steve Jeremenko (2 goals, 5 assists), Dean Merchant (3 goals, 3 assists) and John Dunlop (2 goals, 1 assist) made immediate impacts in the midfield.
Sophomore Glenn Curry (2 goals, 2 assists), junior Tom Csongradi (1 goal, 2 assists) and sophomore Kevin Hutt (2 goals) also contributed in the scoring column.
Juniors Steve Griet and Noel Sheridan and sophomores Terry Murphy and Steve Wilson rounded out the squad.
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The Owls started off the season with a come-from-behind 2-1 win at East Stroudsburg with Hausner scoring the game-winner off an assist from Dicce in the 73rd minute.
It was the first of 13 straight wins for the Cherry and White. The biggest victory came in the 10th match when the Owls took down perennial national power Philadelphia Textile, 2-1, for the first time since 1968. Trailing 1-0, Dicce curved in a direct kick and Merchant blasted a 25-footer in the 60th minute. Caya made 13 saves in the match to lift Temple to the win that propelled the team into the national rankings.Â
Temple's win streak came to a halt, but its unbeaten streak remained following a 1-1 draw against Penn State at Temple Stadium. Gbinije was injured early in the second half and would miss the subsequent match, a 2-2 tie with Penn. Shaw missed that match as well.
Temple posted its record-tying 14th win in its final regular season match at Delaware, 2-0, with Caya notching his seventh shutout.
Next up was the team's showdown with #18 Penn State (14-5-1). Despite being the higher-ranked team, the #11 Owls (14-0-2) had to travel to State College for the second round NCAA Tournament match.
After scoring more than two goals only twice on the season, and never allowing more than two tallies in the previous 16 matches, the NCAA contest was a high-scoring affair.
Following regulation and two overtime periods, Temple and Penn State were deadlocked at 5-5. Dicce and Gbinije each scored twice for the Owls, and Curry accounted for the other goal.
The Nittany Lions prevailed in the subsequent shootout to advance to the third round. It goes down in the record books as a 6-5 loss for Temple to end its undefeated season, but if played today, the match would be credited as a draw.
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The 1985 team, the last Temple team to make the NCAA Tournament, surprised many with its play, similar to the current Cherry and White squad. Thirty years ago the team entered what would be a memorable campaign following a 7-8 record the previous season. This year's squad jumped out to a 7-0-1 start, the best since '85, after posting just two victories in 2014.
Team captain and one of Temple greatest goalkeepers, Dale Caya, summed up the attitude of the 1985 team going into the season well prior to its NCAA game.
"This year, we just sat down before the season started and said, 'We're going to do it differently than last year.' We were in a lot of close games last year, games that we could have won, but we didn't.
This year, we just decided to take it upon ourselves to get the job done. We realized no one else is going to do it for us."
The late John Boles, who guided Temple to 210 wins in his 21 years at the helm, added about the turnaround, "It's hard to say (what turned things around). It's like mixing soup, sometimes you have the right ingredients and everything comes out fine. Sometimes it does not.'
The ingredients were definitely there for success in 1985.Â
Seniors Peter Dicce (12 goals) and Franklin Gbinije (10 goals), a third team All-American, accounted for more than half of the Owls' 43 goals while each dished seven assists. Defensively it was two more seniors, Caya, who holds the record for wins in a season and career, in goal and Doug Shaw, the MVP of the Soccer Seven and one of the most gifted sweepers in school history, leading the way.
All four earned all-Soccer Seven honors in 1985 as did junior midfielder Steffen Hausner, who was third on the team in scoring with five goals and five assists.
It takes a team to win 14 matches and earn a #11 final ranking in the NSCAA poll. Senior Scott Walton was also strong on defense as was fellow senior Paul McDonald and junior Rich Conroy.
Three freshmen, Steve Jeremenko (2 goals, 5 assists), Dean Merchant (3 goals, 3 assists) and John Dunlop (2 goals, 1 assist) made immediate impacts in the midfield.
Sophomore Glenn Curry (2 goals, 2 assists), junior Tom Csongradi (1 goal, 2 assists) and sophomore Kevin Hutt (2 goals) also contributed in the scoring column.
Juniors Steve Griet and Noel Sheridan and sophomores Terry Murphy and Steve Wilson rounded out the squad.
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The Owls started off the season with a come-from-behind 2-1 win at East Stroudsburg with Hausner scoring the game-winner off an assist from Dicce in the 73rd minute.
It was the first of 13 straight wins for the Cherry and White. The biggest victory came in the 10th match when the Owls took down perennial national power Philadelphia Textile, 2-1, for the first time since 1968. Trailing 1-0, Dicce curved in a direct kick and Merchant blasted a 25-footer in the 60th minute. Caya made 13 saves in the match to lift Temple to the win that propelled the team into the national rankings.Â
Temple's win streak came to a halt, but its unbeaten streak remained following a 1-1 draw against Penn State at Temple Stadium. Gbinije was injured early in the second half and would miss the subsequent match, a 2-2 tie with Penn. Shaw missed that match as well.
Temple posted its record-tying 14th win in its final regular season match at Delaware, 2-0, with Caya notching his seventh shutout.
Next up was the team's showdown with #18 Penn State (14-5-1). Despite being the higher-ranked team, the #11 Owls (14-0-2) had to travel to State College for the second round NCAA Tournament match.
After scoring more than two goals only twice on the season, and never allowing more than two tallies in the previous 16 matches, the NCAA contest was a high-scoring affair.
Following regulation and two overtime periods, Temple and Penn State were deadlocked at 5-5. Dicce and Gbinije each scored twice for the Owls, and Curry accounted for the other goal.
The Nittany Lions prevailed in the subsequent shootout to advance to the third round. It goes down in the record books as a 6-5 loss for Temple to end its undefeated season, but if played today, the match would be credited as a draw.
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