Men’s Soccer Vaults into AAC Top Four with 3-2 OT Win Over Memphis

Tuesday, April 6

Memphis, TN

1:00 P.M.

Temple University

4-4-1, 4-4-1

Memphis

2-7-0, 2-7-0

Temple

Memphis

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Men’s Soccer Vaults into AAC Top Four with 3-2 OT Win Over Memphis

4.6.21 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Temple men's soccer team (4-4-1, 4-4-1 AAC) defeated the Memphis Tigers (2-7, 2-7 AAC) 3-2 Tuesday afternoon for their first overtime victory of the season. The win puts the Owls in the top four of the American Athletic Conference standings.

How it Happened
> The Owls came out on fire. In only the fourth minute Jalen Campbell found fellow forward Mike Eijgendaal for the first score of the match.
> Freshman Nigel Griffith looked to build off his excellent performance last week early. The forward fired a shot towards the bottom left corner, but it was turned away by keeper Parker Lackland.
> The Owl defense held strong against a slate of Tiger attacks. Keeper Eoin Gawronski got his first save in the 14^th minute, Memphis had a pair of corner attempts soon after, but they would prove fruitless.
> As the first half wound down midfielder Amir Cohen gunned a shot that was saved by Lackland. Temple took a 1-0 lead into the half.
> Gawronski earned his second save of the match sandwiched between a pair of Temple shots on target to open the second half.
> Memphis finally found the equalizer in the 61^st minute with a goal from Emanuel Santos
> Not even two minutes later Temple regained the lead. Senior defender Pierre Cayet found Griffith for his second goal of the season.
> The Owls nearly extended their lead in the 81^st minute. Midfielder Fabian Grant fired a shot that hit the crossbar.
> In the 89^th minute Memphis tied the game back up at two on a penalty kick goal. Neither team would have a shot attempt as time wound down, sending the game to overtime.
> Temple dominated the overtime period, the Owls had three shot attempts to Memphis' none. Sean Karani got a shot on net, but it was saved by Lackland.
> Cohen scored on a counterattack goal to give Temple their first overtime win since playing Memphis last season in the conference tournament.

Game Notes
> The seven combined goals Temple has scored in the last two games are the most since the 2015 season.
> Griffith has scored in back-to-back games.
> Eijgendaal's goal ties him with Campbell for the team lead scoring (3).
> This is the fourth straight match between Temple and Memphis that has gone to overtime
> Six cards were issues in this match (four yellow, two red). All were on Memphis.

From the Coach
> "We're in a position where we gotta win games. They were mathematically still it in as well, so we looked at it like an elimination game, we knew they were going to throw everything at us to stay in the hunt. So the motivation was there, we have to win games, you have to find ways to get those three points. We got the result in the end, we'll move forward and get for Saturday at SMU." -- head coach Brian Rowland.

Up Next
> The Owls end their season with a trip to SMU. The game will kickoff at 8 pm on Saturday, and will be streamed on ESPN+