Men's Soccer Powers Through UCF in Conference Opener

Friday, September 21

Temple Sports Complex

7:00 P.M.

Temple University

3-4-1

UCF

5-2-1

UCF

Temple

Men's Soccer Powers Through UCF in Conference Opener

9.21.18 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple University men's soccer squad (3-4-1, 1-0) earned its first conference victory of the season on Friday, downing the nationally recognized UCF Knights (5-2-1, 0-1), 1-0, in its second home match of 2018. For the second game in a row, the Owls lone goal came off the boot of junior Lukas Fernandes, and a powerhouse Temple defense was able to keep the Knights scoreless for the remainder of play.

How it Happened
> The match started in a high-paced fashion that never dwindled for 90 minutes of play. Both teams fought relentlessly in an extremely physical battle at the Temple Sports Complex.
> The first opportunity for the Owls came less than one minute into the contest, when Fernandes rocketed a free kick into the 18-yard-box from the left flank. The quick opportunity was denied just as fast, when UCF goalie Yannik Oettl leaped over the Temple forwards to punch the ball out of their defensive territory.
> The lone goal of the game came in the 21st minute of play, when Temple capitalized on a counter attack opportunity against a challenging UCF back line. Freshman Elias Hellgren Villegas found the ball at his feet, releasing it at the perfect time to split two UCF defenders. The through ball landed at the boots of Fernandes, who took one touch around the keeper to put away his second goal of the season.
> The defensive efforts shown by the Owls tonight were nothing short of incredible as the squad managed to shut down Cal Jennings, a nationally recognized forward with 20 points for UCF already this season. Aside from Jennings, the Temple back line consisting of Zach Brown, Akeem Prawl, Nick Sarver and Pierre Cayet thwarted every opportunity that came their way, diligently shutting down the rest of the speedy Knights for the entirety of the match.
> Junior goalkeeper Simon Lefebvre made multiple key plays for the Owls to earn his second shutout of the season. Lefebvre stood strong in net to deny all of the Knights 19 shots, just one short of their nationally ranked shots-per game average, to enter the net.

Game Notes
> Temple opened their conference slate with a win tonight for the first time since 2014, losing their last three American Athletic Conference openers. The next conference match-up for the Owls will come in just over a week on Saturday, September 29 at Cincinnati.
> The Owls finally broke their four-straight overtime curse, finishing in under 90 minutes tonight for the first time since their September 2nd win over No. 25 ODU.
> Fernandes has scored a goal in each of the last two games for Temple. Last week's goal came in the 87th minute of play, when he put the Owls on the board against Duquesne to eventually earn an even result of 1-1. He now leads the team in most goals scored this season at two.

Quotable
> "I am very pleased with tonight's result and the way the guys battled tonight," noted head coach Brian Rowland. "We created a game plan and the squad was able to execute it nearly flawlessly. We found a way to disrupt a very competitive UCF team with a first-half goal, and walking away with our first conference win is a great feeling."
> Rowland spoke about his first ever home win as the head of the Cherry and White. "We have really been tested on the road so far this season, so it was great to return home and get our first win on our turf. It is such a great atmosphere to play in, and we can really start to see development in some of the things we have been building on."

Up Next
> The Owls will take a break from conference action and will return back to the Temple Sports Complex to host the Villanova Wildcats on Wednesday, September 26. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m., and admission is free for all who attend.