The field hockey team went on the road and renewed their city rivalry with the Saint Joseph’s Hawks last Friday at Ellen Ryan Field. The Owls showed no signs of their recent offensive struggles as they snapped their five-game losing streak with a 4-1 win.
Coming into the matchup Temple had dropped their last five games. But with the morale coach Amanda Janney’s team came out with, it would have appeared they were on a five-game winning streak. The Owls seemingly played with motivation and aggression from the start.
“We knew how much this game and this rivalry meant to St. Joseph’s,” senior forward Bridget Settles said. “Our team knew we had to come out aggressive.”
In the opening three minutes sophomore goaltender Lizzy Millen gave her team momentum when she laid out and made a fully body save keeping the game scoreless. Junior forward Katie Briglia then went the other way sniping a shot from the top of the point to give the Owls the early 1-0 lead.
Millen helped preserve the lead when she turned away back-to-back penalty corners. Settles added to the lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half when the Owls converted on their fourth penalty corner of the game.
When halftime rolled around the Owls had quieted a Saint Joseph’s crowd, who began the game with enthusiasm for the dedication ceremony of their brand new field.
Settles and her teammates were not finished scoring after the first half. Freshman forward Amber Youtz scored on a rebound 10 minutes into the second half. Youtz put four shots on net and created havoc on defense by converting it into offensive opportunities for her team.
On many occasions when the Owls were on the offensive attack, Youtz was in the middle of the action creating chances.
“It was a team effort today, all 11 of us knew we needed to contribute to get this win,” Youtz said. “I was just out there trying to help my team the best I could.”
Settles added one more goal six minutes later, her second of the day, on a rebound. The only lapse the Owls’ defense had came less than 60 seconds after Settles’ second goal. Saint Joseph’s senior forward Ellen Rowe showed her experience beating Millen one-on-one and scoring easily to bring the score to its 4-1 final, in the Owls’ favor.
“This is a big win for our team, we knew St. Joseph’s was a very athletic team, we needed to come out aggressive and smart if we wanted to win,” Janney said. “I think we accomplished that today. It’s something positive we can take as we move on towards the Atlantic Ten Tournament.”
Saint Joseph’s drops to 0-1 in A-10 play and 3-7 overall. As for the Owls they start conference play with a 1-0 record and improve to 4-9 overall this season. Temple will turn right back around Saturday with a home game against Wake Forrest.
Kieran McCauley can be reached at kieran.McCauley@temple.edu.
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