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Sept. 27, 2017
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Two first half goals proved to be too much for Penn State men's soccer to overcome as it fell 3-0 on the road in a mid-week non-conference match to Temple University Wednesday, Sept. 27.
The Nittany Lions outshot Temple 16-12, however the Owls put six shots on net compared to Penn State's three. Freshman Ethan Beckford (Manchester, England) led the Blue and White with three shots, while Aaron Molloy (Dublin, Ireland) and Callum Pritchatt (Kinghurst, Birmingham) fired two shots each. Redshirt-freshman Josh Levine (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) saw his first minutes in net as a collegiate keeper, playing the final 27 minutes.
Thibault Candia led Temple with two goals, while Herman Doerner tallied two assists and Alan Camacho Soto scored once for the Owls. Michael Sammik earned the shutout win for Temple with three saves on the night.
Temple quickly put a goal on the scoreboard when Soto Camacho gathered a pass at his feet inside the box, turned and fired the ball into the lower left corner of the net past a diving Finney in the third minute of the match.
Doerner produced his second assist of the contest in the 15th minute when he lobbed a ball up to a striking Candia. Candia caught up to the ball as Evan Finney (San Francisco, Calif.) came out to challenge him on the left side of the pitch. As Finney came out of the net on defense, Candia put the ball past him into the right hand corner of the net to give the Owls a 2-0 advantage in the first half.
Penn State was unable to overcome the deficit in the first half, taking three shots compared to Temple's seven and going into the locker room trailing 2-0.
The Owls opened up the second half with their third goal of the match and second for Candia as he beat his defender to put the ball in the back of the net and force a Penn State keeper change.
Molloy earned a free kick after being fouled just past midfield and put the ball into the box for the Nittany Lions. The ball was cleared out off the head of a Temple defender for Beckford, who laced a shot at the net but a diving Sammik made the save to keep the Blue and White off the scoreboard
Sophomore Christian Sload (Reading, Pa.) hoped to get Penn State a goal in the 81st minute when he drove into the box but the shot off his right foot went off the crossbar as the Nittany Lions remained scoreless in the final nine minutes, falling 3-0 to Temple.
Penn State returns to Jeffrey Field Sunday, Oct. 1 for a Big Ten Conference contest against the Wolverines of the University of Michigan. The match between the two conference foes will start at 1 p.m.