HILLSIDE, NJ—Junior Lukas Fernandes scored a goal and added two assists, combining for a season-high four points to lead visiting Temple to a 3-1 victory over NJIT at Kean University East Campus Facility in non-conference men's soccer action.
Temple improves to 4-3-2 on the season while the Highlanders move to 5-6.
The visiting Owls held a slight advantage in shots 12-11 (7-2 on goal) and corner kicks 3-0.
"We gave up weak goals and we need to defend better as we move along here," third-year head coach
Fernando Barboto commented. "We are a very young team that is learning some valuable lessons the hard way. Nonetheless, I expect us to be ready to go 100% on the weekend, as we have a very important ASUN Conference away match at Liberty in Virginia on Saturday."
Starter goalkeeper Simon Lefebvre made one stop in the victory for the Owls while NJIT's
Anthony Caruso, making his first collegiate start, combined for three saves.
In the 17
th minute NJIT had two opportunities to score, first on a free kick by
Thomas Radon, which hit the left post and bounced out to NJIT's leading scorer
Rene White, whose shot went wide on the rebound.
Temple scored the first goal of the match in the 24
th minute on the first goal of the season by Pierre Cayet, past the diving Highlander keeper, assisted by Lukas Fernandes. Cayet scored on a header off a corner kick to give the Owls the 1-0 advantage.
Eight minute later, the Owls doubled its score in the 32
nd minute on a strike to the upper 90 in the middle of the box by Fernandes, assisted by Justin Hahn. The goal for Fernandes was his team-leading fourth of the season.
Temple scored its third goal of the contest in the 70
th minute on the first goal of the season by Belal Mohamed, assisted by Fernandes. Fernandes, who found himself involved in the Owls third scoring play of the game, served the ball from the left side of the field to Mohamed inside the middle of the box.
NJIT junior captain
Andrew Nino got the Highlanders on the board, 3-1, on a converted penalty kick in the 75
th minute. Nino netted his first goal of the season.
NJIT will return to ASUN Conference action on Saturday at 2pm when the Highlanders visit Liberty. The match will be streamed live on ESPN3.