The Cherry and White were only able to mustard two shots in the Atlantic Ten Conference Championship, as the Owls’ season came to a close on Saturday at Ellen Ryan Field on St. Joseph’s campus, as they fell to Richmond 1-0.
The lone goal of the game came 10 minutes into the game from Richmond’s senior defenseman Emily Straniero. Straniero’s goal came off of one of Richmond’s nine penalty corners.
Straniero received a pass from senior forward Katelin Peterson and fired a shot from the point. Temple’s sophomore goaltender Lizzy Millen was able to get a piece on the shot but it ricocheted off of her, into the net.
In the first half it appeared that Richmond controlled every aspect of the game. The Spiders outshot the Owls eight to one. The Owls were outshot 18-2 by the Spiders in the game.
In the second half the pace of the game became more even keeled. Richmond’s strategy was to sit back and make it nearly impossible for the Owls to enter the offensive circle. Their method of play was successful as they kept Temple off the scoreboard all afternoon.
As difficult as it was for the Cherry and White to create offensive opportunities, they had one chance with three minutes left in the game. Temple earned a penalty corner and senior forward Bridget Settles fired a shot from the top of the offensive circle. Richmond’s sophomore goaltender Anna Zarkoski stepped up and turned the shot away with her blocker’s pad. Settle’s shot was the only one the Owls were able to put on goal the entire game. Zarkoski’s duties in net were rather small only having to make one save the entire game. However for the Spiders, her save could not have come at a more crucial time in the game.
As the game ended you could see the tears, and emotions, on the faces of each of the Owls. For Temple the season was a roller coaster and ended one goal short.
“We really came so far”, senior defenseman Carissa Young said. “Coach Janney did such a good job preparing us to get to this point season.”
On a high note for Temple, Millen was named Most Outstanding Player of the game.
“I just did my best to keep my team in the game,” Millen said. “So much of the credit goes to Kelly [Driscoll, goaltender coach]. She helped me get prepared for this game.”
Temple finished the season 9-13 overall. The Owls will be losing five seniors in Settles, Young, forward Caryn Lambright, and midfielders Kaylee Keener and Becca Keener.
“We had a great season,” head coach Amanda Janney said. “We will start up again in the spring and hope to build off of this season. The future for Temple Field Hockey is bright.”
Kieran McCauley can be reached at kieran.mccauley@temple.edu.
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