GW men’s soccer coach George Lidster said he likes his team to attack. In seven games, the Colonials have been given 18 yellow cards, scored 12 goals and have not been shutout.

I’m very happy when we don’t back down, said Lidster, who was carded in last week’s match against George Mason.

In GW’s most recent match against Georgia Southern University Saturday, the team piled on 37 fouls, 10 more fouls than their opponents. The team’s game against Howard was rained out Monday and will be rescheduled. GW’s Riccardo Forno and Jason Evans missed Saturday’s game, a result of both players picking up two yellow cards in the Colonials match with George Mason eight days ago.

We have to be able to match any team’s intensity and let our technique take over, Lidster said.

GW (3-2-2, 0-0 A-10) will kick off Atlantic 10 play at home against a Temple team (1-4, 0-1 A-10) the Colonials lost to 1-0 last season.

Lidster said he still wants his team to attack, but he wants his players to focus on scoring goals.

We’ve got to score early, Lidster said. It’s a matter of our players getting in a groove.

Lidster said he wants the team’s midfielders, including Kirk Lewis, Sean Ross and Matt Pilkington, to support forward Matthew Osborne when he makes a long run for the goal. This means chasing and retrieving some of Osborne’s missed chances.

Osborne needs to put away more chances, Lidster said. The sophomore leads the team with 27 shots taken this season, but he has only scored five times. The Colonials have taken 118 shots as a team and have had 50 corner kicks this season.

Lidster said junior forward Jason Holloway must break out of his slump. In seven games, Holloway has only one goal. He also said that Forno, who will return Friday after his suspension, must step up his play. With Temple and the St. Joseph’s coming to town over the weekend, the Colonials have a good opportunity to get a jump-start on the rest of the A-10

I think we could beat anyone, Lidster said.