Men’s Soccer Falls Just Short Against No. 8 Tulsa, 3-2

Sunday, October 31

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

Temple University

2-11-2, 0-9-0

#8 Tulsa

12-1-1, 7-1-1

Tulsa

Temple

Photo by: Miles Marteal

Men’s Soccer Falls Just Short Against No. 8 Tulsa, 3-2

10.31.21 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple men's soccer team (2-11-2, 0-9-0 AAC) came up just short of a massive upset over No. 8 Tulsa (12-1-1, 7-1-1, AAC) 3-2 Sunday night. Andrew Burkhardt scored his first career goal, while Nigel Griffith scored his third of the season. The Owls honored five seniors in their final home match.

How it Happened
> Tulsa opened up the scoring in the 17th minute.
> Senior keeper Goodwill Agbaadem made a pair of saves around the 30^th minute to keep things tight.
> The Golden Hurricane scored again at the end of the first half to take a 2-0 lead into the break.
> Agbaadem made an outstanding save in the 50^th minute. Tulsa created a strong set piece off a corner kick. The Golden Hurricane found a forward on the back post for an open shot targeting the top center of the goal. Agbaadem showed off his athleticism, quickly moving across the goal and leaping vertically to make a beautiful save.
> The keeper wasn't done making big plays. Tulsa banged the ball off the post on a free kick shot. The Golden Hurricane collected the rebound and fired two shots in quick succession, but Agbaadem stood his ground, stopping both chances.
> Temple got on the board on a counter-attack score from Burkhardt. Andres Charles found Burkhardt on the Tulsa half of the pitch one on one with a defender. Burkhardt slowed his pace to shake the Tulsa defender and fired off a perfect shot to the top-middle of the goal to pull the Owls within one.
> Only three minutes later, Temple found the back of the net again. Mickael Borger found Griffith on a cross-box pass. Griffith headed the ball to the back right corner of the goal to the tie the match at two all.
> Two minutes after Temple tied the match, Tulsa scored to retake the lead in the 68^th minute.
> The remainder of the match featured seven yellow cards in just over 20 minutes. Despite a late chance from Kyle Hellmann, the Owls could not force overtime. Tulsa won by a final tally of 3-2.

Game Notes
> Nigel Griffith now leads Temple in goals (3).
> Agbaadem's five saves tie his career high.
> Nine yellow cards were issued in this match, the most of any game this season. Six were issued on Temple and three on Tulsa.

From the Coach
> "It's been a group that, over the last four years has done a lot of good. They are good people, they've done great in the classroom, they've done great on the field. I'm very proud to have these guys call Temple home." -- head coach Brian Rowland on the graduating senior class.

Up Next
> The Owls end their season as they travel to face the USF Bulls. The 7:30 p.m. match will be streamed on ESPN+.