Men's Soccer Concludes Play at Penn Soccer Classic With 2-0 Loss to Temple

Philadelphia, Pa. - Tyler Witmer scored the game-winning goal in the 38th minute and Mike Puppolo added an insurance tally late in the second half to lead Temple to a 2-0 victory over the UAlbany men's soccer team in the second round of the Penn Soccer Classic on Sunday, Sept. 20 at the Amber Sports Complex. The Great Danes, who also dropped a 3-0 decision to Penn on Friday evening, placed fourth in the tournament with the loss.

UAlbany (0-6-1) controlled play for the opening 20 minutes by taking the match's first five shots. The team had its first major opportunity to get on the scoreboard when Claudio Dantas made a bid to head the ball past Owl goalkeeper Bret Mollon off a corner kick taken by Darko Knezevic. However, Mollon made the key save to keep the match scoreless.

Temple (2-3-1), which suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to Navy in the tournament's opening round on Friday, regrouped and took over for the rest of the stanza. After failing to score on four corner kick opportunities, the Owls were able to punch in their first goal in the 38th minute when Witmer took a short pass from J.T. Noone and placed the ball in the top right corner of the net.

The second half featured plenty of back-and-forth action and saw the teams combine to attempt 21 shots on the goalkeepers. Temple threatened numerous times to double its lead early in the second half, but all six of their shots fired in a span of five minutes were either wide of the goal, blocked by Great Dane defenders or denied by goalkeeper Adrian Foncette.

After Bo Jelovac had his open look at the net denied by Mollon in the 73rd minute, Dantas had another chance for the Great Danes to tie up the score with under 10 to play. However, the senior's first shot was blocked, and his second attempt was stuffed by Mollon to preserve the shutout. Mike Puppolo sealed the final outcome when he took a pass at midfield from Rodrigo Zuleta in the waning minutes and dribbled all the way in before ripping a shot to the corner of the net.

UAlbany's Foncette turned away four of the 14 shots he faced and suffered the loss. Temple's Mollon made seven saves on 15 opportunities and pick up the shutout victory.

The Great Danes will continue their four-game road trip when they travel to face crosstown-rival Siena on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 3 p.m.


Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information