PHILADELPHIA – Temple's Joonas Jokinen broke a scoreless tie in the 67th minute as the Saint Joseph's men's soccer team (0-1-0, 0-1-0 Philadelphia Soccer Six) dropped its season opener and Philadelphia Soccer Six match-up at Temple (2-0-0, 1-0-0 Philadelphia Soccer Six) by a final score of 2-0 at the Temple Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon. 

"Today's performance was something to build off of for the year," said head coach Don D'Ambra. "We defended honestly and were very disciplined for 90 minutes. We did not allow Temple many good opportunities at all. We had a great defensive effort from our entire back line.

"I was extremely proud of the team's efforts today. Offensively, we had some some chances to go ahead with Ramzi [Saim] beating two of their last defenders and getting a point-blank shot on goal and Mike [Stuski] hitting the post. If we had put one of those away, it could have been a different outcome. We need to continue to keep working hard and improve on some areas, especially creating more offensive chances."

From the top of the box, Temple's Jorge Gomez Sanchez slid a pass in to Jokinen down the right side, and Jokinen fired his shot into the left side of the net to take the 1-0 advantage.

Gomez Sanchez would then convert on a penalty kick in the 81st minute to give the Owls a 2-0 lead entering the final nine minutes of play. 

For the match, the Owls held a 19-5 advantage in shots, including a 10-1 first half, and 8-4 edge in corner kicks while the Hawks were whistled for 15 of 24 total fouls as well as five offsides calls. 

Senior defender Mike Stuski landed SJU's only shot on net, which was saved by Temple's Alex Cagle in the 54th minute. Senior defender Ted Foley (41'), senior midfielder Sam Irvin (60'), junior midfielder Matt Crawford (63'), and sophomore midfielder Kyle Lochbihler (70') also recorded one shot apiece. 

In his second collegiate appearance, junior goalkeeper Greg O'Connell (0-1-0, 0-1-0 Philadelphia Soccer Six) matched a career-high four saves (13', 58', 75', 89') in the full 90:00.

Saint Joseph's will host Northeastern in the 2016 home opener this Friday, September 2 at 7:30 p.m. on Sweeney Field. The Hawks will also host Pittsburgh on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Both matches will be a part of the “Saint Joseph's/Temple Tournament.”

Fans, be sure to follow the Hawks on Twitter and Facebook this season!

MATCH NOTES: The Hawks got full-match efforts from junior goalkeeper Greg O'Connell, senior defender Bliss Harris, junior defender Ben Zambetti, senior midfielder Sam Irvin, junior midfielder Matt Crawford, and freshman midfielder Ramzi Saim, who got the starting nod in his collegiate debut... Freshman forward Daryus Lake got the starting nod and played 66 minutes in his collegiate debut... Junior defender Tom Santilli played a career-high 62 minutes... Saint Joseph's falls to 14-38-7 all-time against Temple.