Men's Soccer Plays to 1-1 Draw Against Temple

Friday, September 5

West Point, N.Y.

6:00 p.m.

Army West Point

1-1-2, 0-0-0

Temple

0-3-2, 0-0-0

Temple

Army West Point

Men's Soccer Plays to 1-1 Draw Against Temple

September 05, 2025 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

WEST POINT, N.Y. – For the third consecutive game, Army West Point Men's Soccer earned a point as it recorded 1-1 draw against Temple on Friday night at Malek Stadium. It's the longest point streak for the Black Knights since 2022.

Army (1-1-2) fell behind quickly, as Temple (0-3-2) found the back of the net less than seven minutes into the game on a header by Elliot Rigbert to put the Owls up 1-0. Despite coming out of the gates so fast, Temple didn't record another shot on goal until the 61^st minute.

Following the opening goal by Temple, the two teams went back and forth for the next 25 minutes and just one shot on goal was recorded by Army's Sean Adu-Gyamfi in the 15^th minute. The Black Knights finally broke through in the 30^th minute, as Kelly Cooper drew a foul inside the box to set up a Ronald Zhai penalty kick. Zhai, who had four goals last year, found the bottom left of the net to convert his first score of the year and level the game at 1-1.

The goal was Army's first penalty attempt this season.

Despite the game being tied at the break, Army led in shots (7-4) and corner kicks (6-2) during the first 45 minutes.

Neither team could really find its offensive rhythm in the second half, as Army didn't record a shot on goal while Temple had just two. Army goaltender Michael Guiry came up with a massive save in the 87^th minute as Temple's Rocco Haeufglockner fired a shot towards the top right of the goal but Guiry made an acrobatic diving stop to keep the tie intact.

Army finished the night leading in shots (10-8) and corner kicks (8-5) while finishing tied with Temple in saves at 2-2. A pair of yellow cards were issued to the Black Knights while the Owls were booked once.

Quotable – head coach Brian Plotkin
"I think that we continue to learn more and more about ourselves. The thing that I am loving about our group right now is that in moments when the games against us, we're not breaking. We're fighting through, we're pushing on. But I think that we can be better, so we don't have to deal with these moments. The big thing we talked about was maturity. We're not an old team when it comes to year, but we're now a pretty experience team when it comes to games played. I think that is where we need to lean into our guys right now. We have juniors that have 40 to 45 games, we have sophomores that are up in the 20's, so now we those experiences, I think we should have a little bit more maturity."

Up Next
Army is back in action on Monday night as it welcomes Villanova to Malek Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., with the match being broadcast on ESPN+. Live stats will be available on goarmywestpoint.com.

Follow the Black Knights
Follow Army Men's Soccer on X @ArmyWP_MSoccer and on Instagram @armywp_msoccer. Fans can also like Army West Point Athletics on Facebook and learn more about Men's Tennis and other programs at goarmywestpoint.com.