Senior defender and captain Molly Doyle set the tone for Temple on Sunday as her hat trick and strong defensive play helped lead the Owls to a bounce-back 3-1 win over Bucknell at Geasey Field, 3 to 1.
“I think we just played with a lot of hustle today,” Doyle said. “We exerted a lot of our energy Friday against Louisville, and we had a good game against them, so I think we knew we were gonna be a little tired today. But we knew we needed to come through and show how hard we worked over the summer, how fit we are, and that we can come to play on Sunday, which is when the championships are won.”
The win kicks off a four-game homestand for the Owls.
“It was critical for us to get a win today,” Doyle said. “We talked about it in the locker room that we weren’t gonna let Louisville beat us twice. I think we kind of went in with that mindset, we weren’t gonna let [that loss] ruin our season. We were gonna take all the good stuff away from the Louisville game, and kind of bring it over into today, and work hard, work as a team, and get the win.”
Coach Amanda Janney was impressed with the leadership from her senior captain.
“When talking about Molly, she knows it’s her senior season,” Janney said. “We talked about it pre-game that our seniors only have eight guaranteed games left. Their hockey careers are coming to an end faster than they want. They have to value every moment, and Molly stepped up today, so we’re so happy to see her score some goals, and come through in the corners when we needed her to. So that last goal was huge, we needed that extra goal to kind of keep the win and show that we weren’t going into overtime. We’re proud of Molly and the senior class for stepping up and showing the leadership we wanted.”
Redshirt-junior goalkeeper Lizzy Millen made two saves, but she credited the people in front of her for keeping the shots away in the first place.
“I really think our center-mids [midfielders] were the reason we were so successful [today],” Millen said. “They were up on offense, back on defense, they were everywhere, and they just put so much effort in today.”
When asked about continuing her success into the second half of the season, Millen pointed out the importance going back through the film.
“Finding our little mistakes, and just continue to fix and perfect everything so we can just keep moving forward,” Millen said.
“I think just continually working on our press, working on our out-letting, and working on our basics,” Doyle said. “[I think] we’re definitely going to keep improving on those things, and if we do, we’ll have a great rest of the season.”
With the Owls playing their next three games at Geasey Field, Janney says defending home turf is key.
“We have one of the best fields in the nation playing at home, and it’s important for us to get wins at home,” Janney said. “We know how this field balances out plays, and we need to make sure when we’re at home in front of our home crowd, that we’re playing our best hockey.”
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