Field hockey falters in a last second defea

With three seconds remaining, a penalty corner resulted in a 2-1 loss for the Owls.

Defense was the name of the game in last Sunday’s field hockey contest, while both teams combined for 25 shots throughout the game, Monmouth won in the final three seconds, 2-1.

The Owls came back from a one goal deficit in the second half, but their progress was halted when the Hawks defense began to step up. With only seconds left in regulation, Monmouth was awarded a penalty corner on which they scored the game-winning goal before the end of regulation.

Coach Amanda Janney took a positive view from the loss. After trailing 1-0 at the half, Temple stepped up their defense, limiting Monmouth to only four shots in the second half.

“We did a better job handling adversity, coming back in the second half,” Janney said.

The Owls came out of halftime strong, with a heavy attack on their first possession and kept pushing downfield. With 15 minutes left in the second half, sophomore forward Tori Cox scored after a penalty corner.

Temple stayed in the game, as Monmouth mounted numerous attacks on goal. Four first half saves by sophomore goalkeeper Lizzy Millen kept Monmouth from gaining momentum. But midway through the second half, Millen was removed from the game due to injury and was replaced by freshman Haley Mitchell.

Both of the Hawks’ goals were scored on penalty corners. Monmouth’s ability to capitalize on penalty corners and Temple’s inability to capitalize proved to be a decisive factor in the game.

After the Owls failed to score on a penalty corner early in the first half, Monmouth sophomore defender Alex Carroll responded by scoring the game’s first goal on a penalty corner. Senior forward Bridget Settles saw the Owls miss many opportunities. Temple was awarded five penalty corners compared to Monmouth’s four.

“We need to work on penalty corners and our attack, and come out strong next game,” Settles said.

As the Owls look ahead to take on California (7-2) next Friday, they plan to build off of the loss against Monmouth. Freshman forward Amber Youtz, said she believes that the Owls can take this last second defeat and use it as fuel for the upcoming game.

“We need to take this loss as momentum leading into next game, knowing we dominated most of the game today,” Youtz said. “We need to work as a team, and let the score reflect how we played.”

Colin Tansits can be reached at colin.tansits@temple.edu.