Men's Soccer Drops OT Decision To Temple

Tuesday, April 6

Memphis, Tenn.

12 P.M.

University of Memphis

2-7-0, 2-7-0

Temple

4-4-1, 4-4-1

Temple

Memphis

Photo by: Eric Glemser

Apr 06, 2021 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Memphis-Temple Boxscore

Tigers to close regular season Friday at home vs. UCF.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Despite playing the final 40 minutes down a player, the University of Memphis men's soccer team battled American Athletic Conference rival Temple to the end, but dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Owls Tuesday afternoon at the Billy J. Murphy Soccer/Track and Field Complex.

The setback drops the Tigers to 2-7 overall and in league action. Temple improves to 4-4-1 overall and in the AAC.

"It was a good college match," said UofM head coach Richard Mulrooney. "Obviously, we fell short. We faced a lot of adversity, but we fought to the end. Temple is a good team, and we have a rivalry between us, a healthy rivalry. It was a well-played match between two teams."

Down 1-0 at the half, the UofM faced more adversity when Gurman Sangha received his second yellow card – and subsequent red card – in the 57^thminute. Sangha was ejected from the contest, and the Tigers was a player down the remainder of the match.

The match, though, picked up its intensity after that, especially on the Memphis offensive end.

Three minutes after the ejection, the Tigers knotted the match at 1-all on sophomore Emanuel Santos' third goal in his last two outings. Earlier Tuesday, Santos was named to College Soccer News' Men's Team of the Week for his two goals in the UofM's 2-1 overtime win at USF April 2.

Santos' scored on a 12-yard shot from the left side of the box. His attempt found the lower right corner of the net. Luke Biasi assisted on the tying goal.

The Owls answered back quickly two minutes later to regain the advantage at 2-1. Nigel Griffith netted the score when his shot attempt hit the right side of the net. Pierre Cayet assisted on Griffth's goal.

Memphis (to tie) and Temple (to extend lead) each had chances over the next 20 minutes. UofM's Brandon Bracket's shot in the 65^thminute hit the left post that would have tied the contest. Sixteen minutes later, the Owls had an opportunity to put the match out of reach, but Fabian Grant's attempt hit the cross bar.

The Tigers increased their offensive aatack in the final minutes of regulation. A Biasi header off a corner kick just missed past the right post in the 88^thminute. Seconds later, the ball remained in the box after Temple failed to clear, and the Owls committed a hand ball infraction.

The foul provided Memphis a penalty-kick chance with a little more than a minute remaining in regulation. Artur De Luca took the penalty kick and placed the attempt in the bottom right of the net to tie the score at 2-all.

The teams did not manufacture any scoring chances in the final minute, and the match went to overtime.

In the extra session, the Owls nearly ended the match in the 94^thminute. Mike Eijgendaal carried the ball to the right side of the box and attempt a shot, and Parker Lackland turned it away. The save ricocheted off Lackland to the center of the box, where Temple's Sean Karani had an open net. However, the UofM defensive tandem of Ntezey Swalita and Maliek Howell combined for the back save that held the score at 2-all.

Three minutes later, the Tigers defense did not cleanly clear the ball, and Temple's Amir Cohen picked up the loose ball. Cohen fired a 15-yard shot to the back of the net for the game winner.

"We got down 1-0 early. We had to overcome that, and I thought we did a good job," Mulrooney said. "The second half was better (for us) than the first. We created opportunities, even though we were a goal down and then the red card comes.

"We just had a critical error at the end that they took advantage of, but that's soccer. I couldn't ask any more from my guys."

The Owls struck first in the match on an Eijgendaal goal in the fourth minute. From that point, Memphis controlled most of the action prior to halftime. The UofM's best chance to tie the game before intermission came when a De Luca attempt bounced off the post.

Lackland made five saves for the Tigers. Temple's Elon Gawronski collected two stops.

The Owls outshot Memphis 13-10 and held a narrow 7-6 corner kick advantage.

The Tigers close their regular season Friday, April 8 when they host UCF in a 7 p.m. (CT) match at the Murphy Complex.

For more information on the Memphis men's soccer team, follow the Tigers on Facebook (/MemphisSoccer), Twitter (@MemphisMSoccer) and Instagram (@MemphisMSoccer).