After starting the season with a 4-0 record, the Owls have lost their last two contests. The teams’ most recent loss coming Wednesday to an upstart Delaware team.
Temple started last weekend’s Temple Tournament at Geasy Field with a 4-3 win over Maine. Rookie forward Andrea Duva scored the game-winning goal at the 8:17 mark of overtime.
“We kept pushing and fighting to the end. I think we showed a lot of resiliency,” Duva said.
Temple coach Lauren Fuchs was not as pleased with the victory.
“I’m definitly not satisfied,” Fuchs said. “The whole team did not come out. We were lucky to win this one.”
The coach was obviously upset with the way the team let a 3-1 lead slip away. Maine scored two goals late in the game to force overtime.
Temple then faced North Carolina, who defeated Michigan in the semifinals, on Sunday to crown a winner of the Temple Tornament. UNC came into the game the top ranked team in the country and wasted no time proving it. The Tar Heels scored two first half goals in route to a 4-1 victory.
“UNC is a great team with many great players, the biggest thing that hurt us was the first 10 minutes of the game,” Fuchs said. “We played to see what UNC would do, instead of going after them. When we did that we were very competitive.”
Senior Jessica Grisafi scored the only goal for Temple against the Tar Heels.
“I think this game will give us the confidence to know if we play aggressively, we can compete with any team,” Grisafi said.
Overall the team performed well enough to recieve a national rank. In the beginning of the week the NSFHCA coaches poll ranked Temple the 17th team in the nation.
The team then hosted Delaware on Wedsesday the day after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. It was an emotional game for everyone involved. The Blue Hens’ were able to pull off a 2-1 upset. Delaware junior back Kim Wagaman scored the game-winning goal at 31:24 of the first period.The loss drops Temple’s record to 4-2.
The one bright spot in the last few games has been the play of goalie April Herman. She has recorded 28 saves in her last two games. Her performance Saturday against Maine was a key ingredient to the victory. She has made the tough transition from backup to starter look easy.
“I needed a lot of perserverence,” Herman said. “I kept working hard because I knew that one day my time would come.”
Despite the two losses, Fuchs does not believe her team is in any trouble. She believes hard work is the only answer to ending the losing streak.
“We look to set certain goals for each game,” Fuchs said. “If we focus on each task that we need to we will be fine.”
Be the first to comment