Even with injuries and bad luck, the Temple Owls still find ways to win with players coming from the strangest of places.
Junior Mackenson Altidor won defensive MVP honors as Temple defeated Howard, 3-0, to capture the Drexel Invitational Tournament crown.
After transferring from Northern Oklahoma at the beginning of the season, the sweeper from the Bahamas made his presence known early, helping the Owls improve to 2-1-1 on the young season.
“Mackeson did a tremendous job of anchoring our defensive efforts this weekend,” said Temple head coach David MacWilliams. “His play was even more valuable as we were down two defensive starters.”
Senior goalkeeper Trevor Lyman also contributed with a shutout in his first action as an Owl, replacing starting keeper Tony Pratico, who missed Sunday’s game with a groin injury.
Lyman had transferred from Saint Joseph’s following the 2005 season. This was his first start since his freshman season at SJU in 2004. He made three saves on the day.
The Owl offense was led by two freshmen, Max Kinderwater and Greg Strompolos, who each marked a goal a piece for their first collegiate scores. Senior Mike Minai also added to the scoring for his first goal of the season.
Temple travels to Norfolk, Va., for the Old Dominion Tournament next weekend.
Sophomore magic again for Spiders
Jordan Evans should score more often for Richmond.
The sophomore’s second career goal was also his second career game-winning goal, as his Spiders defeated Cornell, 1-0 on Sunday.
The goal was also the first career point for freshman Jake Russell. Russell got an assist after giving a throw in to Evans, who took it past two defenders and shot it past the Cornell keeper for the score.
Senior Eric Sciocchetti recorded his tenth career shutout for Richmond. He made four saves to record his first shutout of the season.
The shutout moved the fourth-year keeper into sole possession of seventh on his school’s all-time list.
Richmond is now 2-2 on the season. They will next host the UR Nike Challenge Cup on Friday and Saturday at the Richmond University campus.
Pennsylvania rivals battle to scoreless tie
In his first collegiate start, freshman goalkeeper Chris Torres notched a shutout to lead Duquesne to a scoreless tie in their home opener against Bucknell.
The Bison outshot the Dukes, 20-15, but neither team could manage a goal against Torres and his counterpart, senior Joey Kuterbach.
Torres led the way with seven saves against Kuterbach’s three. Both keepers played all 110 minutes of regulation, including two overtime periods.
The shutout was the 11th for Kuterbach in his four-year career and moves him into fifth place in Bucknell’s history.
Senior midfielder Travis MacKenzie led the Dukes’ offensive attack from the bench with three shots, including one of DU’s three shots on goal.
The game can only be described as ugly for both sides, as the teams combined for thirty-four fouls and six yellow cards – three each. Duquesne committed twenty of these fouls, including six in the two overtime periods.
Both teams got more aggressive as the game went on, with four of the yellow cards handed out in the last overtime period, including one for each side at the close of the game.
The Dukes will join Richmond at the Nike Challenge Cup on Friday.
Other news and notes
Saint Louis jumped to No. 12 last week (from No. 22) with a tie against then-No. 8 Southern Methodist. However, the Billikins have struggled since then, managing only a 1-1 tie with unranked North Carolina State and losing to No. 2 Duke, 2-0
