Spiders suffer late-game loss again, lose to Temple, 3-2

At this point, the University of Richmond men's soccer team may be missing Ukrop Park after allowing another late goal to send it to its second loss in as many home games this year.

In its first-ever game at Robins Stadium on Sept. 21, it was Navy scoring a goal with one minute remaining to spoil the Spiders' on-campus debut. On Friday, it was Temple who provided the theatrics, scoring with less than two minutes remaining to complete its comeback from a 2-0 deficit to win, 3-2.

Cody Calafiore gave the Owls the win by beating Richmond goalie Thomas Hand with a shot into the right corner of the net. Darlton Carroll set up the goal for the Owls by sending the ball across the field to Calafiore, who beat Richmond's Ben Brewster to get into scoring position.

"I think the first game was just unlucky but today, we got a red card and went down a man and it made it tough," Richmond midfielder Sean Baker said. "Things just started to go their way."

Freshman defender Nick Butler was sent off in the 73rd minute after picking up his second yellow card of the game. That ejection left Richmond a man short for the rest of the game. In total, five yellow cards were issued.

That ejection was just one of the many things that went wrong for Richmond during the second half. Tyler Witmer scored less than four minutes into the half to cut Richmond's lead to 2-1. Nolan Hemmer then tied it for Temple 10 minutes later with a header.

"We didn't defend properly on set pieces and throw-ins," Richmond coach Clint Peay said of what went wrong during the half. "We didn't keep the ball as well."

The loss clearly had an impact on Peay. After talking to his team in the locker room, Peay crouched at the edge of the field and just looked down at the ground for about a minute.

It didn't look like Peay would have to reflect in solace after the first half. Baker got Richmond (1-8-1) started by scoring a goal in the seventh minute -- the second time in as many home games that Richmond has scored in the opening minutes.

Luis Perez put the Spiders up 2-0 during the 33rd minute when he redirected a cross from Tim Albright and beat Temple goalie Bobby Rosato with a hard shot to the upper-right of the net.

But those two shots were the only ones put on goal for Richmond the whole game. Temple pestered Hand all game by taking a shot 20 times and putting six of them on goal.

Coming out of the locker room to start the second half, Temple looked like a different team than the one that was playing in the first half. The Owls played a physical-style of play and when the referees tried to settle the game down, it only appeared to motivate the Owls.

Temple scored its first goal of the game just eight seconds after Calafiore picked up a yellow card, which was the second of three yellow cards a Temple player would receive.

The good news for the Spiders is that they don't have a lot of time to stew on this loss. Saint Joseph's University comes to Robins Stadium for a 1 p.m. game Sunday.

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu