The Temple field hockey team had high hopes of brightening a gloomy and rainy sky with a win over the undefeated Georgetown Lady Hoyas on Saturday.
The Owls were coming off of a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to Richmond last Saturday and hoped to redeem themselves in Saturday’s game, turning the tide on their season.
The theme of the day was hustle. Both teams showed enormous hustle on both ends of the field.
Temple had the early momentum during the opening minutes of the game. Before the end of the first half, the Owls had four corner opportunities, but they were unable to cash in and distance themselves from Georgetown.
The Hoyas were not totally out of the picture during the first half, however. They too squandered some key scoring. From very early on, both teams played very aggressively, though the halftime score remained unaffected at 0-0.
Temple finished the first period with 10 shots on goal, edging the Hoyas’ nine. Temple goalie Serene McGrath had eight saves, keeping the game within reach for the Owls.
At the start of the second half both teams continued where they left off, with the intensity they had showed during the first half. Then, about eight minutes into the second period, the Hoyas began what would be a four-minute surge.
Georgetown’s Elena Elater scored the first goal of the game off a corner shot. This goal seemingly put Temple into a funk. The Owls lost a bit of intensity, hustle, and spirit.
The Hoyas took advantage of the Temple’s loss of momentum, coming back nearly two minutes later with the exact same setup to score another goal with 25:51 left to play.
Knowing that there was plenty of time to make a comeback, the Owls tried to regroup.
Temple was able to gain some momentum by falling back in intelligent defense and attacking the Georgetown defense’s weaknesses.
After four minutes, the Owls’ hard work paid off as junior Juliann Leskiw scored Temple’s first goal of the game with 21:38 left to play. Senior offensive co-captain Jessica Jaworski picked up an assist on Leskiw’s goal.
But with 19:41 left in the game, Georgetown’s Caitlin McClean scored her team’s third goal of the game, unassisted.
Temple didn’t stop believing in their initial plan of intense hustle and the Owls kept pressing. Time was running out and Temple seemingle had no answers to Georgetown’s solid play.
Finally with 6:50 left, senior Kacy Ziomek scored Temple’s second goal of the game, assisted again by Jaworski and freshman Haley Dervinis.
In an attempt to put the game into overtime, Temple frantically tried to gain possession of the ball for as long as possible. Unfortunately for the Owls, Georgetown had other ideas.
The Hoyas kept the ball in their possession for the remaining minute of the game and walked away with a hard-fought win over Temple. For Temple, the effort was there but in the end, it did not go the way they wanted it to.
The Owls next play a 12th-ranked James Madison squad on Saturday at noon at Geasey Field.
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