next game:
at UMBC
8/29/2022 | 7:30pm
AmericaEast.TV
Aug. 29 (Mon) / 7:30 pm
UMBC
History
PHILADELPHIA – The Lehigh men’s soccer team out-shot Temple, 13-5 in the season opener at the Temple Sports Complex Thursday evening, but couldn’t come through with a goal as the Owls (1-0) topped the Mountain Hawks (0 -1), 1-0.
“I think we left a lot of shots on the table tonight,” said The Ingrassia Family Men’s Head Soccer Coach Dean Koski. “There were at least three or four opportunities tonight where guys didn’t pull the trigger and take the shot and you’re not going to score if you don’t take shots. We have to be selfish around the 18 and want to shoot the ball
“The second thing is that we need a better final product from our key attackers. If we don’t get a better final cross, a better final pass and a better final shot, we’re going to struggle all year long. We have “Really good players in our front half, but they’re not putting themselves in good positions and doing the simple things well. We need to be able to do that if we want to be successful. I don’t care if our guys are juniors.” or seniors, we will find players on our squad that want that responsibility.”
Temple came through quickly in the first half with a seventh-minute strike from Yann Kouemi, assisted by Mike Eijgendaal to push ahead, 1-0.
Lehigh’s first flurry of chances came in the 22nd minute, a shot by Athanasios Cosse bottom center that was saved by the Temple keeper, followed by a Jack Sarkos shot on goal that was cleared off the line and another chance by Yoni Aidlberg that was recovered quickly just 30 seconds later.
First-years Jarman Reilly and Gennaro Mazzella put up a pair of shots on target to conclude the first half of play as Lehigh won the shots battle in the first 45 minutes, 8-4.
The second half was an aggressive one for the two teams, fouling late, which included a late yellow card on Temple and a red card, which sent off first-year Sam Davis in the 84th minute, causing the Mountain Hawks to play a man down for the final seven minutes of game action.
Sophomore Perry Kingson registered Lehigh’s final shot on goal of the evening in the 89th minute, a try to the bottom center of the box saved by Eoin Gawronski.
Two of Lehigh’s eight corner kicks came in the final minute of play to no avail, as the Owls held on for the 1-0 shutout to kick off the new season slate.
Kingson led the Lehigh offense with three shots, including one on goal, while Reilly and Mazzella each contributed a pair.
Sophomore Ryan Gross made his first career appearance between the pipes, while the defense played well with Gross making two saves despite allowing the seventh-minute goal.
“Other than the first five minutes of the game, I thought we were fine on defense,” Koski said. “We have to do a better job of not giving up that early goal and our center backs have to do a better job of tightening things up, because we’ve given up too many goals down the middle with our preseason and this game here.
“But we do have smart center backs and I know they will figure it out and we, as a coaching staff, will help them get to that point.”
The Mountain Hawks head back on the road Monday to Baltimore, taking on UMBC at 7 pm
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