Off Campus: Temple soccer gaining national attention

In this country, top soccer honchos tend to turn their nose at college soccer. Too many time limits, not enough play. That's no way to become a soccer nation. Yet in the more established soccer nations, talented players look at this country with some mix of wonder and excitement.

You can go to school, tuition-free, and play competitive soccer? And pro leagues will scout you? Where's my letter of intent? (And what's a letter of intent?) How do I get on the plane?

What's this have to do with Temple emerging this fall as a local power after winning just two games in 2014?

"There's talented guys all over the world," said Temple assistant coach Brian Clarhaut, the chief recruiter. "There's only a small percentage that's NCAA eligible, at the high level we need to compete at this level. Most of them are professional and don't really get an education."

Coming off a rare hiccup season, the Owls knew what holes needed to be filled. An international search has helped fill them. A top goal-scorer and a top-level center back from Spain have led a resurgence that had the 7-1-1 Owls nationally ranked last week, up to 17th, before a weekend loss to Cincinnati dropped them out of the Top 25, to 30th overall.

Penn coach Rudy Fuller said he told Temple coach Dave MacWilliams right after the Owls beat the Quakers 3-0 earlier this month, "I thought it was one of the best Philadelphia teams I've seen in my 20 years doing this."

As it happened, Spaniards Carlos Moros Gracia and Jorge Gomez Sánchez already were in college in Spain. They didn't play for their colleges.

"College [soccer] in Spain, it's not a good level," Moros Gracia said. "It's a friendly level."

Moros Gracia was captain of Valencia's youth academy team. When Temple's coaches explained that pro teams scout college soccer in this country, he was instantly interested.

"I decided to come here fast," he said.

Through Monday's games, Gomez Sánchez was second in NCAA Division I with 11 goals.

"He's clinical," said Fuller, the Penn coach.

It wasn't soccer that lured him to Philadelphia as much as the chance for a free education.

"I had some choices there in Spain, good opportunities, but I think for parents and me, studies are the most important thing," Gomez Sánchez. "I think having a degree from here opens many opportunities in Spain."

Asked about the level of play, Moros Gracia said, "I find a different level. Not better, not worse. Only different. Here, people are more physical, they run more, do a lot of lifting. In Spain, we are probably more tactical. So I think that it's a real opportunity to try to play in different system."

But he also talked about how the parts here fit together, that MacWilliams has a strong tactical plan. Watching the Owls beat La Salle last week, it was obvious that it wasn't just a couple of newcomers that had Temple riding high. Soccer isn't like that. Even talented players can flounder if they can't fit into a system. It happens on the pro level all the time.

"I think we've got nine new starters, eight to nine new starters, and to fit all those new guys in who haven't played together - it's not like we have a senior-laden team where they've played two or three years together," MacWilliams said. "It just says a lot about the character of these guys and the willingness of these guys, they are very coachable and very disciplined, very competitive."

The coaches will tell you maybe the most technically gifted newcomer is a freshman midfielder from Germany, Hermann Doerner, who played for Germany's U-18 national team. Other players are in from Trinidad and Finland and Canada. A transfer from Valparaiso has settled into the central midfield, and there also are Americans all over the field. Owls captain Matt Mahoney, a junior defender from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said he could tell even before practice officially began that this season would be different.

"We had captains' practices, everybody was on time, even before the coaches were here," Mahoney said. "The intensity was also high. There were no bad eggs."

"I think we were probably immature," MacWilliams said of last season's struggles. "We were young. We didn't have enough guys to score and I think as the season went on, our confidence really went down."

Although the Owls lost for the first time Saturday 3-2 at Cincinnati, they talked about how 15 bad minutes can't define a season.

"Our chemistry is unbelievable," MacWilliams said. "They like being together. This year, we've got to kind of slow the guys down in training. I don't know if that was the case last year. I think these guys come to battle every training session, every practice. You don't have to push them much; they're pushing themselves."

Is this actually the best football team at Temple?

"No, I wouldn't say that," MacWilliams said, laughing. "Because Matt Rhule and his guys are doing a tremendous job. I think we're a good representative of Temple."

Asked the same loaded question - are they the best football team at Temple? - Mahoney, the captain, said, "Of course it is, haha. I mean the other one is undefeated still. But I say we are."

The question is moot. The reality, this team is battling the other one on campus for biggest local surprise of the fall.

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus