Temple’s history against Penn State isn’t filled with much success.
Heading into Friday night’s game at University Park, Temple had won just two of their last 33 matchups against the Nittany Lions, with their last win dating all the way back to 1983.
Things were different this time.
The Owls won in a 3-0 shutout, not only beating a team they have struggled against for years, but also a team that was ranked sixth heading into Friday night.
“It’s a huge win for our program,” coach Amanda Janney said. “We struggled in the past against teams like this and the Big 10 Conference is one of the best in the country. We showed today that we can play with the best.”
Temple didn’t get many opportunities on offense, generating only four shots for the entire game, compared to Penn State’s 16. But when the Owl did get a chance, they took full advantage.
Senior midfielder/defender and captain Molly Doyle opened up the scoring just under six minute into the game, with her second goal of the year coming off a penalty corner.
Junior forward Amber Youtz added another goal in the latter part of the first to make it a 2-0 game. Then, in the second half, Doyle tallied another goal to put the Owl up by three.
The defense and redshirt junior goalkeeper Lizzy Millen took care of the rest, by keeping Penn State off the board.
“Penn State did a really great job to put us under pressure and they were in our own end for most of the second half,” Janney said. “Our defense stepped up and just made some really great clean tackles.”
“I thought we played a really smart game of hockey,” Janney added. “[Lizzy Millen] tonight had just an amazing game. She stepped up huge for us, made some really great saves and it was just shot after shot that she kept turning away.”
Temple now stands at 2-1 on the year and bounced back from a 5-1 loss on Sunday against the No. 2 ranked Maryland with the win.
The Owls will return home to Geasey Field on Sunday for a game against Richmond at noon. It will be a game that they now have a lot of confidence going into.
“Everyone is really excited,” Doyle said. “We know that we can beat Richmond and we have so much confidence in this team.”
“I think we are all searching for some redemption from last year,” Doyle added. “We lost a close one to them and every year that I have been here at Temple it has been such a battle. Two years ago we lost the Atlantic 10 Championships to them, so this is the year for us to get some redemption and get a good win under our belt against Richmond.”
Nick Tricome can be reached at tue55707@temple.edu or on Twitter @itssnick215.
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